[Ford Zoo]

A friend with a dairy herd just posted that one of her does has had a paralyzed leg for nearly a week after birthing trips. Says the vet told her if its not better in a week it won't get better, suspecting nerve damage. We all know nerve damage can take longer than a week to improve. I haven't heard from her as to what they are treating with, but the doe will only stand on her own for 5 minutes. Any ideas I can share with her? My friend is a well experienced nurse so Im hoping they've given her steroids at least.

 

[LauraD]

Not a goat, but my mom's cat got hit by a car once. Afterwards, she (the cat) couldn't move her hind legs at all. During the next several months, she very slowly regained control of her hind legs. Her tail still dragged around, and my mom was considering having it amputated. Then one day - months and months after the accident - I saw the cat twitch the end of her tail. She eventually regained use of it, though not as well as before.

In short: you never know what can happen.

 

[Caprice Acres]

I responded on FB... it's a welfare/effort issue mainly. 2 weeks is pretty common in cow farms to wait for improvement, because at some point they are worse off for being down and they have very high demands for care. It can be done, but the goats' welfare should be considered - she'll require being forced to move several times per day, on superb clean bedding, have all her needs catered to for potentially months. She may never fully recover and she may not be as able to compete with others, have trouble with pregnancies/breeding etc.

IMO on a dairy, the animal may or may not be worth the effort of the healing process and possible long term effects. That's your friends' call. Maybe they're home/willing enough to do the intensive care - many larger herds would opt to cull instead of giving intensive care to one animal that in the grand scheme, isn't worth the effort. But, that is something only your friend can decide with her personal relationship with that animal, her history of kidding problems (was it severe dystocia that caused the neuro problems?), her genetic value, wether or not she has a good replacement in the herd (If out of her triplets you have 2 daughters to replace their dam with... she may opt to keep the daughters instead)...

 

[Ford Zoo]

I got a vague reply from her, so not sure what they'll decide. The doe is a Nubian X Boer but one of their best producers and one of her favorites. And she works full time outside of the home. These are the parts of farming that just suck...

 

[Pony]

When we had a kid who was the last out of 4, Nick worked her legs for a week - the time we'd decided ahead of time would be the "make or break" for her.

Nick just fell in love with the little doober, though, and we decided to go ahead and throw what we could in a last ditch attempt to get her walking.

Didn't know at the time that you're not supposed to mix Banamine (flunix) and dex, so we did.

She walked.

She now is living with a family that adores her - and she loves them. Produces lovely kids, and is a very good milker.

 

[where I want to]

One back leg still good means she may be able to get around enough not to be a huge burden as to care?