That’s our new equine vet, Dr. Caitlin Jeffrey, examining our blind mare Lena last Monday. The previous Thursday afternoon we had noticed her right eye had become inflamed and painful, so we began treating it with an antibiotic eye ointment. Over the weekend, though, we didn’t see any improvement, so we called our large animal vets, Wood Pond Veterinary Clinic, and left a message asking if they could come out to look at Lena’s eye.
Here’s what the eye looked like close up:
In the photo at the top, Caitlin has stained the eye and is looking for evidence of any corneal ulceration. We could have started her on an antibiotic with a steroid in it (like dexamethasone), but you don’t want to use it until and unless you can rule out the presence of corneal ulcers. Otherwise, the steroid can cause the ulcers to get dramatically worse.
Here’s what the eye looked like after staining:
Fortunately, there was no uptake of the stain on the cornea, so she didn’t have any active ulcers. But we could tell’there was something going on with the third eyelid, which seemed to be irritating the eyeball.
We emailed’some of these photos to our veterinary ophthalmologist in Burlington, Dr. Sarah Hoy, for her review, and Caitlin followed up with an email to Sarah detailing her diagnostic findings. In the meantime, since we could rule out corneal ulcers, Caitlin had us start Lena on an antibiotic with dex. That soon did the trick, and the swelling is much reduced and the eye much more comfortable now.
We subsequently heard back from Sarah with her thoughts on what we were looking at and the next steps she’d recommend, so Caitlin is?coming back this week to take a biopsy of the third eyelid and run some other tests. The good news is that at least the eye doesn’t look like that any more.
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Shelter Challenge Results
We learned last week that we came in first in New Hampshire?for the most recent round of the contest and thus won the state prize. Thank you for your votes! The Shelter Challenge people decided to award 50 pet beds instead of the cash grant to the state winners. I told them that this kind of “prize” was not all that helpful, since a) we don’t need the pet beds and b) we have a much higher and better use?for the cash grant to pay for things that we do need, like veterinary expenses, food, etc. We don’t need someone else deciding for us (or other shelters and rescue groups) that what we can really use the most?are?pet beds. (We will be re-donating the beds to other local groups.) Fortunately, they did tell me that the cash grants would be returning for the next round … which, of course, we won’t be eligible for because we just came in first in this round. Oh, well! For a long time, up until a few years ago, the Shelter Challenge worked really, really well — and then they started monkeying with it. Constantly changing it, “improving” it, and everyone knows what the results have been. It’s never really been the same since. Hopefully they will “get their groove back”?at’some point.
Is there a link to The Shelter Challenge folks so we could weigh in on the fact that money is much more useful? It’s great that you have the beds to donate, but I know the cash would have been much better for your rescue.
I saw that the prize was pet beds and thought that every dog at the farm would get a new bed. Guess that wasn’t the case. I didn’t realize they weren’t needed. I’m sure the other local rescue groups that you will be donating the beds to will be thrilled. Beds are probably not high on their list but unlike RDF, they probably could use them. They could probably only give away whatever the sponsors donated. I had no issues with the new site and I’m hoping others didn’t either. It worked much better than I anticipated and actually better than the former site had worked. Looking forward to the upcoming challenges. And I hope that Lena’s eye gets better soon.
Oh my goodness, that eye does look so awful and uncomfortable. Thank you for your care for Lena, and I hope her eye is better soon.
Crumbs!
1) Boy, that eye was hard to look at! Glad it’s improving!
2) I wondered about all those beds, and personally think that cash should be awarded, and as you say, hopefully the people who run the Challenge will get it back to the way it was intended to be. Its great that you are donating those beds to other places that can use them!
Good to see an update on Lena. How about further word on the other horses? Do you still have Cash?
HOPE LENA’S EYE WILL BE O.K. LOOKED TERRIBLE IN THE PIC’S ABOVE. IT’S SO HARD WHEN A LOVED ONE IS IN PAIN.
Sorry Lena had to go thru that. Glad she’s feeling better and hopefully a complete resolution will be soon.
Sorry about the challenge & not getting what your group needed the most. As the old saying goes. ..don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.
That is a BIG eye. Hope it’s feeling better now and that nothing bad comes up in the tests.
That’s very disappointing about the Shelter Challenge prize. At least you will still be eligible for the weekly winner in the next one (if they still have that). Too bad there aren’t more challenges like that one.
Poor Lena….that sure looked like an uncomfortable eye!!
Glad to hear that the swelling is down and I send high hopes the
biopsy comes out clean.
Congrats on the Shelter Challenge win, albeit the prize was not
needed at RDR, hoping that the idea of donating the bed or giving
them back in some fashion comes to mind. Good Karma. : ))
Oh Lena honey. That eye looks terrible. This is NOT how I wanted to see an update on you!! Hope you are feeling better!!!
Glad to see you donated the pet beds. In truth, you guys are well known and followed, and often win these challenges….but many smaller shelters don’t really have that chance, and they need help too. Here in Montana, we support a small shelter in a town with few resources, where every dollar is treasured and used. The animals there are no less deserving of help than those at bigger shelters.