Blocked tear-ducts?

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Ouburgia

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My 14 year old mare has as long as I know her (11 years) watering eyes. So far I could control it with cleaning and every now and than a paste I can get at our vet.

At this moment it is getting out of control. She now has long slimy things coming out of her eyes. I can also tell her eyes are irritated because they are red and itches a lot.

I have the feeling her tear-ducts are blocked.

A few years ago we had a foal at our stable that missed 1 of her tear-ducts.

At the clinic they gave one with a surgery.

Is there a way to clean the tear-ducts?

I know this can be done with dogs but what about horses?

How can I find out if they really are blocked?

Does she need a visit to the clinic to handle this?

Does anybody have experience with this so I can get some advice.
 
Yes its a vet procedure. They just run a small tube and drain it.
 
For humans, a blocked tear duct can sometimes be helped with warm compresses to the area several times a day to loosen the blockage, then rinsing with sterile solutions (sterile human eye rinse for foreign bodies would do for horses-NOT VISINE-just saline solutions.). You could try that and see what happens until the vet can see your horse. If it is blocked too far down, it will need intubation procedures. It could be that it has just crusted over higher up and can be dislodged with warm compresses (not hot-just warm, held on for about 4-5 minutes). It will do no harm anyway.
 
I was told recently by a equine chiropractor that weepy eyes often is a signal to her that an adjustment is required. I don't know if that is so but she believed it. I had a foxtrotter gelding for a few years that had narrow tear ducts. His eyes ran alot and when they stopped he would get goopy eyes. I always used a warm wet cloth and after a bit they'd re-open. I never tried having him adjusted, who knows, might have helped
 
As Marty says, it's an easy thing for a vet to do.

You can do it yourself after a vet shows you how to find the little hole in the nose to put the tube in and flush.
 
I work for a group of Ophthalmologists. A blocked tear duct will result in an overflow of tears, but is not related to irritation or discharge (this could be a sign of a chronic infection or allergies). In humans, when we flush a duct, and it opens, the saline will drain in the back of the throat. I would suggest a visit to the vet to determine which is present.
 
Bloodshot eyes and the goop may mean she has an allergy.

Also, you just reminded me of a mare we used to own who had chronic bloodshot, goopy eyes. I noticed that her forelock was always in her face, so I grabbed the scissors and gave her bangs! Her eyes cleared up in a matter of a day or two!

I was over visiting our former mare at her new home and laughed when I saw that her new owner was also giving her bangs.....
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whell, I am not going to cut her forlock
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Its braided all the time so the hair doesn't come in her eyes.

The vet is comming tomorrow, only I can't be there, the owner of the boarding stable will take care of it for me
 
I had rescued a pony once that had a really runny eye... when the vet came to flush it he discovered the pony had been born without a duct... there was no "hole" in the nasal cavity to drain so the eye just backed up out the top in the eyelid!

The "long stringy" stuff to me sounds like fly eggs. They lay egg sacs in runny eyes.

To flush, the vet will insert a thin catheter up the hole in the nasal cavity and flush with saline solution. You can use saline solution to help the eye, and a flymask will also help.

Good luck,

andrea
 
Had a QH mare years past whose tear ducts had to be flushed - can't imagine doing it myself... If memory serves, she had to be mildly sedated, it's not a major procedure but must be somewhat uncomfortable.

Jan
 

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