Goat people: Abscess busted, pus flowing. UPDATE no more pus

[kingdean]

What do we do? She had a real big abscess on her chest when we got her which was 2 weeks ago. The breeder said it was from her vaccine injection and she and many other people told us not to worry about it. Right now as I type she is leaking pus from the abscess. Most people said it would slowly get smaller and smaller not bust open. Do we leave it alone and let it drip or should we do something about it?

 

[kingdean]

Anyone?

 

[Alaskan]

from what I remember...leave it open.

It is actually good that it is draining. You want it to drain (which can take a while, like a few days) and heal from the inside out.

So if it starts to scab over before it is fully drained, that is bad.

You can use water on it to wash the outside and keep a scab from forming.

Do make sure you don't let outside stuff get inside. If outside stuff gets in, then you might need a vet (depending on how it looks) and cut it more open to let air in so it can heal.

But for now:

1. let it drain
2.run water over it whenever it looks like it might scab over (for maybe 2 days)
3.watch it for something scary (super hot, bright red, nasty something)
4.watch her for something scary (not eating or drinking, acting odd or dopey)

 

[Dodgegal79]

yeah make sure to keep it open to drain. You can make some saline (salt and water) and use a syringe to flush it out. A hose works too if you don't want to use the salt water.

 

[speckledhen]

IF it's an abcess from a vaccination, that's one thing, but there is a disease that causes these pus-filled boils, too. Those I understand you do not want to lance. Called caseous lymphadenitis. Someone sold an unsuspecting friend a goat with that disease once. Nasty stuff.

EDITED TO ADD: Other than this disease, I know nothing about goats, so hopefully someone with more experience with this can help you out.

Edited again because I called you "Jeff" and that's KingsCalls. Sorry, kingdean!

 

[Beekissed]

Why would they place a vaccination in its chest? Not the usual site, surely... :|

 

[goldensunriseranch]

That the supposed injection site is in the chest really makes be leery that it's from the CD&T shot, that is the vaccine that can cause an abcess. But it is given in the shoulder not the chest. I don't know of a single goat breeder that gives them in the chest. Either shoulder SubQ or I myself do it in the rear thigh IM if it is an animal I'm showing and don't want to have an abcess at show time. But I have never had a CD&T shot abcess get full of pus like that to the point of bursting. At the most the area just becomes devoid of hair and becomes a hard lump for a while. It really sounds more like CL, that disease is VERY contagious and is also able to be spread to humans. I would be super careful. Keep the area clean and use an antiseptic ointment. I would really recommend a vet come out and take a sample of the pus to be cultured to see if it is CL. Especially if you have other goats, you can infect your entire herd. And if it IS CL I would certainly be calling that breeder.

 

[kingdean]

Quote:
I doubt it's CL. All the goats have an abscess, just this goat's abscess got really big. It was the size of a softball. The other 2 have very small marble sized ones.

 

[MandyH]

Holy cra p! The size of a softball!!??? I have never heard of injecting a goat in the chest either. Something doesn't sound right to me about this whole deal.

 

[kingdean]

Quote:
The breeder has been breeding Nigerians for almost 20 years.
This is from a site I found

The best site for a shot is behind the shoulder (arm pit), between the front legs on the chest floor, and on the neck.

This is also from Fiascofarm.com

We do not vaccinate our goats. We did for many years, but most of our goats would developed abscesses at the injection site, not matter what we tried to prevent this.

All of them have an abscess in the same spot, this goat was the only one that got really big. If it was CL all three of them would not have an abscess in the same exact place.​