Really bad eye - what IS this??

[Keren]

Found this little three month old girl last night. Saw tear stains on her face and figured grass seed in the eye (very common at this time of year, and with the angoras, pull it out and they are good as gold). When I caught her I realised it wasnt as simple as that.

Of course, I found her on a Sunday and today (Monday) is a public holiday so we are off to the vet tomorrow morning. In the meantime I have cleaned it a little, clipped the hair and put on a pink eye patch. Also gave oxytet because it was hot and swollen. She is thankfully still eating and playing happily.

None of these photos are very good, but you can see there is sort of a growth type thing on the eyeball (the eyeball itself is all blue), the 'growth' for lack of a better term is about 1cm long by 0.5cm wide.

A few people (neighbours and the like) have guessed at what it could be but none are really sure. Ruptured eyeball? Cancer? (would it really happen in something this young, though?) Pinkeye? Really REALLY bad grass seed? Some sort of injury ...

I really dont know what it is and how to treat it, which is why I will be paying my vet a visit in the morning *sigh* :frowns: I swear, I must be singlehandedly keeping my vet fed, clothed, housed and watered lately.

 

[KNERSIE]

It looks like it is likely some form of malignant growth, can't say it looks like most eye cancer cases I've seen, but really can't think of anything else it could be.

Oxytet might help if the goat has a fever because of infection, but I doubt it will do much in terms of a long term solution. I think that goat has reached the end of its usefull life.

 

[Keren]

thanks for the input, Knersie. Yes, I only gave the oxytet because I was concerned that there might be infection in/around the eye due to the hot swelling. My thoughts were eye cancer - but can it develop this young? She is a weaner - only three months. Also, can it develop this quickly? Last time I saw this kid, inspected her thoroughly - was two days before I found this.

 

[KNERSIE]

I suppose its possible to get cancer eye this young, but not very likely. No I don't think it can grow that big in two days, probably a ruptured eyeball, just hard to tell from the pics with certainty. The eye looks beyond repair to me.

 

[dun]

I'm thinking ulcerated eyeball from severe and untreated pinkeye

 

[Keren]

Dun - the eye was normal two days ago. By that I mean no weeping, no blue/red/cloudiness, she wasnt holding less open than normal, no foreign objects. Unless it was a subclinical pinkeye?????

I was really shocked that it was so bad so quickly, whatever it is. Will be interesting to see what the vet thinks.

 

[hillsdown]

If she just developed this then my guess is she caught it on something. Do you have any wire sticking out in her pen that she could have run into ?

Looks really bad Keren, let us know what the vet finds.

 

[Keren]

Hills - I am sure there is something sharp she could have cut it on - a piece of wire, corrugated iron, or glass. Goodness knows my place if full of rubbish - I fill up two feed bags every day of glass, wire etc. and I still have more.

Will let you know what the vet thinks.

 

[VtMapleGal]

our calf had a spot on his eye this spring. not big like that, but a bump. i think he scratched or partially punctured his eye. Its healed now and is fine. his eye was blue when he had it also.

 

[Keren]

Vet says ruptured eyeball. The 'growth' thingy is scar tissue - vet said, the kid would have cut/punctured the eye, all the goop in it would have poured out, then the scar tissue has blocked up the whole and the eye has rebuilt the pressure, therefore returning the eyeball to normal size. Interesting stuff.

She felt the best thing to do was to remove the eye and stitch the eyelids together. Given that there was a lot of pain, and very little chance of the eye to heal by itself. She is booked in tomorrow for the surgery, not sure yet whether they will let me observe and take photos.