Eye ulcer healing very slowly

[moodysuzy]

Hello,

My boy prawn got a small scratch on his eye last weekend, we saw a vet on Sunday and he gave us isathal 2x a day and remend 3x a day. Prawn is already on metacam 2x a day for arthritis.

He is blind in the affected eye due to old trauma and it has a cataract.

His eye doesn’t appear to be improving as quickly as I’d hoped. I think it looks better than a couple of days ago - less cloudy and less ‘raw’ looking, but today you can really clearly see the ulcer (I think?) on the surface, it looks like there’s gunk on to of his eye

I’ve attached a pic of what it normally looks like and then what it looks like today.

My plan was (as long as it doesn’t start looking worse) to continue the drops until Sunday (so a week on them) and then take him back on Monday for a re-check. Just wanted to get your opinions on it. Thanks!

 

[Wiebke]

Hello,

My boy prawn got a small scratch on his eye last weekend, we saw a vet on Sunday and he gave us isathal 2x a day and remend 3x a day. Prawn is already on metacam 2x a day for arthritis.

He is blind in the affected eye due to old trauma and it has a cataract.

His eye doesn’t appear to be improving as quickly as I’d hoped. I think it looks better than a couple of days ago - less cloudy and less ‘raw’ looking, but today you can really clearly see the ulcer (I think?) on the surface, it looks like there’s gunk on to of his eye

I’ve attached a pic of what it normally looks like and then what it looks like today.

My plan was (as long as it doesn’t start looking worse) to continue the drops until Sunday (so a week on them) and then take him back on Monday for a re-check. Just wanted to get your opinions on it. Thanks!

Hi

If you have concerns about a potential worsening, please contact your vet clinic promptly. A temporary clouding up inside the eye at the very end of the healing process once the blood vessels have withdrawn is not at all uncommon but if there is still surface ulceration after 3-5 days or there is a renewed issue, then your vet may want to check the eye sooner. If the surface is really badly scratched, it can take a good fortnight or even longer to heal up fully, as can a more major hay poke.

You may also want to discuss with your vet whether additional tear gel (it is not a medication so your vet will not prescribe it) could help speed up the process by providing hydration for faster healing as well as extra comfort. Any carbomer based brand will do; they are easily available online but not every pharmacy may have them in stock, especially smaller branches.
It is a recommendation from my own vets who use it routinely, and it really helps to speed up the healing process in my own personal experience, You will have to wait at least half an hour after the antibiotic in order to allow that to be fully absorbed.

 

[moodysuzy]

Hi

If you have concerns about a potential worsening, please contact your vet clinic promptly. A temporary clouding up inside the eye at the very end of the healing process once the blood vessels have withdrawn is not at all uncommon but if there is still surface ulceration after 3-4 days or a renewed issue, then your vet may want to check the eye sooner,

You may also want to discuss with your vet whether additional tear gel (it is not a medication so your vet will not prescribe it) could help speed up the process by providing hydration for faster healing as well as extra comfort. Any carbomer based brand will do; they are easily available online.

Great thanks, I’ll give them a phone call and see about getting it checked.

He has Remend 3x a day - would another tear gel be helpful in addition to this?

 

[Wiebke]

Great thanks, I’ll give them a phone call and see about getting it checked.

He has Remend 3x a day - would another tear gel be helpful in addition to this?

I would discuss that with your vet but remend mainly works on surface repair whereas the gel penetrates deeper into the eye and helps with the healing process where the antibiotic drops become less efficient. Your vet can evaluate the eye and recovery process and make an educated assessment.

 

[moodysuzy]

I would discuss that with your vet but remend mainly works on surface repair whereas the gel penetrates deeper into the eye and helps with the healing process where the antibiotic drops become less efficient. Your vet can evaluate the eye and recovery process and make an educated assessment.

Thank you, I’ve ordered some of the tear gel and I emailed some pics over to our vet - we have an appointment later today

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you, I’ve ordered some of the tear gel and I emailed some pics over to our vet - we have an appointment later today

All the best. UK vets prioritise any eye injuries and will squeeze them in as soon as possible.

 

[moodysuzy]

All the best. UK vets prioritise any eye injuries and will squeeze them in as soon as possible.

We’ve got chloramphenicol 4x a day alongside the remend and a tear gel, poor Prawn is going to get dragged out of his cage a out a million times a day

 

[Wiebke]

We’ve got chloramphenicol 4x a day alongside the remend and a tear gel, poor Prawn is going to get dragged out of his cage a out a million times a day

When very skittish Nosgan bashed his eye in really badly on a cage grid, he was on 3x chloramphenicol, 6x tear gel and zithromax (oral) for a month - but we could save his eye against the odds and he even regained a degree of sight again.

We had to get him into the out of hours vets and then drive straight up to the Potteries Rescue Christmas Fair in Kidsgrove/Stoke-on-Trent with him and I had to keep medicating him in between running my busy Christmas biscuits stall... We did come home with a little friend for him, Nye, who unfortunately had to wait a little with the bonding because of Nosgan's eye but they had two happy years together.

You get through it. Good that you have been able to have it seen straight away and not waited until Monday.

 

[moodysuzy]

When very skittish Nosgan bashed his eye in really badly on a cage grid, he was on 3x chloramphenicol, 6x tear gel and zithromax (oral) for a month - but we could save his eye against the odds and he even regained a degree of sight again.

We had to get him into the out of hours vets and then drive straight up to the Potteries Rescue Christmas Fair in Kidsgrove/Stoke-on-Trent with him and I had to keep medicating him in between running my busy Christmas biscuits stall... We did come home with a little friend for him, Nye, who unfortunately had to wait a little with the bonding because of Nosgan's eye but they had two happy years together.

You get through it. Good that you have been able to have it seen straight away and not waited until Monday

We had our last checkup on the 23rd of feb and got the all clear - no signs of ulceration.

There’s still a lot of blood in his eye though, I’ve attached a couple of pics. His eye isn’t cloudy anymore though, and there’s no sign of the ulcer, there’s just some blood that looks to be pooling at the bottom.

We’re continuing with the remend and tear gel but basically I just don’t know if this is the normal healing process or not. He already has a cataract in the affected eye so I’m a bit paranoid about it.

I’m going to take him for a checkup tomorrow or Wednesday regardless

 

[Wiebke]

We had our last checkup on the 23rd of feb and got the all clear - no signs of ulceration.

There’s still a lot of blood in his eye though, I’ve attached a couple of pics. His eye isn’t cloudy anymore though, and there’s no sign of the ulcer, there’s just some blood that looks to be pooling at the bottom.

We’re continuing with the remend and tear gel but basically I just don’t know if this is the normal healing process or not. He already has a cataract in the affected eye so I’m a bit paranoid about it.

I’m going to take him for a checkup tomorrow or Wednesday regardless

The blood is worrying and needs to be vet checked.

 

[moodysuzy]

The blood is worrying and needs to be vet checked.

Gotcha, I’m in the office today but I’ll take him in tomorrow