Baby goat with something wrong with rear legs?

My goat gave birth early this morning and I notice that the little girl is having trouble with her back legs.  She can't seem to really move them.  She can stand just fine, but not walk. I gave her selenium gel and nutradrench.  My son did see her nurse as well.  I don't know if her legs need a splint?  Or if I should take her to the vet?  Or just watch and see if she gets stronger?  

You need to be a member of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats to add comments!

Join Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • I am so glad to here that! Thanks for updating us. Enjoy and share some pics with us!

  • Her legs are bendable, they just seemed to collapse under her.  I watched her through out the day and by evening she was just fine!  So just a little weak to begin with, I suppose.  She was only 1 of 2 kids.  Thank you everyone!

  • I don't know if goats are affected, but in sheep, I have a rancher friend who showed me a lamb born with legs that would not bend. They had to put it down. They were totally immobile, and could not be manipulated. I think she said that sometimes, they can be helped if you can bend them for them, and get them moving, but this one could not. Like I said, I don't know if it's the same in goats, but personally, if I could manipulate the legs, I would give it time, and keep up with the manual manipulation to see if I could help the joints and muscles get into shape. As far as what you have given for supplements, those are what I would have given as well. The only other thing I might try, is unsulfered black strap molasses for it's copper content and other minerals it's rich in.

  • I too would like to know if the legs are "bendable", appear to be properly formed. I don't personally have enough experience to know if there could be anything wrong that would pose a threat by NOT seeing a vet, but I wouldn't as long as the legs seem formed ok and have bendable joints etc., because I have had experience twice with this problem!

    First case: a large single buckling, that required a GREAT deal of effort and 3 people to even get out, Nubian doe, one man couched mom through, soothing her and hanging on to her while I went in to fish out a lost leg and turn the head around, then pull like crazy during contractions, (while I sat on the ground VERY pregnant myself) while hubby with his arms under mine and locked in front of my chest, pulled on me. Thought we would never get him out, then he turns out unable to use his legs. I called my sister who has been a pediatric RN for about 30 years at that time, and her opinion was paralysis brought on by the traumatic birth, Says it happens sometimes with babies too & that it is probably temporary, although it is occasionally permanent, so we worked with him, holding him up to nurse, giving him regular leg rubs etc.

    Second time I was visiting a ladies farm who raises boar goats and noticed one laying around unable to get up, mom had just had triplets and the lady was concerned because she was unable to stand. After I explained what we had been through and casually said "You should just give that one to me and let me take care of her", she told me to take her with me if I wanted to, because her siblings kept laying on her and squashing her and she was afraid that it would just make things worse and that she had enough to take care of without having to worry with her really. (I won't to make sure that you understand that this lady did not have an I don't have time to worry with it attitude, she was obviously very devoted to all of her animals...it was simply a matter of she thought it might be best for the baby to be with me because I had been through this and had lots of time to devote to her and would love and care for her) I am sure that she too was only paralyzed because of some cramped quarters in the uterus! Triplets are not as common with boars and are quite a load.

    Outcome, in both cases: Great! Both babies made very slow progress over a few days with lots of TLC. Within about a week you would have never known anything had been wrong! That is just my experience and why "I" would NOT see a vet, but as I said: I don't know of anything that would be wrong that may actually need a vets attention, others may.

    As to rather or not the legs may benefit from splints would really depend on the individual particulars of this specific kid. After you have checked out the leg shape (do make sure you compare the leg shape, lengths etc. to another one), joints etc. see if you can get some pics or better yet video that you can post so we can see just how much use baby has and the leg shape etc. That may help people to give you some better advice, especially about splinting or just wrapping without splints for extra support. If you do wrap, be very careful NOT to do it to tight! That vet wrap seems to really tighten up more than you think. Keep a check on that!

    I do hope this will at least help to give you hope! God Bless! I really hope no matter what that baby well be ok. Think positively and make sure you you assist baby in nursing regularly so it gets plenty of colostrum! {{{HUGS}}}

  • Just curious -- how many kids did the doe have? It is not all that unusual for a kid to have some leg issues when they're cramped inside a doe. They can get their legs stuck in a bad position, which can then cause them some problems after birth. Usually the problem will correct itself within a few days. I had a kid once whose pastern was turning backwards on one of his hind legs, so I splinted it. A few days later the split came off, and his ankle was fine.

  • Can you manipulate them to move, or are they rigid and un-bendable when you try that?

This reply was deleted.