Anything I can give a goat for pain?

[Birdsong 82]

I have a 4 1/2 yr old female Boer goat who had a slight limp last night and wouldn’t put any weight on it this morning. She starting using it but when I called my daughter from work to check on her she said the limp is real bad and she doesn’t walk around for more than 10 min before laying back down. I took a flashlight out there this morning while they were eating checked her leg... looks normal and felt all up and down it and felt normal and she didn’t show any discomfort during that. Tried to check her hoof but she wasn’t real helpful in that and it was dark outside Little bit I could see looked good but husband and I will get look in the light after work. But in the meantime she looks like she’s in some pain. Anything I can give her to just help her feel better till we get it figured out?

 

[Birdsong 82]

Daughter just called me and said Lucy won’t even get up now no matter what. She tried everything she said. She also said she panting REALLY hard. It is humid today so she’s going to put a bowl of water beside her in case she’s thirsty and doesn’t want to walk to the water bowl. She says Lucy looks miserable

 

[cassie]

Either aspirin or banamine will work for pain, but as you know, you really need to find the cause. It is possible she has a foot abscess. These are extremely painful. Take a hoof knife and trim the sole. Look for a small dark place. Often when you trim there you will get a trickle of pus if there is an abscess. White muscle (selenium deficiency) can cause generalized pain.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Ok. I’ll look for that. I’m thinking it has to do with the hoof because felt all down her leg and feels fine and she shows no signs of discomfort when I mess with her leg Her hoof looked normal but I needed to clean it better look. Lot of rain lately my husband didn’t get home from work till dark so trying to get s better look. She doesn’t like me messing with them

 

[Birdsong 82]

Actually we do have a low selenium area according to our vet. She gave the babies some sort of shot for that when they were a couple days old. Don’t know about Lucy cause we didn’t get her till she was 15 months. That actually popped in my head on my way home and I stopped and got them a supplement for them last night. So I will add that to the Feed today and get a good look at her hoof. I know that it’s not that it’s trimmed too short. We have play areas with shingles and areas with gravel that actually keeps their hooves trimmed down well. We do however check them to make sure they’re looking good and there’s been very seldom times when they need to be trimmed And they are always looking pretty good.

 

[cassie]

Just a comment. If pain is caused by a selenium deficiency, usually the muscle pain is generalized. It is not confined to just one hoof. If she is still showing pain on just the one hoof, a foot abscess is the most likely culprit. They are very painful and sometimes they are very hard to see. You will need to take a hoof knife and trim the sole, down to where it is showing pink, if necessary. Usually you will see a small black dot where the abscess is. When you get to it you will see a small trickle of pus. When it drains the animal will feel immediate relief. You will want to give a tetanus shot. The lameness, abscess or not, was caused by some sort of injury. You will probably never know what, but in any event do give the tetanus shot because a puncture in the hoof is the most probable cause. Is she getting better?

 

[Birdsong 82]

No. No better this morning. I Figured it was something to do with her hoof I just grabbed this seleniumBecause I figured it couldn’t hurt in the meantime while we do this hoof inspection. I got some pictures of her hoof But there’s not much you can see because ofThe wet dirt that she decides to walk through sometime. There has been torrential rain on and off I think about a total of 15 inches in a month which for this area can cause a lot of problems

 

[Birdsong 82]

She’s not real keen on me touching it right now and I’m sure that’s because it hurts. My husband and I were supposed to work together to get it figured out tonight but I was just told I will be working emergency operations tonight due to flooding issues in the area. So I don’t even know if I will get a chance to go home today before I work at night. It’s driving me crazy though because I hate to see the girl like this

 

[Birdsong 82]

I’ve had my young ones randomly start limping from time to time but I don’t think much of it because they’re crazy and I figured they did something wild crazy and after a few days of being sore they’re absolutely fine again. I always check on him to make sure it’s nothing else but it’s not completely unusual for them. But Lucy is a bit older and much more calm. She’s not crazy jumping on things and running around like The young ones so I figured something more was going on

 

[cassie]

You mentioned a lot of rain. Hoof rot might be the problem. In any case, the hoof needs to be trimmed (a lot) and treated with copper sulphate (sp). We used to get something for hoof rot at the feed store. Coppertox, I think it was called. It would be helpful with a foot abscess also once you got it drained.