any CL pros out there?

[mpete]

I have a potential problem...
I bought a pack wether from a friend who showed me paperwork that he had a CL free herd. I brought home 2 LaManchas, and trusting they were tested and clean I turned them in with my others. 2 days later I was shaving off their old winter guard hairs only to find an absess near his flank. I am not the type to freak out, but both of the boys went straight into an isolation pen. I have already drawn the blood to send in tomorrow morning, but by reading the information out there, I also wanted to send a sample of the abcess, so I stuck a needle in and nothing came out. The abcess is soft, not hard. I went ahead and made a little 'nick' in the abcess and tried squeezing but only got blood... nothing else to make me think that it is a CL.
So can anyone tell me if this acts like a 'beginning' cl cyst? I know I won't know anything for certain until the tests come back, but I want to know every angle possible.
Thank you

[deineria]

It is possible, from what I've read, it was too early to attempt to draw puss out - the hair needs to fall out first, according to a Boer Goat site online, and also, CL is so thick, I've read you couldn't have drawn it through a needle, so lancing it needed, and so forth.

CL testing is worthless, according to my vet, in saying a goat is CL free. It can tell you a goat has CL or was, at least, vaccinated for it, but that is it.

BUT this could be an injection cyst. Sounds like an unusual CL site, though they can be in that area, it seems they are usually on the head or neck area. If the prior owner gave a CDT in that area, they very well might have causes a cyst, and this is common.

I would take the goat to the vet, let them remove it and test it - that is the only way you might know without it rupturing and you see the thick pus. I haven't dealt with it, but I've encoutered the injection cyst and freaked before realizing what it was.

[mygoat]

There is a lymph node in the flank area. If it's a LITTLE thing, it is a normal sized lymph node - you can feel them on any goat, the size of a small lima bean or so in full size goats.

I'd keep them in isolation to be safe. Isolation is always a good idea even from 'clean' herds just because there's other communicable diseases that may pop up from the stress of moving to a new home. If it is an abscess, I'd have it COMPELTELY removed by a vet and sent in for culturing, to a good lab. That's safer than lancing because then it won't be an open, potentially CL abscess - which can still spread the bacterium if you lance it.

I believe the blood tests are worthwhile, if you test regularly and practice other biosecurity too. They're about 80% accurate in animals with abscesses - not perfect, but still a wortwhile tool in keeping your herd clean, IMO. They're especially handy for detecting internal abscesses, or so I've heard from Dr. Glass at PAVL.