Monday, October 3, 2011

Update on Pegasus eye injury

Back when I was rushing around a couple weeks ago, Pegasus had the nerve to injure his eye, which necessitated my taking him down to the University of Illinois vet clinic, which is a day-long trip for me, which I really did not have time to do! But goats do not understand about human plans and schedules and such things, so I had to make time to take care of Pegasus.

I had initially feared the worst, expecting them to tell me that he'd need eye surgery for thousands of dollars to restore his sight, but it turned out to be far simpler than that. He had only damaged his eyelid. His vision was fine. I could hardly believe it when the vet showed me this tiny little divot in the skin of his upper eyelid. That tiny little thing was causing so much swelling? His eyelid was so swollen, it had pretty much turned inside out because it had nowhere else to go.

No doubt lover boy had injured the eyelid as he slammed against the livestock panel fencing that separates him from Draco, another buck. Every time either buck had a date with a doe, both of them would slam their heads against the fence to butt heads with each other and show off their machismo.

The vet instructed the student to make three tiny incisions in the swollen part of the eyelid, and they they went back and forth three or four times rinsing the eye and putting sugar on it. Yes, table sugar! Apparently it is good for reducing swelling, and I saw the eyelid going down in size while we were there. It was really amazing. They gave us some antibiotic ointment for the eye and sent us home. I had to leave for Pennsylvania the next morning, but Katherine took good care of Pegasus while I was gone, and when I got home, his eye was back to normal. This was the third time I'd taken Pegasus to U of I this year, and I really hope it's the last.

5 comments:

Michelle said...

Don't you just love testosterone? My new ram knocked one scur off, then loosened the other one so that it sits funny on his head (and ran blood down the side of his face) doing the same thing. Sigh.

Deborah Niemann said...

Yep, that testosterone is deadly stuff! I'm sure it won't be the last time either of us has to deal with such injuries.

Donna OShaughnessy said...

In the old days, we used to use sugar to treat decubitus (bed sores) but then the megapharmacies got involved and cheap treatments went bye bye. Glad to hear U of I is giving the old treatments a place in modern vet care

Deborah Niemann said...

Thanks for sharing, Donna! That's good to know!

DangAndBlast! said...

Heh - Dr. Red Duke (amazing surgeon, celebrity status in the Houston Medical Center) still uses brown sugar to pack out wounds. When my brother-in-law was interning, Dr. Duke sent him out to the store to buy some brown sugar - he thought he was being given the boss's grocery list! Pretty soon he learned that some excellent doctors consider it more effective than "modern" treatments - and it's certainly cheaper!

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