[Remy]

Bit of a long story, sorry!

We got the sheep in a couple of weeks ago for treating prior to them being shorn, as it was during the heatwave and some of them had been flystruck, and the shearer wasn't coming till the following Saturday.  They also needed worming/vaccinating so all was done at the same time. 


Well I did an extremely dumb thing, I have not used Dectomax before and had been told it was a treatment for scab/lice and it was recommended to treat some of the sheep I had bought.  Usually I always check the product information but for some reason I didn't, but if I had would have realised Dectomax is indeed a wormer as well as treatment for all these extras.  So, the sheep ended up being unintentionally drenched with Cydectin AS WELL AS injected with Dectomax  .  Both are however, from the same group of anthelmintics (avermectin).


One of the sheep I noticed had a slightly cloudy eye, it was Tiny the little Gotland who nearly died earlier in the year.  It didn't look infected and I wondered if she had just scratched it on a hawthorn bush.  All the other sheep were fine, treatment was done and the sheep turned out into a restricted paddock to make it easier to catch them for shearing.


Shearing was done last Saturday, all was well and the the flock put back into their usual field.  Then a couple of days ago I heard a lone sheep baaing constantly and it was Tiny who seemed to be running all over the field aimlessly.  I went out to check her and saw that both her eyes were cloudy  , then looked closely at some of the others, and to my horror found that several of them had the same and I was terrified that I had made them blind due to overdosing with the wormer! I've had sheep with eye infections before but never had any that have gone cloudy, so I was panic stricken. I went to check the rams with sinking heart but to my relief they were all okay.


I made a frantic call to the vet who said he doubted very much it was the wormer as it usually has a wide safety margin for overdosing, it was more likely to be contagious opthalmia and he would come to look later.  I then remembered that Tiny already had the cloudy eye before she was wormed but boy, was I sick to the stomach in my state of panic - I had visions of losing all my flock!  I reckon it was either the shearer who spread the infection or the long grass in the restricted paddock, but it's incredible how easily these things pass amongst a flock.  Strangely it's only the Gotlands who seem to have developed this cloudy eye, the others who are infected just have a sticky eye at the moment.


Anyhow all the ewes and lambs have now been checked/treated and fingers crossed their eyes recover  , and I am going to be MUCH more attentive to what I am giving my sheep in future (even if that wasn't actually the cause!) 

[jaykay]

How scary! But the vet knows what they're talking about - hopefully it's the contagious thing and eye drops or antibiotics will sort it 

[colliewoman]

In my experience contagious opthalmia, will once in your flock spread through the lot
Opticlox was very good I seem to recall, If it is CO get plenty in. The bonus is, none of my sheep ever had a second case of it
Brace yourself and get the meds in, hopefully you won't need them. If you do have it, don't despair I wish someone at the time told me it took a while to clear, but it does and leaves them none the worse for wear

[Pedwardine]

Oh my word. Keep us posted on progress. I really hope they all recover  . Can't believe how much hassle you're having with your sheep. Sincerely sorry to hear this latest news.

[Bramblecot]

Poor you  , poor Tiny and all her chums  .  I have not encountered this, another thing to worry about , any info appreciated.

[omnipeasant]

Dectomax should be kept for bringing new sheep onto your land as a firewall. We have never had any trouble after dosing with it but only use it infrequently as we are a closed flock. I presume you will follow your vet's advice for your regular wormer dosing.

In future try to get some one to come and dag them. My hubby dags the sheep at this time to stop the flies getting a place to lay their eggs. It also makes it easier for the shearer later.

If any of our sheep have been too close to the gorse and scratched their eyes it always goes cloudy. Don't be too alarmed, it is the blood supply to the eye to aid healing that causes this and will clear as they heal. 

[SallyintNorth]

Sheep's eyes are incredibly resilient; we had a ewe lost her entire eye, back to the bony socket, with flystrike.  A year later, you couldn't tell her from the other sheep in the flock.  I don't think she could see out of it, but the entire eye had regrown, iris, pupil and all, and looked perfectly normal.

Same farm we also had bouts of contagious ophthalmia most years.  We tried all available treatments and concluded that most would recover full eyesight, hardly any if any would die provided they were kept safe while they were blind and mad (they were Swales, a blind Swale is a stark staring bonkers Swale - in fact, that may be the origin of the phrase! ) - and that none of the treatments made any real difference; they'd recover anyway.

And yes, I don't think any sheep got it twice although I can't be certain.  Mostly it was our hoggs that got it in their first winter but a few older ladies would get it some years too.

[Remy]

The thing that alarmed me was the cloudiness of the Gotland eyes, they looked really blind and a couple of them actually are at the mo because they keep walking into things.  It must be something to do with their eye colouring as none of the other sheep had the same cloudiness, they just had sticky eyes.  Well after having got the whole flock in twice in two weeks it was a real pain to get the 39 ewes and lambs in again to treat them.  I had to give all the adults an AB jab but decided to give it to the lambs too as there was no point in just treating some, as the condition is so contagious. 


The vet said to put eye ointment in the ones that had affected eyes - but easier said than done!!     Try putting ointment in an adult sheep's eye who does not want it in - some of them protested so violently I could not get the tube anywhere near it and risked puncturing the eyeball.  I decided to put the ointment on my finger which I know isn't sterile but the only way I could actually get any in.  I had a bucket of soapy water to wash my hands in between sheep!  It was a nightmare.  I'm supposed to re-treat the ones with affected eyes but think I am going to leave it and hope it clears on it's own as they've all had long acting ABs, they are very suspicious of me at the moment, even my ultra-friendly Gotland twins are keeping away 


I'll try to get some pics of it as it might be useful for those of you who haven't experienced it before.

[Polished Arrow]

Hope they all recover - and you too from the shock!

[Pedwardine]

How are they? Has their sight returned?

[Sylvia]

I had this this spring, never had it before. I treated the four ewes who are co-operative (sort of ) but left the one I can't get near. Her eyes cleared up at the same rate as the treated ones.

[Foobar]

My lambs got this last autumn ... they are black sheep and looked hilarious with white rings (of eye ointment) around their eyes!!   

[Remy]

How are they? Has their sight returned?

It's been a nightmare!  The ones who had it bad, seemed to recover after a fair while and at one time I thought it had gone - but some of them have got it again  .  I've given ABs to the adults affected and treated their eyes but it just seems to be going round and round - I assumed that the affected sheep might develop some kind of immunity but it appears not  .  I will ask my vet's advice on how best to manage it, I don't want to bring them in as IME this just encourages more disease, but perhaps I will have to separate the badly affected ones.

[Foobar]

I would definitely separate the affected ones.  It's just so contagious.

[SallyintNorth]

That sounds very odd - we used to get infectious blindness on the moorland farm, but I really don't think any of them ever got it twice.  However, we didn't treat it unless the sheep was clearly in pain - maybe that helped them develop immunity?