Pepper

8/5/01 - There was a pony with horribly infected eyes at an auction yesterday. Pepper, his new name, is now at TIER in a makeshift pen. A call is in to the vet, we have put some ocular ointment w/cordizone in his eyes. Left eye is much worse than the right. It is thought that his tear ducts need to be irrigated, but will wait for the vet's treatment/recommendation.

Update 8/7/01 - Vet says he does have conjunctivitis (spelling?). Pepper also sustained injuries to his eyelids (tears on lower and upper lids) which will require surgery to repair them so that debris doesn't always get in them. We will also need to order a SMALL Guardian Mask (Pearl's favorite attire) for him. He needs to have ointment put in his eyes twice a day.

Once some of the swelling goes down, we will arrange to have the surgery done. Because Pepper is a little fireball, he will have to be heavily sedated......asleep, therefore, the cost of surgery is a little higher. But, if we can get him a little more comfortable about having his eyes medicated, they may be able to sedate him enough to do surgery without putting his lights out! HA! He's getting a "little" more tolerant of having the ointment put in his eyes, but I imagine that's because it makes them feel better.

Update 10/30/01 - We have been medicating Pepper's eyes daily since his arrival. No easy task I might add. HA! Originally, we had to halter him and tie him short to even get near his eyes as he was terrified whenever you approached his eyes or the top of his head. We took our time with him in order to let him know that we had no intention of harming him (even though I am sure his eyes were quite painful) and as a result, I can now medicate his eyes without the use of a halter. It still takes about 20-45 minutes (depending on what mood he is in! HA!) His right eye looks fairly normal with no inflammation or oozing. The left eye has gone down considerably, but as it was most damaged, it continues to form a discharge and when he gets debris in it (see below) the lower lid gets inflamed.

We put a Guardian Mask on him (which made Pearl jealous as he got the newer Guardian Mask!) so that he would have UV protection and because the "eye cups" stand away from the eyes and won't rub. He has managed to get the mask off several times (with the help of Panache, Jake, Jordie (who made it a point to remove Pepper's mask whenever he was turned out close to him) and of course, by himself. On a few of those occassions, once his mask was removed he would rub his left eye and open the wound again. Twice, when he rubbed it, the lower lid bled. Sigh. His left lower eyelid is doing fairly well now and surgery is scheduled for Friday, 11/02/01. Jerry, of Sunset Equine Transport will be picking him up Friday morning and I will follow them. TIER's current funds are quite low as we have recently had large expenses for a truckload of hay, farrier ($20 per horse), 3 tons of pellets, manure removal every 2 weeks, etc. All remaining funds are earmarked for feed, vet, farrier and winterizing (if possible). Therefore, since Pepper needs to have this surgery before he rubs his eye again (the little booger!) I will personally pay for transport, the surgery and any other costs for boarding at the vet clinic. Please send healing thoughts to Pepper so thathe won't have to wear his "goggles" anymore and can be the best he can be!
He is a sweetheart!!!

Udpate 11/9/01 - Well, the vet was certainly busy with TIER horses/ponies yesterday! After several days of agressive treatment on Pepper's eyes, he had surgery. Pepper came to us in August with a massive eye infection. Under the guidance of our veterinarian, he was receiving medication twice a day and a Guardian Mask was used (Pearl was very jealous and he got a new one and hers is old! HA!).

The left eye responded very well. The left eye was another matter. The lower lid on his left eye had been torn and it appeared to have an ulceration. The "ulceration would appear to decrease in size, start to scab over and then Pepper would rub it!!!!!! This would cause his eye to bleed! We would have to begin treatment with the different antibiotic ointments all over.......3 different times! It was then decided that once it got to the point of starting to scab over again (and starting to itch) that we would then send him to the vet for agressive treatment and possibly surgery. This was done last week and Pepper had surgery on 11/9/01.

Pepper had a tumor. The surgery was very long and intensive. Our vet did not want to cause damage to the tear duct if at all possible. The tumor was deeply embedded, long and narrow. We are hoping that the vet got clean margins (removed all the tumor without leaving any unhealthy tissue behind). If the tumor should reappear, we will then go to injections to kill it. The skin/tissue around the eye is thin and somewhat stretched which doesn't give you much to work with when you are removing part of it. But the vet is hopeful that all will be well. Pepper should be home shortly and we will be doing the aftercare at TIER as it is less costly.

Yeah Pepper! You came through surgery like the champ you are!

Update 2/16/02 - Pepper is doing VERY well! Just ask Slim! HA! Pepper thinks he is a little stud muffin, and we tend to agree! He is soo cute. He now expects every visitor to fawn over him..although he is a bit standoffish at first. That is, unless you have carrots!

The eye that had the surgery is looking good! Pepper still has to wear a Guardian mask as the membrane directly beneath his eyelids (pink) tends to inflame if it is windy. He still requires optical ointment to keep the inflammation down, but we do not have to apply the ointment as often as when he first arrived. The possibility of laser surgery to this area is being considered for Pepper's future comfort.

Update 12/31/04 - January 7, 2005 will be the day that Pepper meets with an Ophthalmologist and our regular vet for specified treatment of his eyes. This has been a very long road. Pepper arrived at TIER with inflamed eyelids that oozed a discharge. The previous owners had put salt in his eyes to combat conjunctivitis!! We and our vet were horrified when we found out that information. Pepper had surgery on his right eye to remove a growth and this was quite successful with no reoccurrence of the growth. The right eye is a different story.

The right eye inflammation infringed on the tear duct and our regular vet declined an attempt at surgery because he felt he was not specialized in this area. Therefore, the right eye has been treated with topical antibiotic ointments which, at times, contained steroids. Steroidal ointment was not used regularly as we were afraid of damage to the eye itself because of long time use. The eyelid responded favorably.

All funds/donations have been used for feed, vet and farrier. We have been setting aside monies for Pepper's surgery, and searched for an Ophthalmologist in our area. Ophthalmology is a specialized field and the majority of the doctors we found basically worked on dogs/cats at their clinics. The clinics are not set up for horses and Pepper is a bit of a handful to try to work on in a parking complex at one of the clinics. Finally, an ophthalmologist from "Eye Care for Animals" has agreed to meet at our veterinarian’s office where Pepper can be sedated for the procedure (in a stall rather than a parking lot).

Recently, a donation was made by DOUG towards Pepper's needs for specialized treatment. Thank you DOUG! Although Doug's generous gift will help tremendously toward getting Pepper the treatment he needs, we are still in need of funds. It is "estimated" that the ophthalmologist’s travel charges and examination will run approximately $450. There will also be costs for transport to & from the vet's office, rental of the surgical area and further costs of treatment for medication and procedures. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

We will take as many photos as possible and post the results of the examination/treatment to our website in order to share the information. Please send healing thoughts/prayers for Pepper's successful recovery. We are hoping that this will be a simple solution to a long term issue and that Chemotherapy won't be needed.

Update 3/26/05 - Pepper accompanied Sue Ann on her journey to the vet’s for her surgery.

Initially, the plan was for the vet to flush Pepper’s blocked tear duct. This had to be done at the vet’s because Pepper is so horribly fearful of anything around his eyes. This is probably due to the pain/fear he experienced when someone put salt in his eyes. I have a difficult time cleaning his eyes, even though it’s done on a regular basis. When someone he is not familiar with attempts to come near his face/eyes he almost loses his mind with fear.

Anyway, the vet found that the cancer had grown to the point that it closed the tear duct. He removed the cancerous tissue in the left eye and also some in the right. Pepper had previously had surgery on his right eye and that one was doing well, but there was still some cancerous tissue left. We sincerely hope that all the tissue has been removed this time.

The vet said he will prescribe an anti-cancer ointment for future use. Pepper’s left eye will be ‘weepy’ and we will be making sure it is cleaned on a regular basis. When funds allow, we will probably purchase a new Guardian Mask www.guardianmask.com for him as his old one is getting rather frayed.

The vet will be keeping Pepper a few days in order to monitor the healing and to do post op care.

Many heartfelt thanks to everyone for their prayers and contributions towards helping Pepper.

5/2009 - Unfortunately, the cancer in Pepper's lower eyelid seems to have returned. Although the cancer in the eye has remained the same after his 2 surgeries, it appears to have migrated. Currently, it is being held at bay (thanks to our wonderful vet!).

Pepper is full of life and thinks he is the biggest/strongest horse on the place! The vet indicates that he is not in pain and he does not demonstrate any behavior that would indicate that he is hurting. He bosses everyone around and squeals his superiority everytime he is turned out with others. 

6/2010 Vet Visit - Vet said he wanted x-rays of the eye/sinus cavity area to see if there is invading growth that isn't apparent to the naked eye.  If there is no growth, he will remove the eye.  Cost will be about $550 for x-rays & surgery.  Vet said other than the eye issue, Pepper is looking good, not displaying any signs of pain (he's a butterball right now!) and kept us hopping when we tried to catch him.  Vet always laughs at Pepper acting so squirrelly!  Every day I clean his eye and administer ointment.  Every OTHER day Pepper acts like a squirrel!  Runs around saying "Catch me if you can!"  Silly boy!