[goatlover]

I decided to trim the girls feet this afternoon, to my horror one of the girls has a foot problem...

she has not shown any signs of illness, any limping etc, so I had not suspected a problem, when I lifted her foot I found a huge gap between the outer nail part and the inner softer tissue..I hope I have done the right thing...

I cleaned out the gap, and trimmed back the nail, I have trimmed it back far more than I would in a healthy foot, infact the end of the nail is no longer flush with the bottom of the foot, but is much higher, and there is still a gap between the nail and the soft part, I have used the purple spray...what else can I do..

I feel rather worried and also very guilty for not spoting before now

[Anke]

It's called shelly hoof and some of mine (goats and sheep) have got it too. It is really a consequence of the the wet and soft ground, not much you can do about it. There isn't any medication, other than trying to keep their feet dry (impossible just now..) and keep cleaning the gap carefully without causing any injury. the normal purple (or clear) disinfective spray is probably helpful.
 
You could try Golden hoof or similar, but if you normally don't have foot rot, it may not change very much.
 
Mine also get seaweed powder added to their feed, in addition to Caprivite.
 
 

[jaykay]

As Anke says, it's quite common and also not your fault.

Keep it trimmed and spray occasionally is all you can do. Unless it gets mud rammed up the gap, or Footrot (only if you have the right (wrong!) bacteria on your land will you get this) it won't bother your goat.

[poppy2012]

we have that here as well, regular trimming and places that are as dry as possible help, as we have discovered since concreting them a new base with the new shed, hardstanding is the best thing wev ever done...

[goatlover]

thanks everyone for the feedback, you have really put my mind to rest, I was really worried that I had been neglecting my girl (not helped by my husbands helpful comments!!).
I shall continue to keep it clean and sprayed up
so glad for this forum! thanks guys

[Penninehillbilly]

Thanks for putting this up, same problem with my girls, They did to limp a bit but stopped now. I was assured it wasn't foot rot, but still been having a good sniff whenever checking their feet, I too trimmed back and scrubbed clean, didn't stay clean long though.
I did notice it had been worse when they were down in the field shelter for a few days, that's muddy round the doorway.
 

[tizaala]

There is a product ( cant remember the name ) that you can get for horses when they have had a hoof abscess and a hole drilled through to drain it, its like a hard putty used to plug the hole .You have to warm it  to soften it a bit then if you clean the gap well and use some of the putty it should stop more mud going in.