pink eye

[papeine]

I have 4 lowline heifers that were treated for pink eye before I got them. 2 have cloudy eyes. I just treated them again.. will the cloudiness go away (if so when)? From what I have researched it looks like stage two

 

[farmerjan]

It will depend on how quick the first treatment was from when they got it, and if the eyes are still runny. If there is no noticeable wetness or runniness from the eyes, then no they will not lose all the cloudiness. Also what are you treating them with? The standard treatment has been LA 200 or 300 shots sq in the neck and possible eye treatment. We use mastitis medicine, like today or tomorrow or one that has pennicillin in it that you would use up the quarter. It doesn't hurt the eye, will coat it with the semi-liquid medicine and soothe it as well as treat the infection. Use about 1/5th or so of the tube, just under the eyelid so it goes directly on the eyeball. Several farmers here are now using Draxxin which is expensive but they say really works. We have a couple of cases of real bad pinkeye that hasn't responded to everything else so that is my next step. We also cover with an eye patch which they will rub off in a few days. I cut up an old pair of soft bluejeans and use the glue they sell at the feed store to put on heat detector patches; alot cheaper than the "shut eye" brand you buy. Just take the tube of glue, put a thin patch around the eye then stick the jean material on the glue -- after you have treated the eye.

 

[papeine]

thanks for the info.. I am guessing then that the cloudiness will not go away.. when we treated them.. there was very little eye watering. Have you heard of using foreign protein injections??

 

[farmerjan]

No never heard of foreign protein injections. We have given them 1/2 cc dex and 1/2 cc penicillin mixed as a shot inside the top eyelid. Have to put them in the chute for it but it will often work. Us a 18 or 20 gauge needle with a 3 cc syringe. Tricky to do, my son is good at it and can hold their head still up against the chute so it goes in the eyelid.

 

[greybeard]

Have you heard of using foreign protein injections??

Ohhhh Yeah, it's been a folklore 'cure' beginning around 1900. Usual "foreign protein" used was evaporated milk, subq in the neck, or squirted right into the eye and under the eyelid. Another 'cure' (believe it or not) was tossing a little salt in the affected eye.
The cattle sector has come a long way medically, especially with bacterial infections, in the last 116 years.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, the salt in the eye is still used by some old-timers around here. Says it makes the eye water and flushed the infection out. The evaporated milk is a new one to me.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

One of the "home" remedies I heard was to pour red wine into the eye...

 

[greybeard]

The premise behind it, according to a cattleman of many years/Doctor of Veterinary Medicine of even more years, is: "you're giving the immune system something else to attack - and that *might* be well and good in an autoimmune disease or a disease process where the immune response is more damaging than the infection itself. but I have some real issues in even imagining how injecting Carnation evaporated milk - or any other foreign protein, for that matter - would have any effect on clearing a bacterial infection or speeding healing of an ulcerated cornea."