If you looked the whole leg and foot over and found nothing, then she may have strained a muscle or something. You could just let it go and see what happens or a shot of Banamine won't hurt.
Limping doeling
When I was out feeding them, I noticed Ruby was favoring her left front leg/hoof. She'll put weight on it, but she tends to stretch that leg out further to take a step, and keeps it up more than the other. She will put weight on it to walk or stand, but you can tell she is favoring it slightly. She is moving carefully.
Her hooves were trimmed within the last month. They could use a trimming, as in they look like I could trim them, but not anything bad.
As I am sitting here, I realize I should have take off my glove to feel for heat, but what I could feel through my glove (and see with my eyes) didn't appear to have one place inflamed or swollen. I admit I am no leg expert, but I didn't feel anything that that felt broken or off, and she didn't flinch when I was feeling her leg (nice little girl easily let's me pick up her front hooves without fighting it).
Her poops were normal, her appetite was normal, and she drank water while I was out there. As I didn't notice the limp until I was wrapping up the animal care for the morning, I didn't take the thermometer down there with me.
I suspect it is a lower leg/hoof injury, as some small rocks I piled by my chicken coop were not on the stack (using them to block where wind and chickens eroded dirt from the bottom of the coop wall). Either that, or Bree butted her hard or stepped on her leg like she did to the buckling when I was fixing his pen in the barn yesterday (he gimped for a minute or two, and went back to business as usual). However, I'm thinking it is the rocks that did it.
Is there anything I should do for her, or is it just a wait and see type deal? I don't have any goat pain killers/inflammation meds on hand, but I can ask my husband to look for something if it is OTC at a feed store when he comes home from work today.
Like I say, she is moving around, it appears to only be one leg, and it hasn't impacted her appetite or rumen function (that was churning away while I was looking at her leg).
Her hooves were trimmed within the last month. They could use a trimming, as in they look like I could trim them, but not anything bad.
As I am sitting here, I realize I should have take off my glove to feel for heat, but what I could feel through my glove (and see with my eyes) didn't appear to have one place inflamed or swollen. I admit I am no leg expert, but I didn't feel anything that that felt broken or off, and she didn't flinch when I was feeling her leg (nice little girl easily let's me pick up her front hooves without fighting it).
Her poops were normal, her appetite was normal, and she drank water while I was out there. As I didn't notice the limp until I was wrapping up the animal care for the morning, I didn't take the thermometer down there with me.
I suspect it is a lower leg/hoof injury, as some small rocks I piled by my chicken coop were not on the stack (using them to block where wind and chickens eroded dirt from the bottom of the coop wall). Either that, or Bree butted her hard or stepped on her leg like she did to the buckling when I was fixing his pen in the barn yesterday (he gimped for a minute or two, and went back to business as usual). However, I'm thinking it is the rocks that did it.
Is there anything I should do for her, or is it just a wait and see type deal? I don't have any goat pain killers/inflammation meds on hand, but I can ask my husband to look for something if it is OTC at a feed store when he comes home from work today.
Like I say, she is moving around, it appears to only be one leg, and it hasn't impacted her appetite or rumen function (that was churning away while I was looking at her leg).
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As long as she is walking on it that is good. With time, she should be OK.
My husband checked her before it got dark, and he said he could see her favoring it, but only because I told him to look for it. It was so slight that he would not have noticed it without prior notice from me. By the time we fed them, I couldn't spot it in the dark. So if she was gimping, it was very slight. She was at the gate waiting for food with the other two girls. Ruby is a sweet girl. I also moved their feed bucket to the lower rail, as she kept standing on the lower one to get her head in the food bucket. Totally unnecessary for her to stand on it to get in the feed bucket, but she could have hurt herself standing on that too.
Don't know if this helps or not but my doe was limping one time for over a week...no signs of any issues, and no symptoms but I called the vet out anyway. Turned out it was a bruise in the softer part of the hoof (probably from stepping on a rock I was told) She advised me to put a hoof hardener on it. (I can't remember offhand what it was called...) I did that for two days and she was fine. That was an expensive boo boo :/
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
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