eye treatment advice please.

[katiebear]

I have a 16 day old Kitt that I am treating with terramycin, he has either nest box eye or has somehow injured his eye. I was getting it open with salt water and noticed the eyeball looked cloudy.
That's when I got the antibiotic. I have only treated once. And am wondering what is your schedule for treatment? The instructions say 2 to 4 times a day.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[Dood]

Because eyes are self cleaning topical medicines must be applied frequently. I usually do 4 times a day (every 6 hours) for at least 4 days then reduce to 3 (every 8 hours) for a further 10 days. I never do only twice daily (every 12 hours) for eye infections.

 

[katiebear]

Thank you Dood. I have read the threads and that was the bit of info I needed. We had decided to do four times daily but was unsure of duration. .we will be following your advice.

Just a quick update....2 treatments yesterday.It was already 4 o'clock by the time I got the Terramycin. As of this morning there is no more sticky gunk. I am still treating as Dood recommended every 6 hours.4 treatments today. Still some redness in the rims around the eye But the eye ball has only a pinpoint of milkiness.He has vision in that eye.YEA!!! So glad we started to treat right away.
Thank-you Dood I appreciate your help and quick response......

 

[Dood]

You're very welcome

Even though it is looking better please use the medicine for at least 14 days or you could breed resistance to terramyacin in the bacteria causing the ointment not to work nextime and you'll need to get something stronger from a vet $$

 

[katiebear]

Please be assured that I will. This bun is a meat bun and has many siblings. All are well,and I do not wish to spread any illness.This little one has already stolen my D.H. heart though.
This is my first case of anything like this. I was reading on the threads that some members think that nest box eye is a congenital illness. I am not sure if this is the case here though as no litter mates have any symptoms.And it could be an injury....
But my question is should I breed her to the buck that sired this litter? Or use a different buck?He is full sibling.
My thinking is that if it is something with the pairing it will show up again. Or should I not take the risk? He has been bread to non related does with no issues.
I have only been doing this for about two years so most of my stock is related. Is it the buck or the doe?Does anyone even know? could it just be a bad pairing? Should I cull both or am I over reacting?
Thank you for any input....Sorry for so many questions.

 

[Dood]

I agree that not all eye issues in young kits are "nest box eye" and would do another breeding to see if it does crop up again.

My grow outs are in a mixed age colony so I get more fight injuries than most and a scratched eye can quickly get infected, sometimes frequent rinsing is not enough and an antibiotic is needed.

 

[katiebear]

Did the 14 day treatment eye seemed ok for a couple of days then this morning was stuck shut again....Opened it with warm salt water and put in more Vetricyn...Not sure what to do now...There seems to be eyelashes growing inside his upper eyelid,maybe that is the cause of irritation? He has a"cloud" in his eye I believe that he has sight but that was from the initial injury. Both eyelids upper and lower are red and swollen slightly.only a little gunk mostly dried gunk.But overall he is healthy and growing fast..
Should I do another course of vetriicyn? Or try to get some pen-g? This is a meat bun and I wanted to avoid antibiotics. Just needs to make it about four more weeks for butcher....Help....any and all advice is appreciated!!!

Can anyone offer advise Please????

eye is open as of this pm... for now just going to try to keep it open.....

 

[Dood]

If the eye lids are curling in (entropion) then only surgery will fix it.

It is painful and irritating and personally I would cull the kit now rather then let him suffer for 28 more days.

 

[katiebear]

Thank you for the advice he is doing well for now..eye is open and swelling is gone...hubby wants to give it some more time.. if the kit shows signs of regression I will cull it. We don't want to have to do it right away...the kids are off of school and that is something that they don't need to see...they have been watching us care for him and have formed an attachment. They know about butchering and such. But they still get upset when a little one passes...

 

[Zass]

I'm going to weigh in that repeating the pairing might be a good idea. If only one kit was affected it could have been caused by anything.

If it is genetic, you will want to track down the source instead of spreading it around.

 

[katiebear]

That is what I am probably going to do..We have already discussed removing this buck, the sire of that litter anyway.He has some problems. He is prone to ear mites and I don't think his digestion is all that great. I have only had him a year and a half but he seems to go off his feed sometimes and he doesn't eat enough hay , even though he has full access to it at all times.He doesn't drink as much water as the other bunns.So yeah, after writing that down, I wonder why he is still in the line up.....
Little guy we have been calling him jack,( ya know one eyed jack :lol: )is doing great, so we will still keep an eye on him :x (sorry)