Pinkeye and patches

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WFfarm

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Has anyone had issues where putting a patch over a pinkeye made it worse?

We've had a bad year for pinkeye, but only in one of our herds. The other herd is about 2 miles away on another farm and they are all clear. We've treaded about 80% of the cows and 50% of the calves. They get a show of LA200 or LA300 and a patch if there is a white spot started. Most we have caught early and only needed one treatment. Patches are store bought.

One cow had both eyes cloudy and white pimples started. We patched the one eye that was worst. After 1 week the exposed eye was looking clear. After two weeks she finally lost the patch and that eye looked like demon posses, exposed eye was clear. Red outer ring and a nickel sized center the color of a cue ball. Most of the other cows and calves lost their patches within 3-7 days and cleared up or needed one more round of shots. One other cow had a patch on for over a week and a half, so we removed it and she had a nasty looking eye underneath as well.

Anything about patching that would make things worst? Lack of Oxygen to the eye? secondary infection? I think not being able to see the eye made us delay giving a timely follow up of antibiotics.
 
I have had luck getting patches to stay on. On really bad pink eyes we sew their outer eye lids shut with dissolvable stitches.
The patch shouldn't have made it worse. It was probably further gone to begin with. Leave the bottom of the patch open a little so the eye can drain easily.
 
I agree with Sbmf 2015 that the patch shouldn't cause any damage to the eye. Sometimes the eyes can have significant damage and it takes time for them to recover.
 
I've patched quite a few over the years. I usually just cut a patch out of a pair of old jeans and use sale barn glue to stick it on. I'll infuse the eye with a tube of oil based mastitis medicine before covering. Never had one come out "angry" looking after patching.
 

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