I have a 5 week old bottle-fed heifer calf purchased from the local market that began showing signs of pink eye a week ago. At the first signs of clouding, I flushed her eye with salt water and her eye cleared up for about 3 days. But the infection keeps coming back. I have heard and read of several remedies,i.e. portwine, to salt, to penicillian eye flushes; even eyeball injections. What is the BEST treatment for pink eye? Also, this calf is in the pasture with goats and I have no way to separate them right now. Is there anyway to protect the goats from this pink eye?
Flush the eye with hydrogen peroxide and let it set for 30 seconds then follow with penicillin. I used to use the oxy-tetracycline also, but stings and makes them harder to get through a chute in the future. This treatment was recommended by a vet to be as good as the oxy-tet and not as hard on the critter. I use a small syringe with the needle removed and get it under the third eyelid. ½ cc to 1 cc is enough under the eyelid. I would add an oxy-tet injection in the neck muscle to this treatment, if the eye is beyond the cloudy stage and has an ulcer. Oxy-tet stays in the system for two days and comes through in the tears.
