goat severed front tendon - brace??

[meleahbee]

My 1 y/o Nigerian Dwarf doe (thankfully not bred) tried to jump a fence and ended up severing that front tendon in her back leg. When we found her, she was "knuckled down," as in, the top of that foot was on the ground and she was essentially walking on her pastern. There was blood spraying everywhere from a big open open gash. Not good!

That was a month ago. We zipped her up to the vet. The vet surgically repaired the tendon and we had her in a cast for 5 weeks. When we took her to get the cast removed, the vet said "it'll still be weak for about another 7-10 days" Well, it's been 10 days and she will not put any weight on the leg. I've felt it and the muscles are so darn tight her foot is stuck in that position (bent back at the pastern) so even if she tries to put her foot down it drags on that pastern and it's going to get all scarred up.

She's only 1 and still growing. I'm worried if she keeps being a "tripod goat" she's going to grow to be really malformed.

Anyway, here's my question: Does anyone know of a way I can brace her leg so that the foot will be flat on the ground? I don't really care so much that's she's moving the pastern, I just want her to be able to stand on 4 legs if she wants to. Also, I hope to get her bred. It's gonna be mighty hard to milk a 3 legged goat....

I'm planning to call the vet on this but he's out of town all this and next week. I'm just worried about the muscle contracture that's going on that leg and that it might be permanent if not taken care of.

Any thoughts on this??

[jil101ca]

It sounds like you need to stretch the back tendon so the foot can straighten up and be placed flat.

Was the leg straight in the cast? If so I am wondering if the repair to the front tendon came apart. I would think that if the front tendon was repaired and the leg was straight in the cast she should be able to at least place the foot flat on the ground.

[meleahbee]

I think you're exactly right. The back of her leg is soooo tight, and I think that's preventing her from putting her foot flat. I have a bad feeling that surgery didn't work, or that the repair came undone.

I saw him cast her leg and it was perfectly straight in the cast.

[kreddish]

Ohhhh... no experience here... but truly wish you good luck! Hugs

[jil101ca]

Do some stretching exercises and maybe once you get it stretched to the point she can place the foot flat you can make a splint/brace of some kind. I'm wondering if one of those plastic human baby wrist splints would do the trick.

[Minelson]

Originally Posted by jil101ca

Do some stretching exercises and maybe once you get it stretched to the point she can place the foot flat you can make a splint/brace of some kind. I'm wondering if one of those plastic human baby wrist splints would do the trick.

Gently stretching it sounds like it would be helpful...Tendons take a loooong time to heal. I cut the tendon in my thumb and it needed to be sewn back together...message and stretching helped a lot...but I still can't bend it as much as the other thumb and it happened 10 years ago.

[chamoisee]

I think I would ask the vet.

[Starsmom]

Definitely ask the vet, but some gently PT on that leg couldn't hurt either.