a little pink eye confusion...

[dk_40207]

Two of our goats have pink eyes with gunky discharge. I've never seen a goat w/ pink eye--but I assume this is it. These two also have runny noses/coughs, though.
I was reading on fiasco that oxytetracycline is the only treatment for this--but it says not to use on pregnant does. Well they have all been bred to my knowledge, and it says to use on the whole herd....
Someone tell me what to do!!

[Jcran]

I used oxytetracycline on one of my does to save her life (after returning from a holiday trip abroad and she'd been sick for days, the caregivers not knowing enough to see it) and she prompted aborted. Try something else! Or use the tetracycline only on those you know are NOT bred.

[DocM]

For pinkeye (in any animal), I use an NFZ Puffer. It's .2% nitrofurazone powder in a squeeze bottle. You puff it dry directly into the eye. It's hard to get though because it's a suspected carcinogen in humans. But of course, so are cigarettes. Wear gloves.

[homebirtha]

You can use the penicillan directly in the eye, but there is some controversy that it doesn't work either way, so I don't know that I'd risk it with a bred doe. I believe the advice that oxy is the only thing that works is based on cattle, and the cause is different in goats.

Today, the mastitis treatment, can also work. You also put that directly in the eye. Do a search here on pink eye. There are some other recommendations as well that might be better to use on a pg doe.

[reneeearle]

I used LA 200 directly on the eyes, and it cleared them up within a couple of days. This was after repeated out breaks, and repeated pencillin shots, and la 200 shots.
Renee

[dk_40207]

I've searched and read many posts about pinkeye in goats. I am still alittle confused..but here is what I think the concensus is...
It WILL clear up on its own as long as a secondary infection doesn't creep in.
I CAN spray something in the eyes...but it won't nessesarily help it heal faster.
DON'T use tetracycline on a pregnant doe.

Here is what I am still confused about. I was reading about the pink eye and how it is often times chlamydia and chlamydia can cause aborts etc... Well everyone who said that there preg goats had chlamydia treated w/ tetracycline to prevent abort and stillbirth..... I feel like I may have missed something . Did I read something wrong?

I just still don't know how to proceed. It appears that two out of 9 goats have it...right now. They re all together, though. They have been breeding, and the buck is one of the ones who has it

NEVER TAKE "FREE" GOATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a healthy herd before, and it just seems to be one thing after another after I took these neglected goats.....

[noname]

The first thing you need to do is to isolate the goats that have it. If you keep them together, you will soon have 9 goats with pinkeye.

I've just recently learned about this myself (see my thread further on down), but I can tell you that pinkeye is a localized infection. Chlamydia or not, it's not going to cause a stillbirth unless the bacteria either enters the bloodstream or the reproductive tract of the goat. Standard microbiology applies whether you're talking goats, hamsters, or humans.

My little goat is doing better after a couple of days of terramycin ointment and then regular saline eye washes to rinse away the gunk. Although his corneas are still a bit cloudy, he obviously can see something as he now blinks when I get near his eyes. He also came over to check out his salt pan after I'd filled it yesterday, and he can find his food and water without much trouble. I am not putting him back with the others until his eyes are totally clear, but by isolating him quickly I kept any of the others from getting it.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

It's not normal to get pinkeye this time of year...it usually hits early spring with the flys. During fly season, isolating goats from each other won't do much in the way of stopping the spread. And once you get it and get through it, you won't usually get it much again, and if you do it's mild, unless you bring in new goats who have it.

There are several types of pinkeye goats get, and yes if mycoplasma or chlamydia is the type and it's early pregnancy, you can bet you will see some abortions in later pregnacy. Treating the does with injectable tetracycline, and keeping the herd on oral, will abate that. And it's why during pregnancy I would have an eye swab done for a diagnosis, because on tetracycline the girls would be off the milkstring.

No matter if you swab, wipe, spray or give shots, it goes away in it's own time, it comes back many times over and over lasting weeks, and in other herds comes, goes and never comes back with any treatment. Treatment can be as involved or as uninvolved as you make it, but nothing is going to make it go away faster....if one treatment of anything worked than it would have gone away that day anyway.

So make sure your busy work you make for yourself is something you can continue, and not cost you alot of money. Vicki