eye rupture

[babsbag]

CA is a big state so are in you anywhere near Redding? I can get you the name of a couple of goat vets up here if you need them. I am pretty sure you can buy Pen at TSC but not positive about that.

I really don't know how I would treat an eye injury without my vet, no experience with those at all. But I do know that Terramycin is an ointment you would use for an eye infection in a cat or dog so maybe that would work. I think you can get that at some feed stores too.

Sorry I am not more help.

 

[Shepherd Moon]

CA is a big state so are in you anywhere near Redding? I can get you the name of a couple of goat vets up here if you need them. I am pretty sure you can buy Pen at TSC but not positive about that.

I really don't know how I would treat an eye injury without my vet, no experience with those at all. But I do know that Terramycin is an ointment you would use for an eye infection in a cat or dog so maybe that would work. I think you can get that at some feed stores too.

Sorry I am not more help.

I'm at the other end of the state - near Disneyland. I found a post here on BYH about treating eye injuries, so I'm trying it...

 

[Shepherd Moon]

I've been searching websites all day, so I'm going to attempt to document my efforts, for better or worse, in case someone else ever needs help...

Quick update - I found a vet willing to put down my goat today, but not willing to work on her eye. I think my goat (by the way, her name is Peaches) is not suffering. I'd even go so far as to say she seems to be enjoying all the attention from family and neighbors concerned about her. I'm giving her 2 aspirin and half an MSM/Glucosamine pill inside banana slices twice a day and she's loving them. All this is to say, I can't put her down because she doesn't want to leave us yet. But I am very concerned about infection, so I'm going to try to fix her on my own.

Here's the post I found from July 2013 which is giving me a plan to follow:

Best thing you can do for any eye injury is to use Penicillin. It doesn't burn the eye and is not acidic but most importantly is it works great with eye injuries.

Right now if she is just keeping it closed and it's weeping it doesn't sound so bad right now. Did you look in the eye too? Can you see a cut or gash, etc.?

I have had several eye issues in the past as my goats live in the woods. One was so bad that I was pretty sure the goat would die. His eye was basically bulging out of his head and the cornea was separated. After some Penicillin treatments and a while of waiting he turned out just fine.

Most eye issues do take care of themselves but if my goats get one I like to treat just because of what I've seen.

What you need to do is buy yourself some Penicillin. I use Dura-Pen with Pen G Benzathine and Pen G Procaine at 300,000 units per mL. What you need to do is give an injection IM in the hip twice a day at a dose of 1cc per 40 pounds as well as a couple cc's squirted directly into the eye once a day. With Penicillin you MUST go at least 5 days. Never go less than that. Go 5 to 10 days. I do 7 myself.

Let's start with the problem that I cannot find Dura-Pen - except online and at least one more day away, but I don't want to put off medicating my goat any longer. Here's what I learned: Dura-Pen, Tandem, Twin-Pen and Combi-Pen are all the same thing (and I can't find any of them). They are 150,000 units of Benzathine and 150,000 units of Procaine, totaling the 300,000 units mentioned in the post. Benzathine is supposed to be long lasting, whereas Procaine is supposed to be fast acting, so it would have been a nice combo. But I did find several websites that said Benzathine is no longer effective against many bacteria these days. (One website said Procaine isn't effective anymore either, but most places seemed to think it is still okay.)

Happily, I found Aspen Bactracillin G (which is Procaine 300,000 units per 1mL) at my feed store, but the directions says to use 1mL per 100 pounds, which conflicts with the 1cc (cc = mL) per 40 pounds suggested in the post. And that conflicts with other websites saying 3-10mL for an adult goat - some even say double it for the first injection. This is day 4 since she injured herself - without any antibiotics yet, so I don't want to underdose, but I don't want to kill with my efforts either. I found a website specifically telling me that goats require MORE Procaine than other animals, so I'm going to guess her weight is about 60-lbs and I'm going to do a 3mL first injection. (fingers-crossed!)

Next, the instructions say to inject IM (intramuscular):
"Injected deep within a major muscle mass, such as that in the hind leg or on the shoulder. It should be given with an 18 gauge, 2.5 to 4 cm needle, pointed straight into the muscle. Before injecting the drug, always withdraw on the syringe plunger to make sure you haven't hit a blood vessel. If this happens, blood will flow into the syringe. To correct, simply replace the needle in the muscle."

but my goat research seems to prefer SQ (subcutaneously):
"Injected under the skin, usually in the neck or behind the shoulder. Usually a 1 to 2.5 cm needle is inserted at an angle through the skin. So that you do not stick yourself, pick up the skin with your fingers and insert the needle through the skin while it is pointed away from your fingers."

I learned the shot into the muscle is supposed to work faster, but the one under the skin is supposed to hurt less (and cause less "damage"?). I decided to go for the faster-acting injection into the muscle for her first dose and switch to under the skin later. No pressure, but here's the fine print, "Penicillin injections that hit a blood vein can kill an animal almost immediately". So be careful!

First problem, she is old and wasting away (did I forget to mention that in her list of ailments?), so finding a meaty place is difficult. I got the needle in and tried to pull the plunger to see if I would draw blood (i.e. hit a vein) - nope - so far so good. Next, I don't know needle sizes, so I picked the skinniest one so it would hurt less - right? Unfortunately penicillin is too thick to inject quickly through the narrow needle, so the syringe popped off the needle and 3 mL of penicillin exploded all over me. As I said, I don't know needles, but the one marked 5/8, 25G is too small. Instead, I moved to 1, 20G, and this time didn't want the stress of finding a muscle, not a vein again (that whole "instant death" thing), so I pinched up some skin from her neck and injected subcutaneously.

My (wonderful!) son flushed her eye with buffered saline solution from the drug store and then squirted about 1-2cc of penicillin into the eye, using a syringe (with no needle of course!). I still cringe when I look at her eye, so I'm really grateful for his help! I should probably post pictures if I want this to be useful to someone someday, but it's a hard thing to look at.

More later... (wish me luck!)

 

[Shepherd Moon]

Day 5 (Warning photo included)

She's still doing fine. I'm giving her 2mL injections of Penicillin G Procaine (300,000 units per mL) subcutaneously in the neck twice a day - plus I'm rinsing the eye with buffered sterile saline and then squirting 2mL more Penicillin into the eye (assuming about 1mL actually gets in).

Here's a picture from Day 3, after washing and trimming her face:

 

[Goatgirl47]

Awww poor girl! I'm glad she's doing better.

Good luck!

 

[norseofcourse]

Sorry you haven't been able to find a vet who could help, but I know you'll do all you can for her, hope it goes well and thanks for the update.

 

[babsbag]

Yes, you are a long way from Redding. With needles the bigger the number the smaller they are. I use 20 gauge for most stuff but as you found Pen is thick so 18 would be better.

Good job treating her, hope that it all helps.

 

[Latestarter]

God bless you and the goat... you both need it! I hope she's feeling better and no infection.

 

[Shepherd Moon]

Day 6

I don't feel like I'm doing a good job with the injections... In the beginning Peaches was accepting the shots pretty well, but I'm trying to find new places on her neck and it seems each shot is more painful than the last. (And I hold my breath everytime, worried about hitting a vein, even though these shots should be landing under the skin (SQ), not in her muscle (IM). I'm still a little freaked about the instant death thing, if I accidentally inject Penicillin into a vein.) So I've moved to YouTube for some additional guidance in goat injections:

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I've found that the easiest place to give a SQ injection is somewhere over the rib cage. It's easy to use the hair to pull up a 'tent' of skin and just slip the needle in. Of course, I didn't really factor in the 'angora' part of this goat, lol. All that fiber might make it a bit more difficult to see what you're doing, but after you've done it a few times you can literally do it with your eyes closed...just watch out for your fingers! Good luck!