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Anglo Nubian wether with ligament problems
Our rising three-year-old AN wether, Shadow, has been diagnosed with ligament problems. The background to this post is that in early 2020 we began feeding some all-purpose 14% pellets to the goats; not a lot each day as they were still getting their lucerne chaff/wheaten chaff and rolled oats mix morning and night which they'd been getting for some years with no problems. By June 2020 we noticed that hooves were becoming misshapen and until that time, foot trimming wasn't needed regularly and was only done 'as and when' needed. We dumped the pellets and began trimming hooves in late June and then every month until December, by which time nearly everyone had good hooves again. It was then decided to go to bi-monthly trimming, commencing in February 2021 except for a couple of does who still need a touch-up each month.
Now to Shadow, who is inbred by the way. About two months ago, his hooves began to splay outward, not so bad on the near-fore but gradually getting worse on the off-fore. We were trimming his hooves in order to try and straighten him up but that wasn't working at all and we got our vet out on Friday18th to see what was going on. His diagnosis was ligament problems and we were advised to splint both front legs from the ground up and on toward the elbow with lots and lots of padding.
At the moment we've wrapped the worst leg with a good amount of bubble-wrap and taped poly pipe on with electrical tape but only to below the knee. He seems to be moving better already but that could be imagination. We don't know if this ligament problem is connected to the all-purpose pellets or being inbred, or what but that doesn't really matter so long as we can get him going again. The vet told us it would take a long time to get him right again, perhaps three to six months. He also recommended giving him colloidal silica tablets daily and a tablespoon of stinging nettle tea (for inflammation) once a day - we went to town this morning and got the silica and nettle tea.
After that long-winded preamble, which I hope covers any questions (but if not, ask away), my question is: how can Shadow lie down and get up with both front legs splinted / immobilised, from ground level to almost the elbow??? Has anyone else dealt with this sort of problem???
Thanks for any help,
camooweal
Now to Shadow, who is inbred by the way. About two months ago, his hooves began to splay outward, not so bad on the near-fore but gradually getting worse on the off-fore. We were trimming his hooves in order to try and straighten him up but that wasn't working at all and we got our vet out on Friday18th to see what was going on. His diagnosis was ligament problems and we were advised to splint both front legs from the ground up and on toward the elbow with lots and lots of padding.
At the moment we've wrapped the worst leg with a good amount of bubble-wrap and taped poly pipe on with electrical tape but only to below the knee. He seems to be moving better already but that could be imagination. We don't know if this ligament problem is connected to the all-purpose pellets or being inbred, or what but that doesn't really matter so long as we can get him going again. The vet told us it would take a long time to get him right again, perhaps three to six months. He also recommended giving him colloidal silica tablets daily and a tablespoon of stinging nettle tea (for inflammation) once a day - we went to town this morning and got the silica and nettle tea.
After that long-winded preamble, which I hope covers any questions (but if not, ask away), my question is: how can Shadow lie down and get up with both front legs splinted / immobilised, from ground level to almost the elbow??? Has anyone else dealt with this sort of problem???
Thanks for any help,
camooweal
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
I'm wondering about his selenium levels, and also vitamin D. What are you feeding as far as minerals. A 14% feed is very low in protein and should not cause the problems. I thinking a severe vitamin deficiency. Pic please - that would help.
I'm afraid I don't know much about this sort of problem. I'm experiencing some leg displacement in my fast-growing young bucklings myself, and I believe in my case it's related to too much calcium at a critical stage in development. I've gotten away from feeding alfalfa to growing wethers because I've seen some nasty joint displacement in adult wethers that were fed alfalfa during their formative years. This does not seem to be a problem for does or bucks. But I'm really not sure what to say on your particular issue. I hope he recovers ok. I'm not sure how he can get up and down with the splints. Can you splint him just part of the time? Also, I would suggest putting some cotton gauze under the bubble wrap so his skin can breath and moisture won't accumulate. Plastic shouldn't go directly against skin/hair. Good luck!
Thanks for your reply, goatblessings. We feed the goats the Pat Coleby mix (dolomite, kelp, sulphur and copper) every day plus they get ACV added to their drinking water on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. We've been using Pat Coleby's mix since the early 2000's on sheep, cattle and now the goats with no problems. Anything born here, grows up getting that mix from the first time they stick their nose in a feed trough. We've got triplet sisters who are two-and-a-half years old and so far, not wormed chemically. Everyone has a soft, shiny coat, particularly in the summer months but with it being winter now, not so shiny with their thick overcoats on !!I'm wondering about his selenium levels, and also vitamin D. What are you feeding as far as minerals. A 14% feed is very low in protein and should not cause the problems. I thinking a severe vitamin deficiency. Pic please - that would help.
I do agree with you that it's doubtful to be caused by the pellets but I thought I'd mention that anyway. Is it because he's inbred ?? His front legs are close together where they leave the chest and his hind pasterns are overly long but then again, is inbreeding the problem or not ?? Would be nice to know the real cause ...
Thanks again,
camooweal
Thanks for your response, Damfino.I'm afraid I don't know much about this sort of problem. I'm experiencing some leg displacement in my fast-growing young bucklings myself, and I believe in my case it's related to too much calcium at a critical stage in development. I've gotten away from feeding alfalfa to growing wethers because I've seen some nasty joint displacement in adult wethers that were fed alfalfa during their formative years. This does not seem to be a problem for does or bucks. But I'm really not sure what to say on your particular issue. I hope he recovers ok. I'm not sure how he can get up and down with the splints. Can you splint him just part of the time? Also, I would suggest putting some cotton gauze under the bubble wrap so his skin can breath and moisture won't accumulate. Plastic shouldn't go directly against skin/hair. Good luck!
Shadow does sound somewhat similar to your bucklings problems. We put a splint on his off-fore on Saturday; it was a bit cumbersome looking but did the job just the same. We had another go earlier today (Monday) and this time we did both front legs. We only did the worst leg on Saturday so as to give him time to work out how to get up and down on his own and as he'd done that, today we splinted his near-fore as well. So far the splints only go to below the knee.
Thanks for your thoughts on cotton gauze. We had to go to town this morning so got a supply of that and when we removed the splints and bubble wrap, there was indeed moisture on the leg.
When I said his hooves turn out, they turn so far out that he at times was almost walking on the inside of his fetlock on the bad leg. We'd been trying to foot-trim him to straighten him up, but that wasn't working at all so that's when we got our vet out. It all happened fairly quickly, over two or three weeks. Before that, he'd been belting the tripe out of his shelter shed and had knocked it about a foot sideways - at least he's got other things on his mind now !!
Thanks again,
camooweal
Thanks for your suggestion and yes, Damfino did respond with some good info.
camooweal
The only tendon problems I've dealt with were from injury. I've always used the little mini horse sport boots for support.
Did your veterinarian test blood mineral levels? Many deficiencies can be detected this way.
Did your veterinarian test blood mineral levels? Many deficiencies can be detected this way.
How is the little booger today?
The mineral mix you describe, especially if using for sheep does not give enough copper or other minerals that are needed for goats. Without pics, it's hard to say if this is a mineral deficiency or a conformation problem. If the sire and dam also are pinched at the heartgirth, it is a possible breeding issue - but linebreeding can bring out the best and worst of the the pair. If neither have this problem I would have a mineral panel done, and also take a look at selenium levels provided. Usually a conformation problem is apparent in very young kids very soon after birth..... so I'm wondering here.
Thank you, goathiker. I looked into those mini horse sport boots and they were of great interest although for the present time, he's going to need the ground-to-knee home-made splints. I'm thinking that providing all goes well and he gets back to normal, it may be helpful to put tendon support on him, perhaps on through the day and off overnight, but we've got to reach that stage yet. So far so good though !!The only tendon problems I've dealt with were from injury. I've always used the little mini horse sport boots for support.
Did your veterinarian test blood mineral levels? Many deficiencies can be detected this way.
We went and paid the vet bill yesterday and asked about blood tests in general plus vitamins/minerals and while he didn't know the cost (apart from expensive), said he'd check it out and let us know.
Thanks again,
camooweal
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