Cancerous eye?

[Tomcolvin]

the cow I thought had pink eye responded to the Bio-mycin injection pretty good, I thought. This morning when she came up to water trough I notice that eye had now white matter in it and was draining. I finally reached a semi retired vet that has a few cattle and sent him some pics. He said it looks like Cancerous eye from the pics. Says it’s not contagious and I could give another round of BioMicin antibiotic and get ready to cull. I still think maybe she didn’t have pinkeye to start with but thought she may have had an irritated eye due to horse weed I had sprayed with Grasson Next in my pasture around 1st of October 2025. The spraying killed it but it died and got brittle and still standing at about 10 inches tall and is brittle and dusty. Maybe in grazing it irritated this eye. Now I don’t know. What next???

 

[Tomcolvin]

the cow I thought had pink eye responded to the Bio-mycin injection pretty good, I thought. This morning when she came up to water trough I notice that eye had now white matter in it and was draining. I finally reached a semi retired vet that has a few cattle and sent him some pics. He said it looks like Cancerous eye from the pics. Says it’s not contagious and I could give another round of BioMicin antibiotic and get ready to cull. I still think maybe she didn’t have pinkeye to start with but thought she may have had an irritated eye due to horse weed I had sprayed with Grasson Next in my pasture around 1st of October 2025. The spraying killed it but it died and got brittle and still standing at about 10 inches tall and is brittle and dusty. Maybe in grazing it irritated this eye. Now I don’t know. What next???

 

[TCRanch]

Hard to tell from the pictures. Have a vet examine in person. If it is cancer eye and in the early stages, your vet can remove the 3rd eyelid or tumor and possibly save the cow.

I caught one early, my vet removed both 3rd eyelids (the other one as a precaution) and I had her for another 8 years before I finally sold her when she was 13 (because she stifled).

 

[kenny thomas]

Here if she went through the sale ring every slaughter buyer would say its cancer eye and only a couple might gamble on it not being bad enough that they will "tank" it, meaning it goes in with the guts.

 

[regolith]

Vet opinion.
does not look like a typical cancer eye from pics but will be much easier to see in person. In the early stages, it can be cut out by a vet and the cow will likely be fine.

In my country you can't send a cow with cancer eye for slaughter... I'd expect it's done unknowingly sometimes but they would be condemned at the abattoir and not used for the meat.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Here if she went through the sale ring every slaughter buyer would say its cancer eye and only a couple might gamble on it not being bad enough that they will "tank" it, meaning it goes in with the guts.

The packers usually don’t flinch until the vet hangs that red ribbon in their ear. Then your lucky to get $10 for the whole cow.

 

[Tomcolvin]

Vet opinion.
does not look like a typical cancer eye from pics but will be much easier to see in person. In the early stages, it can be cut out by a vet and the cow will likely be fine.

In my country you can't send a cow with cancer eye for slaughter... I'd expect it's done unknowingly sometimes but they would be condemned at the abattoir and not used for the meat.

Vet opinion.
does not look like a typical cancer eye from pics but will be much easier to see in person. In the early stages, it can be cut out by a vet and the cow will likely be fine.

In my country you can't send a cow with cancer eye for slaughter... I'd expect it's done unknowingly sometimes but they would be condemned at the abattoir and not used for the meat.

This is pics today. To me it looks better than it did before the shots.

 

[wbvs58]

Tom, did you say how old the cow was?

Ken

 

[regolith]

I can see the third eyelid in that first picture, not in detail (the pink membrane at the bottom of her eye). If that third eyelid is swollen and protruding your vet friend is likely correct; and the infection can complicate both diagnosis and treatment/healing some I had one that got an infection after being operated to remove the third eye-lid and had to have her eye taped up to allow healing.

I just did a google search selecting images and nearly all the results are way worse than anything I've seen, so that's not helpful... a slightly lumpy or swollen third eyelid is enough to indicate the presence of cancer, and is early enough to usually be cut out successfully.

 

[gcreekrch]

I would call that cancer eye. Early enough stage to remove if you really like the cow. Don’t wait too long making a decision as it can advance quite fast in some cases.