Pinkeye outbreak

[Lucky_P]

Patch protects from more UV light and other irritation... plus, it gets the thing out of sight of the owner (lol).

ANYTHING you squirt in the eye - whether it's oil- or water-based - will be washed out by normal tear action within 10 minutes or so... probably even faster with the increased tearing that goes along with pinkeye. That said, I do commonly squirt some mastitis meds in there if I've got a tube on hand when I'm treating one.
I still think Vetericyn pinkeye stuff is total BS... it's very(expensive) dilute bleach water (99.836% water!)... not gonna hurt anything, but about all I can see it's doing is flushing the eye... and maybe just stimulating more tearing because you're bugging the animal squirting it in it's eye...

Treating with a systemic antimicrobial, like long-acting tetracyclines(LA-200/300) or Draxxin, which will be present in the tear film at the same concentration as blood/tissue fluids, essentially 'bathes' the eye in a constant therapeutic dose of the antibiotic.

I used to do the subconjunctival penicillin/steroid injections back in the day - in conjunction with LA-200 and a patch or sewing the lids shut - but I'm not convinced that (actually, I'm fairly certain that it's NOT effective) it is helpful.
Once the needle prick seals up and the antibiotic stops leaking out... which occurs within just a few minutes... that bleb of a couple of milliliters of penicillin will be no more effective than if you'd stuck it in the back end of the cow...and a 2-3cc dose of penicillin in a 1000-lb animal is NOTHING.

Vaccination... I'm not convinced that it's effective... commercial or autogenous... if you think it's helping in your herd, who am I to tell you not to do it?

 

[Andyva]

I've always heard the vaccine was a waste of money. A guy here swears by it. Says he ran out on one bunch, he has places rented with 15 or twenty head, all pretty close together. The bunch he vaccinated had 5 cases and none of the others have had a single one. Yet. I'll be watching him. Sometimes wasting money will make you feel better. I've been wasting mine by charging up the cattle rubs and clipping pasture and trying to treat pinkeye cases as they come. Sometimes I wonder if him vaccinating up the road is giving me more pinkeye. Is that stuff a modified live virus vaccine?

 

[Lucky_P]

No, andy; it's a bacterin... a killed bacterial preparation.

 

[TexasBred]

No, andy; it's a bacterin... a killed bacterial preparation.

Lucky what is the deal with this Vetericyn. I agree with you it's 99.5% water but everybody in the world seems to swear by it like it's magic. Never been able to waste that much money on water myself. :???:

 

[M-5]

No, andy; it's a bacterin... a killed bacterial preparation.

Lucky what is the deal with this Vetericyn. I agree with you it's 99.5% water but everybody in the world seems to swear by it like it's magic. Never been able to waste that much money on water myself. :???:

Im not lucky-P but another vet I know has said the same thing to me 5 cc bleach 95 cc water and it is the exact same thing. Kinda like going swimming in a heavy chlorinated pool and a cut seems to heal faster

 

[M-5]

viewtopic.php?t=93494

 

[TexasBred]

No, andy; it's a bacterin... a killed bacterial preparation.

Lucky what is the deal with this Vetericyn. I agree with you it's 99.5% water but everybody in the world seems to swear by it like it's magic. Never been able to waste that much money on water myself. :???:

Im not lucky-P but another vet I know has said the same thing to me 5 cc bleach 95 cc water and it is the exact same thing. Kinda like going swimming in a heavy chlorinated pool and a cut seems to heal faster

Well the pool also has a little added "P" most times. :lol: :lol2:

 

[kenny thomas]

Patch protects from more UV light and other irritation... plus, it gets the thing out of sight of the owner (lol).

ANYTHING you squirt in the eye - whether it's oil- or water-based - will be washed out by normal tear action within 10 minutes or so... probably even faster with the increased tearing that goes along with pinkeye. That said, I do commonly squirt some mastitis meds in there if I've got a tube on hand when I'm treating one.
I still think Vetericyn pinkeye stuff is total BS... it's very(expensive) dilute bleach water (99.836% water!)... not gonna hurt anything, but about all I can see it's doing is flushing the eye... and maybe just stimulating more tearing because you're bugging the animal squirting it in it's eye...

Treating with a systemic antimicrobial, like long-acting tetracyclines(LA-200/300) or Draxxin, which will be present in the tear film at the same concentration as blood/tissue fluids, essentially 'bathes' the eye in a constant therapeutic dose of the antibiotic.

I used to do the subconjunctival penicillin/steroid injections back in the day - in conjunction with LA-200 and a patch or sewing the lids shut - but I'm not convinced that (actually, I'm fairly certain that it's NOT effective) it is helpful.
Once the needle be nice seals up and the antibiotic stops leaking out... which occurs within just a few minutes... that bleb of a couple of milliliters of penicillin will be no more effective than if you'd stuck it in the back end of the cow...and a 2-3cc dose of penicillin in a 1000-lb animal is NOTHING.

Vaccination... I'm not convinced that it's effective... commercial or autogenous... if you think it's helping in your herd, who am I to tell you not to do it?

I learned a couple years ago to put penicillin and dex in the outer membrane of the eyeball. Is that no longer recommended?

 

[Rniemann]

Flush w draxin, shot of 200 and sew it shut for a week or so. Keep sun light out of eye.

 

[Lucky_P]

kenny.
I'm not convinced that the subconjunctival injections do anything once the needle-prick seals over (in just a few minutes) and the injected antibiotic stops leaking out. In my mind... better to go with a systemic drug so that its presence in the tear film is essentially 'bathing' the eye constantly... until therapeutic drug levels tail off.

 

[showcattle]

I've treated pinkeye with both sub-q injections of oxytetracycline and the subconjunctival injections of penicillin with steroids. Both cured the pinkeye. It's cheaper to do the subconjunctival injections.

 

[BK9954]

Since I started using fly ear tags, rotating brands every year, and using fly spray on the rest of the body, Have not had pink eye for 2 years while others around me do. When I did LA 20O and LA 300 would clear it up within a day. Cheaper then any prescription and it only took one dose.

 

[Ky cowboy]

Just checked all the cows that we treated look good can hardly tell any had pinkeye. One heifer still had just small amount of off color of she's not better by tomorrow I'll treat her again. The bull still has the patches on so hard to say, should make full recovery according to the vet.

 

[Ky cowboy]

Patch fell off the other eye today and he can't see I had my hand right in front of his eye and didn't even flinch. It's only been 8 days since first treatment. And I already give him a 2 nd round of la200. The one eye looks a little cloudy/milky. So my question is will it come around with more time or is it a lost cause.

 

[kenny thomas]

I had a cow last supper that couldn't see at all. Treated her 2 times then couldn't catch her again. This year she is fine. It's been a year and she still won't come into the corral while I'm there.

 

[cfpinz]

The patch is good for further fly problems from drainage,,,helps prevent transmitting the virus ,sun light,, helps speed up healing....

I think the patch is as beneficial to the healing process as the antibiotics to a certain degree. I bet we've treated 3 dozen cases this year, and only a handful wound up with significant damage - all of those due to late treatment.

Interesting thing I've noticed, all of our pinkeye this year has been in cows 5 years and younger, and most of the calves have been on those younger cows. We had a really bad outbreak about 5 or 6 years ago, and it seems the older cows have some built up immunity to the strain that's in our area this year.

 

[cfpinz]

kenny.
I'm not convinced that the subconjunctival injections do anything once the needle-prick seals over (in just a few minutes) and the injected antibiotic stops leaking out. In my mind... better to go with a systemic drug so that its presence in the tear film is essentially 'bathing' the eye constantly... until therapeutic drug levels tail off.

Would you mind if I ask your drug of choice for treatment of pinkeye using dart guns on animals that can't be easily restrained?

I've had good luck with Micotil, and keep hearing about Draxxin but I've never tried it.

Thanks.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I am a strong believer of using an eye patch. You can buy them "ShutEye", but I generally use old blue jeans (as suggested). Cut a 4-5" square, then just round off one corner. Put the middle point up with the rounded edge down. Glue both sides of top & stick over the eye, so the bottom is open & they can see "down" under the patch. I treat with 300 & use mastitis or Vetericyn to spay in eye, then patch & turn out. I hate to say it (bad luck???) but I have never lost an eye.

 

[Katpau]

Don't feel guilty about not checking cows every day. Real Ranchers who make their living raising cattle don't have time to look at every cow every day. They are usually running 100's or thousands of animals in multiple locations. The cattle are checked as often as is practical, usually when it is time to move them to new pasture.

I would bet your bull will get back at least partial vision. I have had plenty of eyes turn completely white and sometimes get so bad that they poke out like a cone with the middle draining yellow goop. Some of these have ended up with eyes that are permanently cloudy in the middle, but I have never had one lose the eye or go completely blind. Checking cows every day does not always help. One of my worse cases I spotted the day after I had run every cow thru the chutes checking and treating eyes. I must have missed that the eye was weeping the day before and by the next afternoon her eye was completely white.

We battle Pinkeye most years. About every 4 or 5 years it will hit close to 100% of the calves. The older cows are less affected. I assume they have some immunity. The worst years are usually followed by a few good years. We are very aggressive about controlling flies. We use Fly salt, pour-on repellents, ear-tags, dust bags, but we still have problems. Our local Farmers Coop gave me a Spray bottle of Vetrimycin to do a test on its effectiveness a few years ago when we had about 40 calves with weepy eyes to treat. We sprayed it in the eyes of half and left the rest as a control. We also gave a shot of LA300 to the worse calves. There was no noticeable difference between the two groups. We had to pull in about the same number of calves from each group and give them LA300 a few days later.

 

[Waterway65]

The veterinary service here also has a vaccine made up for our area. I use it religiously every year on every animal. It's been 20 years since our last case.