Pink Eye Help Needed!

[KYFarmKid]

We have had an awful time with pinkeye this summer. We have had about 14 cases this summer, some worse then other's. We have been treating them with shots of LA-200, and a pink eye wash. With some of the worst cases we are putting an eye patch over their eye. Currently we have two that blind with pinkeye in both eyes, locked in the front of the barn. My questions for you guys are,
-what should we do with the blind calf and cow?
-is there any thing else we can do to stop the spread of pinkeye?
-and how long should the eye patch stay on before we remove it, if it doesn't fall of on its own?
Any advice or tips you guys may have would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jerry27150]

keep the two in the barn for a couple weeks or til they get over the pink eye. get some aureomycin to mix in with your minerals & put some cheap ivermectin on all, to keep flies killed off for a while. if the patch doesn't come off on its own I would take it off after 3-4 weeks

 

[Don McCallum]

I had calves with pinkeye last summer, and La 300 did a great job.

 

[boondocks]

I had a (nice, registered) heifer blind in both eyes from pinkeye last summer. Everyone here told me to keep treating it and not assume the worst. We did so and she recovered a great deal of her sight, as best we can tell. She is due with her first calf in a few weeks, knock wood. We subsequently vaccinated the whole herd for pinkeye and are also using Permethrin to knock the flies down this summer. An ounce of prevention and all that...Good luck--hopefully they will all get sight back.

 

[Nesikep]

We had pinkeye the cattle when we first started out, we used a powder called "Pinkaway" (dominion labs, at the time), that you puff into the affected eye, worked good for us, and once we got rid of it we have never had a recurrence in 20 years. Flies and rubbing areas are vectors for sure

 

[Black and Good]

Knock on wood/my head, I haven't had a case of pinkeye ever since I started using Medicated/Fly Control Purina Wind & Rain Mineral. If caught early I've had good luck with Vetricin Pinkeye spray. B&G

 

[denvermartinfarms]

You need to start giving draxxin, it's expensive but if you had been giving it instead of LA you wouldn't have 2 blind cows.

 

[cbcr]

The are different vaccines for pinkeye, they do help some. You need to make sure that the vaccine you use has the most number of strains in it. Also you can swab their eyes and your vet can send it to a lab to see what you have and a vaccine can made for it. Check with your local vet as others may have also had this issue with pinkeye and he may already have a vaccine based on what other in the area seem to have that you can use while you wait on the results.

Was at a place 2 years ago that had it terrible in one group of cattle. We vaccinated on another group, and vaccinated the calves even at a week old and the local vet had (just like I mentioned above) a vaccine that had been made that had several different strains of pinkeye vaccine that was from eye swabs in the area) that second group of cattle seemed to get along pretty well and there were hardly any cases of pinkeye in that group of cows. They were put in with the group that was having all of the problems.

Also one of the thing to do is to use draxxin and penicillin mixed and put the shot in the eyelid so that it will slowly coat the eyeball. You can make patches out of some old blue jeans, but put a patch over the eye.

 

[Lucky_P]

cbcr - are you a pharmacologist? didn't think so...
Call me an a-hole if you want, but I'm tired of seeing this sort of thing pushed, whether by unknowing folks, or folks who should know better - including some of my veterinary colleagues.

DO NOT mix antibiotics/drugs in the same syringe unless you know what you're doing. Different carriers, pH, solvents, salts, etc., may render one or both drugs totally ineffective.
Also, it's not advisable to administer some antibiotic combinations, even if you're not mixing them. Case in point: Draxxin is bacteriostatic - it interferes with bacterial protein synthesis, so stops bacterial growth. Penicillin requires actively-growing bacteria in order to exert its bacteriocidal effect.
So... if you treat an animal with appropriate doses of Draxxin and penicillin... the penicillin is, for all intents and purposes, wasted and ineffective.

On the old subconjunctival injections... I used to do 'em; a couple of mls of PPG under the conjunctiva of the eyeball. I'm not convinced that once the needleprick hole sealed and the drug stopped leaking out - which probably occurred within just a few minutes - that it did anything helpful.
Treating with a systemic antimicrobial that reaches therapeutic drug levels in the tears - like oxytet, Draxxin, etc., and applying an eye patch are, IMO, a much better treatment plan.

 

[cbcr]

Lucky_P,

I am just stating what a vet had us do to treat the animals with pinkeye. There are several methods that can work, and I am sure there may be newer and better methods.

These drugs were mixed in the same syringe, but I don't remember how much of each. We used a small 3cc syringe. Maybe according to you it can't or shouldn't be done, but we had a pretty good success rate with it, especially if we caught it early.

I guess I should have put a statement in my post to consult your vet on the proper drugs and dosage for injecting in the eyelid.

 

[Bigfoot]

I've got the hottest strand of pinkeye I've ever seen in my life. I'd been treating with LA 300. I bit the bullet yesterday, and bought 500 ML of draxxin. I want this crap gone.

 

[Lucky_P]

bigfoot,
We've been isolating, for the past few years, some strains of pinkeye bacteria - particularly Moraxella ovis - that are resistant to oxytetracycline, explaining why some folks are having total 'treatment failures' with LA 200/300. Draxxin may get the job done for you; I dunno, as I've never used it.

cbcr, I'm not saying I've never done anything the wrong way, 'cause I've done stupid with zeros on the end of it, and have forgotten lots of stuff that I've not used in 25 years, but your vet is WRONG to have mixed those two drugs, or to have recommended that you do so. It's a basic no-no.
If all you gave was a 3cc injection of the mixture in the eyelid, I'll almost guarantee that the patch was your key to effective treatment.
Sure, as long as the stuff is leaking out the hole you made going in, it's bathing the eye - but once the needle prick closes, it's no different than if you'd given that 3cc shot back in the hip. And, anything you squirt in the eye is washed out by normal tear action in 10 minutes or so - even faster if they're tearing excessively.

I've had mixed successes using the commercial pinkeye vaccines. Haven't used one in nearly 10 years. But, if you're (generic you) vaccinating and not having any cases, I'm not gonna recommend that you stop.

Oh, and you folks who were gonna recommend throwing salt or squirting diesel fuel or WD-40 in their eyes... don't hold back - I have a friend who was eagerly awaiting your responses! ;<)

 

[tom4018]

bigfoot,
We've been isolating, for the past few years, some strains of pinkeye bacteria - particularly Moraxella ovis - that are resistant to oxytetracycline, explaining why some folks are having total 'treatment failures' with LA 200/300. Draxxin may get the job done for you; I dunno, as I've never used it.

cbcr, I'm not saying I've never done anything the wrong way, 'cause I've done stupid with zeros on the end of it, and have forgotten lots of stuff that I've not used in 25 years, but your vet is WRONG to have mixed those two drugs, or to have recommended that you do so. It's a basic no-no.
If all you gave was a 3cc injection of the mixture in the eyelid, I'll almost guarantee that the patch was your key to effective treatment.
Sure, as long as the stuff is leaking out the hole you made going in, it's bathing the eye - but once the needle prick closes, it's no different than if you'd given that 3cc shot back in the hip. And, anything you squirt in the eye is washed out by normal tear action in 10 minutes or so - even faster if they're tearing excessively.

I've had mixed successes using the commercial pinkeye vaccines. Haven't used one in nearly 10 years. But, if you're (generic you) vaccinating and not having any cases, I'm not gonna recommend that you stop.

Oh, and you folks who were gonna recommend throwing salt or squirting diesel fuel or WD-40 in their eyes... don't hold back - I have a friend who was eagerly awaiting your responses! ;<)

Lucky you cultured some of ours a couple years ago and I think it was the same strain. Nufllor worked on some that year. Ran out of LA300 and used it out of desperation . One thing our vet suggested was to get the vaccine in them earlier now we so it early April instead of May.

 

[cbcr]

Just called our local vet, the shot you put under the eyelid is 1cc of penicillin and 1/2 cc dexamethazone.

Please consult with your local vet and see what has been working the best in your area for treating pinkeye.

Also something else that used to work was dairy cow mastitis medicine. squirted in the eye. And use the patch.

With pinkeye is seems that there are always new strains that keep showing up.

 

[KYFarmKid]

Thank you guys for all the advice! We have been treating all cases of pinkeye as soon as we can, and I believe we have just about got it beat; expect for the two bad cases that left the two blind, and even they seem to be slowly recovering. The reason we choose to use LA 200 over draxxin was because that was recommended to us by both the vet and local farm service store. I really appreciate all the help and any other advice you guys have for me I look forward to hearing!

 

[Lucky_P]

bse - sounds like a 'homemade' attempt at the old Azimycin product, which was PPG/dihydrostreptomycin, with some dexamethasone in it. I've mixed up something similar in the distant past.
Only problem is, if your pinkeye cow has a corneal ulcer, the steroid is contraindicated, as it impedes regrowth of epithelial cells to close the defect. But... since it probably stops leaking out pretty quickly, it's probably not present long enough to slow things down much (and, probably doesn't do much to help, either).
Can you tell that I'm not a fan of the time-honored subconjunctival injection technique? lol.

 

[wbvs58]

In Australia we mainly use topical treatment with the likes of Orbenin eye ointment (Pfizer) which is Cloxacillin and although it is labelled as an eye ointment the tube it comes in shows its origin as a mammary preparation. Pfizer claim it lasts up to 72 hrs in eyes.
I have very good success with one dose and only occaisionally have to give a 2nd treatment 48hrs later.
Ken

 

[Lucky_P]

Interesting, Ken.
May have to contact some of the folks I know at Pfizer/Zoetis for info.
I've got some age on me, but the ophthalmologists always indicated that any medication instilled into the eye - solution, ointment, etc., was flushed out pretty rapidly - hence the need to have vet students(slave labor) medicating those eyes 5-8 times a day.
Perhaps we're living in a more enlightened time now...