Broken scur with opening/hole

I have a doe who came out of the barn this morning missing the top part of her scur. Normally I don’t think much about broken scurs. She wasn’t bleeding and at first I didn’t even give it a second thought. But as I was leaving the pasture she came over to the gate with me and I looked down at her and noticed the top seems open. As if it’s an open tunnel all the way down like Id expect to see if I sawed through a full grown horn. I’m not sure if this is something I should worry about or call the vet about. She was the first ever kid I disbudded myself and she ended up with a good sized scur on one side. I’m worried now that it is more than a scur??? But then again I don’t see a full horn breaking... Thanks in advance for any advice!

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  • Thanks! I never did call the vet. I’m just keeping an eye on her but so far she’s acting like nothing ever happened. When I was able to take a closer look it appears that there is that little hollow place at the top and then it gets solid right past that. I e never seen anything like this before either but so far everything is going like a typical scur break. I’ll update if anything changes or I get anymore info.
  • Interesting! I'm glad you posted the photo. When you described it, I assumed it had broken off at the base, which is where scurs usually break. And I once had a ram lamb break a horn, and it came off right at the base also, but left behind the soft inner part of the horn. Still being fairly new back then, I thought he was going to bleed to death. I called the vet, and she said to put blood stop powder on it and call it a day. And he was fine. The horn grew back but was always smaller than the other one. 

    What you have looks like something between a horn and a scur. Horns are hollow near the base, but scurs are solid. Scurs are usually wiggly whereas horns are solidly attached to the skull. Like you, I don't worry when goats knock off a scur, even if it bleeds. 

    The only thing I can compare this to is when someone has a goat dehorned, which leaves big openings into the sinus cavity on top of the skull. They do not stitch them up, and from what I've heard, if a goat survives the actual procedure, they usually recover okay. 

    I'm just kind of brainstorming here. I personally wouldn't call the vet, but if  you're concerned, I wouldn't discourage you from calling, especially if he or she doesn't charge for phone calls. If you decide to call and they recommend anything, let us know! 

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