Laminitis

1451 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by sweetgoatmama, Feb 6, 2009

Mike

Discussion Starter · Jan 30, 2009

Over X-Mas one of my young boys was limping and had a swollen pastern on a rear leg/foot that was hot to the touch. It was obviously painful to him as he was favoring it and not putting full weight on it.

I was told it was Laminitis and that I should lower his protein intake by stopping all grain, and to dose with asprin twice a day for a couple days to lower the inflamation. That worked very well... hotness went away, swelling went way down, took a couple days after the doses of asprin but fully restored his ability to walk/stand/run on it and the pastern looked normal again.

However, whenever there is a big cold snap it seems to be aggravated and returns... is there any suppliment or something I should be doing long term to help overcome this ? Or is it a chronic problem without a fix I'll just need to deal with...

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Rex

· #2 · Jan 31, 2009

Sounds like it could be Laminitis but I thought it usually affected the front feet first. Its basically Founder like what is commonly seen in horses. Things that can cause Laminitis are overeating or sudden access to concentrates. Basically too much protein at once. It can also develop after an infection but I think thats pretty rare. Most of the time it is caused by too much concentrated feed. It is not curable but can be managed with proper diet. Reportedly, soaking the foot in ice water as soon as you notice it is hot and swollen can help to reduce any permanent damage done to the foot.

Here's some treatment info I found on the web.

The laminitis is treated with analgesics (eg, phenylbutazone at 2-4 mg/kg, flunixin meglumine at 1.1 mg/kg, or aspirin at 30-100 mg/kg) daily; hosing or soaking the affected feet is also useful. Although antihistamines are frequently used, their effectiveness in treatment of laminitis in goats remains unproved. Similarly, the use of corticosteroids is controversial because they may contribute to laminitis in horses. Regardless, they should not be used in pregnant does due to risk of abortion. Chronic laminitis with deformed hooves is treated by routine vigorous foot trimming.

A good link with in-depth information. http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/artic ... goats.html

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sanhestar

· #3 · Feb 1, 2009

Hi,

although the acute inflammation may heal within a few days, there can/will be effects from the laminitis that stay on for several months. Basically until the hoove horn has grown down completely and has been replaced by new horn - so about one year.

Do you know what happens during laminitis? The connective tissue between horn wall and living part of the hoof begins to dissolve, therefore the connection that holds the small bones in the toe in place, also get weaker, they can shift. The quality of the horn changes, it can become really hard and unflexible (and in cold weather that may be one cause for aggravated symptoms).

Besides managing this wethers diet you need to keep him properly trimmed for the course of the next months/year to allow the connective tissue to regenerate. Don't allow any overgrowing horn during this period as broken patterns can aggravate his condition.

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sweetgoatmama

· #4 · Feb 3, 2009

This doesn't sound like laminitis to me. Laminitis presents in both front feet first and has to be pretty bad to affect the back ones. The fact that it's only in one back foot would lead me to believe it's an abscess. However, the treatment is the same, anti-inflammatories such as bute, banamine or aspirin to help with the pain and swelling, and a shot of LA 200 (tetracycline) available at your feedstore.

Soaking in epsom salts twice a day in really warm water, is good. It may be that there's a sticker or something encapsulated in the coronet band, right above the hoof which is causing the pain and swelling and it could even fester out above the hoof so soaking is good for that.

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Mike

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 4, 2009

sweetgoatmama said:
The fact that it's only in one back foot would lead me to believe it's an abscess.

The more I think about this the more I think you may be right... or it's an injury of some other type. His barn mate loves to sneak up behind him and buck his rear feet out from under him causing him to topple. I dosed him 3 times with asprin and the swelling went away and the "heat" of the swollen part of his pastern is gone now too. I haven't medicated him beyond the doses of asprin ( 2 ea adult asprin in the AM and again in the PM for a day and a half). The swelling started to subside and his limping stopped right after the first dose of asprin.... about 3 hours.

It's hoof trimming time this weekend so I'll get him on the stand and get a chance to look his foot area over real well. Interestingly, when he was last trimmed about 5 weeks ago now I remember he had a small gouge, about 1/4" wide and 1/8" deep, in the sole of that foot near the edge near the hoof nail. It looked healed and not to have ever been deep enough to bleed, I cleaned it out and washed it out with a bleach solution and all appeared well after.... hmmmm. I wonder if it could have been a sliver from the barn floor or wall from all the rough housing?

Click to expand...

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sweetgoatmama

· #6 · Feb 6, 2009

Where the hole was clip the hair away from around it and look for a closed wound. Sometimes a sliver can get in there and fester and it will come back after you think it is healed. That's what the epsom salts soaks are for.

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