# goats eye infection...another question?



## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

one of my wethers has had an eye that has seemed irratated for about a week, he had loss hair around both eyes.....I copper bolused him 2 weeks ago........eye does not have any matter or goop in it, no cloudiness, watery at times.....skin around the outside seems irratated......I have been putting warm compresses on it and putting bacitracin eye ointment in it......I thought it was getting better....it must itch, I was just now out there and he was scratching it bad with back hoof and now it is bloody, what should I do?
thanks, Denise


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

I would give a shot of ivormectine for mites and use neosporin for people in the eye itself.


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Ok.....I am here this week alone and have never given shot without help of husband holding.....can I give him the ivermectin orally or does it need to be an injection? I have been putting eye ointment in the eye 2x's a day......should I up how often?
Thanks for the help, Denise


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## Odeon (Oct 26, 2007)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

vermec (Injectable for Cows) can be given orally. Now about the eye.. Is the actual eyeball damaged? Or just the skin on the face around the eye? Is the eye cloudy or protruding? Please give more details.

Ken


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Well, it was just the skin around the eye.....but now that he has been scratching the heck out of it I'm not sure......I just went out and check and he was bedded down with the rest and ok.....he loss the hair around both eyes about a month ago and he is black and had a dry coat with flaky skin and, so I copper bolused him thinking it was copper def......then about a week ago I noticed the skin around the eyes looked irratated.....it has been wet and windy here and I thought maybe that had something to do with it......anyway, the one eye was getting worse so I started putting neosporin in it and thought it was getting better until tonight when I caught him going to town scratching it so bad.....now the whole eye looks swollen and the lower lid looks to be turning outward. He acts fine in every other way, eating, drinking , playing with the others. The eye is not cloudy or goopy......it waters every now and then, usually after he has had his head in the hay bag!
Sorry so long, Denise


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Ken will the ivormec given orally work for mites? 
You might try getting some of that topical meds for dogs hot spots to put on the area around the eye just don't get it in it. but will help with the itching.


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Yes Ken, can it be given orally for mites? I'll wait to hear before giving him any Ivomec.
Thanks to you all for the help and advice! Denise


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## Odeon (Oct 26, 2007)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

not sure on the Mite issue (I have never had mites!). Are you sure this isnt ringworm, or a fungus? It seems odd that mites would ONLY be around the eyes.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

I have never had mites either and your probably right Ken would stand to reason


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Ok....called vet this morning, wouldn't you know the more knowledgeablr vet was out on a farm call, but anyway the vet on duty gave me some Neomycin w/ polymyxin B and Dexamethasone Ophthalmic drops.......he said also to give him an injection of antibiotic, I told him I had Biomycin and he said that was fine.........but I thought I read where giving injections for eye does nothing......is that right?


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

If he is itching around the eye then the problem is what is causing the itching antibiotic injected is not going to do anything. He has injured the eye from the scratching. So find something to stop the itching use a fungicide around the outside like for (jock itch) or prep H. 
even 3% peroxide washing or vinegar wash. Don't get in the eye itself.


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Sondra.....thank you, I had wondered about using a fungicide......I stayed up last night searching the web and was thinking maybe he picked up a fungus after loosing the hair around the eye, which I thought was from being copper def......I had read about copper def goats getting ghost eyes which sounds exactly like him........none of the other wethers are showing any signs of this and it has been a week.


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Ivomec for mites is 1 cc SQ

What kind of wether is this? I have a Nubian buck that has long hair on the edges of his ears- the way his ears are held the long hair is rubbing his eyes and making them bald and irritated around the edges, watery, too. I am going out today to clip the hair from his ears with a 40!


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

He is a pygmy mix.....no long hair.....he is black and has had skin issues since I got him at 4 months old and is now 1 & 1/2 yrs old. He has always had flaky skin and loss his hair completely 2x's......once was last winter during 10 -20 degrees! I had to order him a goat coat and he wore it for the rest of the winter.......copper bolusing has seemed to help with his coat, but now these eyes :crazy!


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

A damp tea bag used as a compress on the bad eye may help too. The tannic acid in the tea will help heal and supress some of the irritation.


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: goats eye....need help*

Yep......Thanks Sully.....someone had told me to do the tea bag compresses, so I have done that.....just wish I could figure out what's up with his eyes.


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

Not sure what we are dealing with...if this is pink eye, fungus, mites, but should I treat the other wethers or just keep watch on them? So far none of the others have showed any signs.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

My doe Red has this, and the more I gooped it up with stuff the worse she got. Finally I got someone out there with better eyes than me and she had eyelashes in her eye lid. You know what clears stuff up like this better than anything, especially stuff on the face, is your loose minerals. The salt is very drying, and yes I know it stings but you aren't trying to get it into his eye, just cake some on the the sore that is being formed from his weeping eye. Really look well in his eye and see why it's weeping. First came the weeping then now the loss of hair and inflammation from the weeping material matted on the corner of his eye. Not that it would hurt anyone this time of year up north if you have mites and lice and ick that can overwinter in your barn to give Ivermectin...but I don't think it's that.

Ghost eyes, the goat has hair, it's just so sparse around the eye that it looks like it has been shaved, at no time does it cause weeping or infection at the tear duct. And the tear duct can now be clogged by all the meds or inflammation. To take down inflammation you want to use a steroid, it also builds healthier tissue, why the eye ointment, which you should give into the tear duct area has Dex...a powerful steroid. So the first thing to do when you goop with ointment is to clean the area, then use a steroid cream first, before you go down the slippery slope of now it likely has some staph with it also from all the humidity under the creams and ointments (the perfect home for staph to grow). Vicki


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## kuwaha (Aug 22, 2009)

Denise, you might want to research sulphur. I have a goat that kept getting flaky skin and then mites. I read about how sulphur is important for skin and hair etc... so when she starts to show signs of deficiency I give her a little sulphur and it really gets her back into shape quickly.


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## cdtrum (Mar 28, 2009)

His eyes are much, much better today....the drops the vet gave me have steriods in them.....I did go ahead and treated all four boys yesterday evening with ivermectin and they were inside all day today with our weather, so then tonight I went out and cleaned out there pen throughly. 
Vicki, it may have been that I was making his eye worse with gooping it up with the neosporin....because he has only had 4 treatments so far with the drops and his eyes are looking great! I did think about his eyelashes (he has long lashes)...but they look fine.

how do you supplement sulfur?

Thanks all for the help, Denise


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