At 22:25:16 on 29.04.10, rolymo wrote:
Hi I have a 19yr old mare on loan (past 8wks). Her owner couldn't afford to keep her as she suffers from Uveitis in her left eye and was going to have her put down. She still has very good vision in the eye but it is flaring up more often. She has had the current episode for nearly a month and I am already up to £600 in vet bills and it is very painful for her. She is a lovely fit mare in all other ways and is to be used as a light hack for me to accompany by young son on rides, the vet say's she is strong and could have a good few years in front of her yet. I am in a dilema as to whether I should have the eye removed to let her have a good few pain free years and also looking at the cost side of things as there is no hope of insurance etc. She keeps a mask on permanently with the one eye blacked out and rides in it also. I really want to offer her a loving permanent home for the rest of her days but having 2 other horses of my own also I can't afford to pay vets bills all the time ( my own are insured ). So basically that is my question would I be doing the right thing by having the eye removed even tho she has vision as opposed to the owners view of just put her down?

At 11:25:17 on 01.05.10, NMH wrote:
I have known 3 horses with an eye removed, 1 of them was definitely for uveitis, & became a useful brood mare, the other 2 were ridden horses & lived great successful lives with no limitations. Don't know if that helps. Long term pain is something we are all I'm sure committed to saving our animals from, is my only other point, I've no idea how much eye removal costs?

At 18:39:33 on 01.05.10, chrissie wrote:
long time ago I had a pony that had to have his eye removed due to having a penknife stuck in it, it didnt look nice, a hairy socket but he would have had a lot of trouble other wise, dont remember it being very exspensive so think its worth you thinking about having it done.x

At 14:48:54 on 12.05.10, rolymo wrote:
Thank you for your replies.This episode has lasted nearly 2 months now we have had antibiotic cream, steroid cream, plasma drops, also she was heavily sedated and a local anaesthetic in her eye to scratch the surface of it to reboot the healing but all to no avail so £1300 later I have decided to have the eye taken out as it seems the only option. For anyone else's interest it costs between £1000-£1500 to have it done but my vet has been very good and is going to do the op at home still under general anaesthetic but the cost is between £500-£700 depending if there are complications. Feel so relieved that she will not have to be put down and the owner has agreed to give me the passport so hopefully this beautiful mare will have a few more happy, painfree years in front of her!!

At 19:34:14 on 12.05.10, chrissie wrote:
when my pony had his eye removed it was done at home, didnt have a stable in those days so was done in field, had no problems at all, good luck, let us know how it goes.x

At 12:24:51 on 13.05.10, rolymo wrote:
aw that's encouraging. The vet said he will do it in the field because it will be more hygenic than the stable, just have to have no wind or rain!! Will be keeping my fingers crossed for her just want her out of pain asap!!

At 17:12:51 on 15.05.10, HorseVet wrote:
Removing the eye seems a rather extreme solution. How about trying something such as homeopathy? Much cheaper too. Best wishes HorseVet
http://www.naturalhealingsolutions.co.uk

At 21:02:12 on 15.05.10, NMH wrote:
Have to say if the horse is in pain I would disagree, no offence, with HorseVet, & say Go for it, you've already tried enough, there is not enough evidence for the efficacy of homeopathy in such conditions,if there were these conditions would be cheaply sorted, no argument! You could spend a lot more & be in the same position, in my experience homeopathy is far from cheap especially for what you are getting

At 09:26:56 on 16.05.10, Flicka wrote:
Well personally I would give the homeopathy a go first. HorseVet thinks very much outside the box which I like and still has a lot of big names as clients including Pammy Hutton and Laura Bechtolsheimer and Lucinda McAlpine who obviously have found his more alternative approach beneficial to their horses. Why not get in touch with him. Good luck anyway with whatever you decide to do.

At 13:29:56 on 25.05.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I still ride the horse i learned to jump on and i knew her whenn she had two eyes and when she lost one and she acts no different, she is still show jumping now and she is a fantastic horse although they had no option with her as she caught her eye on a branch out riding, it was awful i remember that day so clearly but she is a happy horse and it doesn't restrict her at all :)