The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: JedM on August 23, 2016, 07:37:17 am
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One of my pygmy nannies broke her leg last week trying to climb a chicken pen ::) . The leg was completely broken at the ankle, so I took her straight to the vets, and they put a splint in and bandaged it up. It is working well as I went back to the vets last night to have the splint replaced and it looks like it's improving.
The vets have said to keep her on her own in a small pen where she can only just turn round, and I also have to take her to the vets once a week to have the splint replaced.
Has any one else had an experience with a broken leg? It seems very expensive having the splint changed every week and it could be anything from 2 months onwards until healed. Also, I'm not sure about keeping her on her own in a very small pen? :-\ My vets do seem good, although they don't have much experience with goats.
any help much appreciated.
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The small pen will be to stop her hooning around until the break has healed enough. The change of splint is to check and prevent pressure sores. Legs can heal well and I know of at least one dairy goat that went on to have a successful show career after a fracture.
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[member=132794]Scarlet.Dragon[/member] has been through this recently
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If she is usually with other goats I would put another goat in pen right next to her, so they can see/sniff etc each other and that way she will not be on her own. However I can see the vet's point of her being in pen the size that doesn't allow any jumping about, and also not in with others to make sure she doesn't fight etc...
Hope she heals, I have no idea how often the splint would have to be changed, but IMO it is usually better to check regularly... also our vets do not charge the full consultation fee if they see an animal on repeat visits with the same original problem.
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I had a lamb with a broken leg and took it to the vet. She put a caste on it (no splint) and said to bring it back in 4 weeks, which I did, to have the splint removed. Cost me £40 (+vat)
I cannot see why you would need the splint changing every week. My lamb was at a fast growing stage and managed for 4 weeks without it gettin too tight, and after that the leg was fine.
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Goats are very fine haired and fine skinned, so cast rubs could be more likely, hence the vet erring on the side of caution to make sure there are no cast sores (which can cause death of skin and tissues and loss of the leg at their worst) by changing weekly. They may also be concerned about the joint fusing, or not healing well if near the ankle so regular checks can allow them to change angles etc quickly during the healing process. They're also giving her all the best chances by recommending restricting movement. You may find after a couple if changes they'd be happy to leave it longer between checks or leave it off as soon as stable.
I recently cast a shearling ewe and left the cast on for 4 weeks, she did have some mild cast rubs but was stable enough at 4 weeks to leave it off.
Hope your wee girl is feeling better soon.
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Had Anglo Nubian 8 months old, fore leg broken at the ankle.
Stabled and splinted with several changes resulted in a sound recovery. Think changed something like 4 times in 3-4 weeks. Then think was bandaged for a while, but may not remember quite right.
Very helpful having a friend next door who's a vet and loves goats
- if you're reading: 'Thankyou for fixing him!'
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Thank you for all the replies. It sounds like my vets know what they are doing!
She hasn't tried to use the broken leg yet but I think the vets will take the splint out when she starts using it.
I don't think she is very well as not eating as much as usual and also doesn't call for the other goats. I have given her a bit more space now, as she isn't active enough to try jumping, she's either sitting or standing still.
Just hoping for a quick recovery!
Also, would it harm to put her in kid this year? I presume the leg would have healed well enough by the time she has that extra weight?!
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Goats are terrible patients... can you tempt her with some extra special treats? And she may just miss her friends!
Also did your vet give her an anti-inflammatory injection/painkiller? She is probably in quite a bit of pain!
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and noisy patients too!!
I give her fresh leaves every day and she has hay which she hasn't had all summer.
She can hear her friends but it isn't possible to put her in a pen where she can see them - unless I build a new shelter.
On the first visit to the vets, they gave her pain killers but not when they changed the splint.
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I would definitely give her company rather than worry about seeing the others !! I too had a BT type kid that broke a leg, back one, vet said you may have to stand her up to pee etc !! She took off around the covered yard with her mates on three legs with the plastered one stuck out at the back!! She didn't put proper weight on it until the cast was removed and it wasn't changed. You would never know there had been anything wrong !! :roflanim:
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She now has company, outside with her other firends and she seems to be better ;D
I am keeping an eye on her, but she doesn't try and use her bad foot so I'm hoping there isn't much movement there. She also hasn't been trying to jump anything so she should be able to stay with her mates!
The vets did say not to get the bandage damp - would this be an issue? I don't think there is any moisture in the ground at all at the moment!! :sunshine:
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We had a Boer buck kid with a broken rear leg fractured in the ankle. We had a fibreglass cast put on. There was a soft bandage next to the skin. It was split open to check all was good at 3 weeks then reapplied and sticky bandage wrapped around the cast. I'm stayed on for other 3 weeks. It has now been removed and he is fine. It took about a week for him to reuse his leg normally. There is a little bit of internal rotation but that has no impact. We kept him with the others (lots of kids and mothers) and he was fine and after a week could keep up with the rest. We had no problems with the cast rubbing but we did check very regularly.
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Well there was some good improvement with the leg, at 5 weeks it had healed so the vet took the splint off and just left it bandaged - once this was done, things have gone down hill.
The vet has now put the splint back on but she does not use her leg at all.
I have now been given 4 doses of metacam which will last 8 days, to try and get her to use her leg again and we will have to make a decision after that.
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Sorry to hear that. Hope all goes well. :fc: :hshoe:
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Sometimes these things don't work out.... and if she is intended for breeding you have to take into consideration any weight/strain she would need to put on the leg in future... hope things improve.
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Thank you.
She kidded this year and I was hoping to keep her for future breeding too, but (thinking negatively) if the leg doesn't improve and she is left with 3 legs, it wouldn't be fair to breed from her would it?
I have been warned that she will always have a limp even if the leg does heel.
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If she isn't using that leg it would not be fair to put her in kid again... even with a limp I personally wouldn't let a goat kid again. But your vet will be able to advise.
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It is still early days. I broke my leg and still managed to have a child.
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Thanks for that scarlet dragon, it was very useful. I told my vet about what you said and they have suggested that I take the bandage and splint off, and just see how things go....but I can't get the bandage off so I'll be going to the vets tomorrow!!
:fc: she starts using her leg.
The vets next suggestion is to have an x-ray done, but I'm not sure this will help much!
So at the moment, there's no improvement although the vet said the broken part of leg has healed.
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I took her to the vets last night to have the bandage removed for good (I was worried about doing it myself), and we felt the leg after bandage was off, and there was movement again where it had healed! :'( The vet needed to see what was going on, so she did an X-ray, to find that the leg had healed wrong (it wasn't straight) and there was an over lap making the whole leg shorter than the other 3. At the place it was broken, there was a huge callas which you can feel. (Sorry I don't know any of the technical words)
There's no more the vet can do, the goat will never use that leg again but she said it will be happy living on 3 legs. If there are any problems, or it looks like it's in pain, then I will need to have her PTS. :(
It's not a great end, but I still have her, and the vets have been very helpful and done all they can,
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What a shame :hug:
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Sorry it wasn't better news. I once visited a commercial goat herd and one of their goats had her whole leg amputated and ran around as much as the others. I had to have a second look to be sure she only had three. I'm sure your goat will be the same.
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I have never heard of "goat insurance", but maybe there is for pygmies.
TBH - these things happen, and to break her leg again and re-plaster it would probably come into the "cruel" category (in my book). If she is currently happy to get around on three legs, she may well start to use her 4th in time to some degree, but I would agree with the vet that putting her in kid may not be an option... so unless you can guarantee her a non-breeding life at your place it would be kinder to have pts (as you cannot predict what any new owner may do with her).
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Thanks all, I have made the decision no to ask the vets to retry fixing the leg, and don't want to complain to them about the mistake they made - as they are very good! They have told me she will be fine on 3 legs so I will leave her to have a happy life.