sharing tattoo set?

Jcran · #1 08/04/08, 12:17 PM

I just got a call from a lady who bought a buckling from me two years ago. She is bringing some goats to the fair for the first time and ordered a tattoo kit so she could tattoo the young goats she's bringing. Unfortunately it hasn't arrived yet, and she wants to know if I would loan her mine (or rather I help her, using mine) since we have to have animals there by Thursday A.M. If her numbers and letters are different from mine, I would probably just toss the letters and have her replace them. But someone said I could just soak them in rubbing alcohol and they'd be fine. I only ask since I test 2x a year for CAE and CL and I know she doesn't test.

jBlaze · #2 08/04/08, 05:35 PM

My, how uncomfortable, not sure what I would say. You would think that the rubbing alcohol would work, but who really knows..

You could sell her your used set and you buy her new set??

**mygoat** · #3 08/04/08, 06:45 PM

Rubbing alcohol will take care of any transfer. If you're worried about it, put the used letters in alcohol in a closed bottle overnight - it'll work near immediately but overnight soaking should take care of any worries you might have otherwise. Keep in mind CAE only lives outside the body for several minutes no matter the medium, and CL, while longer live, really does need specific conditions to survive... alcohol being inhospitable.

Jcran · #4 08/04/08, 09:35 PM

Thanks, that makes me feel more comfortable. I think I'll let her use my letters and then I'll ask her to trade me out the new ones that she gets when her kit arrives. That way everyone is happy, and my little paranoid mind will be at rest.

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #5 08/05/08, 01:38 PM

I clean my letters and numbers after each use with chlorhexideen on a tooth brush, let it air dry and put them away, so letting others use mine isn't a biggy. Now they don't use my paste I use on my kids because they double dip, so I do have a others paste and a my paste. vicki

hoofinitnorth · #6 08/05/08, 06:53 PM

One of the goat vets up here says one of the nasty diseases (don't remember if it was CAE or CL but it's one of those two) is NOT killed by alcohol, that you have to use bleach for 20 minutes. I have no idea if he's right, I've never met the man, but most of the goat owners look to him as goat guru here.

I would never lend out my tattoo kit, not even to my best friend that tests her herd. What I might do, however, is make sure all my goats are properly tattooed, then let her buy from me the tattoo letters/numbers she needs or trade them out for her new ones when they arrive.