Eye Inflamation Traced to Burrs

Winter sometimes brings eye problems in cattle, caused by burdock slivers. This plant has seeds that stick to fur or clothing. When ripe, the burrs release hundreds of microscopic barbed slivers. If a slivers gets into the eye of a horse or cow, it can cause inflammation and infection that may puzzle your veterinarian, since the microscopic sliver is not easily seen. The cornea of the eye may become inflamed and ulcerated; the eye may turn cloudy and have a white spot or bulge on it.

In cattle the problem may be mistaken for pinkeye, however pinkeye is a summer problem. By contrast, burdock slivers get in the eye in fall or winter after burrs are ripe. A sliver becomes embedded in the eyelid, where it scratches the eye every time the animal blinks, creating an ulcer on the eyeball. The sliver is so small that the usual tools used by a veterinarian to examine an eye (a focal light and magnifying lens) may not be powerful enough to locate and identify the foreign object.

A few years ago, veterinarians at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine found that staining an eye with fluorescein dye made it easier to locate an embedded sliver. A powerful magnifying lens is used to pinpoint the sliver. It is removed with forceps, and the infection clears up.

If an animal has an inflamed eye that is not responding to treatment (topical antibiotics--sprays, powders, ointments put into the eye), a burr fragment should be suspected. If the embedded sliver cannot be located during an on-farm examination, the eye of a cow or calf can be still be successfully treated by controlling the infection with a small injection of long-acting penicillin put into the inner side of the eyelid (as you would for a bad case of pinkeye), and the eye stitched or patched shut to protect it and keep it closed. The constant bathing of the eye in its own tears has a healing effect, and keeping the eyelid from blinking will reduce irritation from the sliver that rubs the eyeball every time the eyelid moves. Eventually the sliver works out on its own (like any festered sliver). By the time the eye patch comes loose or stitches come out, the eye is usually healed.

Burrs can hang on the dead dry plant all winter and into the spring. Sometimes dry plants will remain in spring and animals may come in contact with the burrs at pasture even before new plants have put forth any flowers or seeds. ©