Today my buckling (wether, actually) got a nail stuck in his hoof/foot. I pulled it out, hoping it would bleed and flush the wound. No such luck. I sprayed it with blue coat. The vet advised a round of penicillin, and didn't feel that tetanus toxoid would be necessary, but admitted she wasn't positive. She said I should check with my "goat people" and see what they thought. :) I don't vaccinate, so no tetanus vaccine has been given. I started the Pen tonight. If I decide to go with the tetanus toxoid, the vet can order it and it can be here by Friday. This is a wether that we are raising for meat, and he had a couple of months to grow yet. Wishing I hadn't had to go the antibiotic route this late in the game, and maybe should have just sent him to freezer camp early...but he's pretty smallish yet...
Thanks all, for any input. :) Also, input on how to treat the wound?? Actually, there isn't much of a wound that can be seen. It is barely visible from the outside already.
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Thank you, Deborah. :) I know hubby will appreciate both you and Rachel's voices of reason.
Rachel, I so wish I'd thought of that before I gave him the Pen last night. It wasn't until I sat down to start this thread that I did think of it. Now I'm not sure what do do. Depending on what chart I look at, meat withdrawal is like 15 to 20 days.
If I stop giving it to him now and wait the 15 days or so, and he starts to get sick from an infection or get tetanus, I don't think I'm going to want to eat that meat??...Oh, bother.
But on the up side, I am learning so many things, and this is all just one more experience to figure out. Gotta stay positive! :)
Hmmmmm I think if it were me, I'd butcher early, and put this one in the crock pot like a chicken or a rabbit... (whole) That's my plan with my two that are going to camp this year. I'll be butchering them when the weather cools. Maybe sooner.