-
Bandit’s Story
Bandit is our beloved 30-year-old quarter horse. I was never looking to change anything about his diet or lifestyle because he’s been doing remarkably well for his age despite mild arthritis and chronic uveitis in one eye that was manageable. But this past July he got a corneal ulcer in the eye with the uveitis. It took much longer than expected to heal, and he kept getting smaller abrasions to his cornea from rubbing the uncomfortable eye through his fly mask. Over three months our vet tried everything he had to reduce the inflammation and allow this eye to fully heal. He has been wearing an eye saver mask with a cup over his eye for 3 months. He’s been having ointment applied six times a day. He’s been on multiple antibiotics. He’s been on daily Banamine or Bute. We tried antihistamine with no response. He’s had MANY vet visits (I’ve lost count) and even a second vet was called in. The ulcers would heal but the inflammation would not go away and his eye remained clouded and somewhat painful.
During this time I started our other horses on the no-grain diet and began soaking all of our hay. I decided we didn’t have much to loose at this point so I took Bandit off his (27% NSC) grain as well. I replaced it with soaked hay pellets and 1 lb of soybean meal instead, and he didn’t object to the change. We are 3 weeks in to this change and his eye inflammation is almost completely gone. He is no longer on anti-inflammatory drugs. He is so far maintaining his weight and is enjoying the soaked hay and eating more than when it was dry.
3 MONTHS of treatment with a variety of drugs.
3 WEEKS of eliminating sugars.
-
3 Replies
-
I’ve gone through repeated bouts of corneal ulcers with my 19 yr. old Missouri Fox Trotter gelding. I totally understand what you’ve been through with the meds, repeated vet visits and $$$. My vet specializes in equine ophthalmology and has been so good at explaining and teaching me so much. My horse gets a daily eye check and a fly mask before he gets turned out. He’s been grain free for over 2 yrs. and still had issues with the ulcers so don’t let your guard down. I totally agree that eliminating the grain is a huge help, especially with reducing the inflammation, but it may not keep the ulcers from recurring. Just a side note, my gelding has also been diagnosed and treated for Cushings/Insulin Resistance and we now have him on Pergolide. My vet feels there could be a link between these issues. Again, I feel that being grain free has been a huge help in dealing with these issues.
-
Sandy, thank you for your feedback and sharing your story! That’s interesting, we are doing the ACTH test for Cushings on him next week as well. He doesn’t have any other symptoms, but our vet wants to check because he also feels there could be a link. Bandit is pretty comfortable in his eye saver mask, so we just keep him in it full time now with a fly mask over it, and give that eye special attention and a drop of ointment daily.
-
@Emily – Thank you for this intriguing observation. This sounds so exciting! for Bandit (and you)!
Also, thank you @Sandy_K for your reply as I too would caution to keep observing the eyes for problems.
Chronic tearing, crusting and ulcerations of the cornea needs an underlying cause. Both of these conditions can be associated with a systemic disease such as Cushing’s disease in both horses, dogs and humans. They are usually bilateral but can sometimes only affect one eye. It may show only as crusty eyes which appears as a blocked tear duct. In all cases, re-treating the eye is common until the underlying cause is found.
In Bandit’s case, you are removing sugar from the diet more effectively with hay soaking than just removing the grain and inflammatory byproducts. In addition, you are replacing the lost amino acids with the feeding of soybean meal. This one-two punch to the nutrition is correcting the Cushing’s disease and secondarily improving the eyes.
Please keep us updated here over the coming months with progress reports. If the Cushing’s test comes back positive then a follow up test will be worth doing for comparison. It will be up to you and your vet to add medication if the results are positive for Cushing’s. However, in the discussion should be signs of improving symptoms since the diet change.
Thanks again for this discussion. We ALL are learning about Cushing’s disease and the effects of sugar on the horse’s body. Doc T
Log in to reply.