Lyme's Disease

KareninPA · #1 05/15/15, 09:40 PM

Our 6-yr old wether has been limping on his left front leg for about 2 months now. Had a CAE test - negative, thank God. Vet came out, diagnosed foot scald since he had pink, irritated skin between his toes, so she gave him a shot (Nuflor I think) and gave me a syringeful of LA200 to squirt there twice a day.

After running out of that, I tried all sorts of things - Terramycin powder/alcohol soaks, Kopertox, Dr.Naylor's, WonderDust... Nothing helped over a course of a few weeks.

So we took him to a Large Animal Clinic an hour away. They were awesome - they shaved his leg and inspected him thoroughly, then took X-rays to rule out any fractures. They took their time with him and didn't have the 'it's just a goat' attitude I had expected!

So there was nothing conclusive. There were some small bone spurs in his foot, but the vet didn't believe that was causing his lameness. He said to start treating for footrot with 3 rounds of LA200, 3 days apart. If no improvement, treat for Lyme's Disease by continuing those shots for 30 days. And if still lame, assume it's either the bone spurs, arthritis or something else and treat with pain meds such as Meloxicam.

Today he got his 4th shot, as he is still in pain, and I'm on to treating for LD.

I would like to know if this sounds feasible and if anyone out there has any experience with LD in goats, and, I'd also like to know your preferences when giving IM injections (needle gauge + length, location on the goat) and whether you prefer to give LA200 IM or SQ? (I now have Biomycin 200). I'd much prefer SQ, and I'm sure my goat would too!

**mygoat** · #2 05/16/15, 11:50 AM

I believe you can give sub-q. I usually do. My go to needle size is 20gax1", but for sub-q you can use 1/2". You can always call and ask if that is an appropriate route for what you're treating for.

I did not think that bio-mycin would stay at therapeutic levels for every other day treatment though. I've never treated for lymes so I don't know. Goats do not seem to be a favorite food of ticks around me. I've found maybe one or two attached in all the years. I've found a few unfed crawling on them.