Need some advice...

Mrs. Ed · #1 01/11/05, 11:02 AM

Hopefully this is the last time I will have to pester y'all about this goat!

Just to refresh:1 month old doe, bottle fed, rejected by mother (who possibly had some sort of ailment/deficiency).

She is eating well, growing fine, putting on weight and basically thriving in all areas but one...she is not bearing weight on her right, back leg. We have been treating her, per vet's counsel, for WMD (white muscle disease, not weapons of mass destruction :haha: Sorry, trying to be funny) and giving her BoSe injections. She is due one more shot in the series. We, hubby & I, have felt of the leg & muscle and it is obviously atrophied. Her back leg muscles, left vs. right, don't even feel the same. It does effect the way she gets around and it trips her up a good bit becuase 99.99% of the time it is just free-hanging as she moves around. She'll put it down to touch the ground if she is just standing.

I am not of the opinion that her muscle is going to magically appear after her final BoSe shot or that it is likely to build over her lifetime, but of course I could be wrong.

I am trying to be realistic and I need some hard advice. What is the average prognosis for a situation like this? Is this truly something that will not reverse? Is she going to have to be put down eventually? Should I sell her to someone who might want to nurse her for the rest of her life? I'm not sure what to do here.

Sondra Peterson · #2 01/11/05, 11:34 AM

I really can't advise you on this decission but will tell you my experience. I had a 1 mo old that got butted hard (this is not the same situation I know) he couldn't use his left hind leg at all. Evenually he would set it on the ground when not walking, finially he started to walk on it but limped. After over another month I would watch him when I wasn't out there and he could run,play and all the normal goatie antics but if I went out, OH BOY was he ever sore and couldn't walk on it. :haha: I do know that people tell you to strengthen the hind leg muscles, to put the feed up where they have to stand on their hind legs to eat. However this probably also won't work in this case. Hopefully someone on here has better ideas than mine.

GoatTalkr9 · #3 01/11/05, 12:34 PM

Personally? I would keep her. If you aren't running a huge operation,and she's thriving in all other ways..why get rid of her or put her down for a lame leg? Other goats have survived with only three legs total. She can at least rest on hers when she's willing to. And it's possible that this might slowly improve. Not be 100%,but better.
Barb

Stacy Adams · #4 01/11/05, 12:43 PM

If she is only a month old, I'd give it a chance.. let the meds do their thing, then let her do hers.. if she hasn't been using it, it's going to take a while for it to get usable.. does the whole leg just hang limply, like a dead apendage? can she move her hip? hock? pasturn? on her own? does it seem that she can't move it or won't?
If the muscles have atrophied because of lack of use - I'd have to read up on WMD to see the effects - then I'd sure give her a chance.. yea, she may not be showable, and maybe walk funny the rest of her life, but I'd bet she'd also be productive.
I'm going throught therapy with my L-index finger at the moment.. in August, I cut the tip of it badly and thus, held it up and out of harms way for two months.. when the tip healed, I realized that I couldn't bend it or straighten it.. the joint hurts when I bend it, but it's getting better.. it's going to be a long road, and I'm sure a whole lotta fun come milking time with 5 does due, but I'll get there.. so my vote is to give her a chance

MoBarger · #5 01/11/05, 01:25 PM

If you are graining her or creep feeding her somehow, why not try raising the level of the feed ever so slowly so she has to stand to eat her treats? We all know what lengths goats will go to so they get their grain

It's a method used to build up muscle in boers, why not your little girl?

Mrs. Ed · #6 01/11/05, 01:50 PM

Thanks, y'all. I was wondering what I should do. I didn't know if it would get better or not. Maybe with time, it will.

She is not on grain yet (graining, I assume means eating grain) but does drink out of a bottle well. She IS a Boer so I'll try raising her bottle a little at a time to see if she'll use that leg more.

She looks great in all other aspects. I hate to put down a healthy acting goat with just a leg problem, but just have to admit I am out of my realm of knowledge here.

She is a beautiful little thing and sooooo sweet! I'll give her some more time and see what happens.

debitaber · #7 01/11/05, 01:54 PM

could you make a brace of some kind? or a cast or something? I guess maybe just doing some things to make her use it would be good.

Tracy in Idaho · #8 01/11/05, 02:35 PM

Is the joint actually in the socket? Perhaps she got it dislocated somehow or tore a ligament?

I'd probably keep her around for a while yet and see how it goes. If she hasn't improved in a month or so and you don't want a pet, then I would probably put her in the freezer.

Tracy

Sondra Peterson · #9 01/11/05, 04:44 PM

You know that was a good point to check on if the hip is in the socket. If it is that her leg is just not strong enough to hold her up, many people have made a splint out of that pipe weather protection stuff. what I have seen is a black foam sort of tube and you split it length ways and then use tape to secure it after you have it around her leg.

okiemom · #10 01/11/05, 09:03 PM

If she is a pet, could you find any streaching exercizes to stregthen her muscles. Kind of hike heman phyisical therapy. I am not up on WMD so this might be way off. Does WMD only affect a few muscles? I would think all muscle groups would be weak after WMD.

Any chance you could get an untrasound of the joint to rule out joint problems? K.

Mrs. Ed · #11 01/11/05, 09:32 PM

I'm pretty sure we could get an x-ray (hubby's a tech who works 3rds

), but ultrasound, prob. not. We did talk about the hip today though, so we are leaning that direction some.

I know that WMD usually is more prevalent in the back limbs, but I don't know that it would be necessarly more prevalent on one side than the other.

She's a pet now that we are having to bottle feed her! Ha, ha, ha! We've grown just a little attached! We'll just hang in there and check that joint out a little more. Her next BoSe shot is due at the end of the week, maybe that'll help.

dale anne · #12 01/12/05, 07:19 AM

Howdy, sorry to hear about yer kid. I have a situation sort of like your own. I have a 4 day ole kid that has both his front legs lame at the point of his ankles. I named him hobbles.....My hubby and I have made splints for him. Hobbles was walking around on his knees and seemed ok with that but we are in the hopes that the splints will help him to learn to walk on his hooves instead of his knees....everything seems to be in order,tendons,bones,muscles.so on.....today will be his 4th day with the splints and we will take them off to check for sores and to see if he will walk proper. I intend on keeping him if he is going to be challanged in life if not i will sell him off and let the buyer know about this problem even if it gets better...I wouldnt want anyone to breed him if it could be something that would effect his kids.I say to keep yer kid and see what happens...3 legs is ok...why not......would you want to be out down god forbid something went wrong with your leg???thats the way i look at it and besides if god didnt want her to make it she wouldnt have!...Think of it as a test of yer maternal side lol.....I have tons of animals that would have been put down if I didnt buy them up and tend to them...I often buy animals no one else wants or someone drops them off to me.....I have a goose that was bald,bleeding and half frozen when I bought him and yes the pet store charged me for him!!!!...took him awile to heal but he is a great goose now...also have 2 blind bunnies...a duck with a broken neck[he does fine also]and a few chickens that had deformed beaks that I held onto...a lil wet chicken feed and they are fine........a goat with 3 legs...I'd take her lol..name her Ilean....good luck with yer lil gal...may god bless you and your family for being able to even consider taking on this critter...dale anne

M&G-Nubians · #13 01/12/05, 02:05 PM

I guess I'm trying to be picky. God is a proper noun and should be capitalized. I ask people to remove their hats at the playing of National Anthem also. Guess that makes me a buttinski. Oh well, never had a good nickname before anyway.

Mrs. Ed · #14 01/13/05, 09:19 AM

UPDATE:

Got some xrays and found that the bone in the hip is in the socket and everything seems to be formed just fine. We have concluded that it is not a bone problem, but a soft tissue problem. This gives me hope. Hope that she will at least get somewhat better if not fully recovered.

If we can make it without her getting pneumonia or something now, we just might make it all the way!

Thank you all.