The Ulcer!

The vet had concluded that not only did RV now have uveitis in his right eye, he also had an ulcer. Because of the ulcer, he was also not able to see out of his right eye. He put him on his topical ointments except for the steriods, (it can blind him with the ulcer), banamine, and some oral steriods. He was coming back in 3 days to see his progress.

When the vet came to see if RV was getting any better, he concluded that he could do nothing for him. I got on the phone and made an appointment at New Bolton Center for the next morning. This was in November of 2009 right before RV was supposed to go on a hunter pace the next weekend.

As we went to load him in the trailor, I noticed he was having a hard time judging how to get up the ramp, and I knew it was because he couldn't see, which of course always got me really upset.  It took a lot of patience and guidance and he did go in.  I took him to New Bolton Center and he was there for about 10 days before we got to pick him up. I worked with Dr. Mary Utter who is the opthamologist up there and is wonderful! She comforted me, letting me know he was going to be ok it would just take time. They put a cathedar through his mane and into the top of his eye. This device helped to get the medication deep into the eye and also helped RV feel a little more comfortable becuase he no longer had to deal with people constantly putting medication in his eye.

Dr. Utter also suggested that I look into getting cyclosporine implants put into RV's eyes. She explained that the implants get inserted under the bone on top of his eyes. They release medicine every so often to control flare-ups and are good for 5 years. She gave an example of a mare that had come in with uvieits and her flare-ups went down to once every 6 months with the implants. I remember thinking that I would do anything just to have a flare-up every 6 months, as he was up to about once a week by this time. I took the paperwork home to do some research and think about it.

RV came home with the cathedar in and I had to leave him in for a few weeks. I lounged him everyday to give him excercise and keep him in shape. RV is a thoroughbred, where he is not hot, he does have energy, so this was helpful during this time. After about a month, the cathedar came out and the eye had healed. Dr. Utter had given me a lot of information on uveitis, letting me know that it can be very hard to control, and RV's case was aggressive. She suggested doing what's called "maintenance medication." She gave me dyclocenac, which was safe to use all the time. I started putting the topical ointment in both eyes twice a day everyday to help prevent/control future flare-ups, with the mentality that we could eventually ween him off the ointment and go down to a couple of times a week.

Jessica