Doeling going blind

[mpete]

A friend of mine has an alpine doeling, approx. 5 months old. Apparently the doeling has shown no sign of injury or illness, but the eye swelled up a couple weeks ago. She has been giving an antibiotic eye ointment, the swelling is gone, but the goat appears to be blind in that eye. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what it is?
The goat is in a pen with no weeds/grass. Fed alfalfa. No obvious wounds anywhere, and no where that we can find anything sticking out.

[Bearfootfarm]

I'd keep using the antibiotic.

Sometimes those infections will make the eye look "cloudy" for a while

[Minelson]

Make sure the ointment doesn't have steroids in it. That would make the swelling go down but make any ulcers worse. If the ointment is labeled with Dex or Hydrocortisone that means it has steroids in it. An eye stain would have to be done to determine if there are any scratches or ulcers.

[mygoat]

Usually with pinkeye, you need to give a daily shot of a stronger antibiotic, like Oxytetracycline. I had two with pinkeye. I also put off-brand neosporin (NOT pain relief formula) in their eye 2x per day. If the eye ulcerates, it will take forever to heal, though it may just be normal clouding of the cornea which should clear up when the infection does.

[mpete]

QUESTION: We have come across a warning of using oxytetracline on goats younger than 6 months, says it can interferr with teeth and bone growth.
Also, if it is safe to use on this 4 month doeling, how much and for how long... our dose says 1 cc per 25 lbs every other day for 3 doses.

[mygoat]

Goat's metabolism is so fast that it must be used daily in them... I believe I used the 1cc per 25lbs doseage.

I used it in pregnant goats - no other option. Nothing bad happened to their developing kids. I caught it early. I think I used it for like 15 days or something.

If it were my goat, I'd take it to the vet. If the damage is bad enough, the eye can rupture. They may be able to point you to an effective antibiotic that won't cause growth issues.

[fishhead]

I've read with pinkeye it's more comfortable to have the eye covered when outside.

[saanengirl]

Thiamine deficiency can cause blindness.