So, I had a couple of doelings born a two weeks ago in the cold, and I already had posted on here about their frostbitten ears. Anyways, they are doing good, the frostbitten parts of the ears look like they will fall off soon, and hopefully that goes good. How do I look for infection and prevent infection?
I am just slightly worried about one of the doelings. She was the smaller of the two, and her weight gain has always been a little less than her sisters. Birth weights were 6.19 and 6.27 lbs. I forgot to weight them yesterday, but today they weigh 10.37 and 11.49. Which seems pretty good, right? they are 1/2 ND 1/2 Alpine.
They both are jumping around and are pretty active (especially since the temp is up to 45 degrees after being in the negatives for the first 1.5 weeks after they were born!). But I noticed that sometimes when she stands, she holds up one leg. At first I thought that she was just lifting it up to scratch herself, but I'm not sure, sometimes she just stands like that.
I had worried about them getting frostbite on their legs, so felt them quite often after they were born to make sure that they were warm. Do you think that frostbite on her leg/hoof would be quite obvious by now? Or any suggestions? I read that frostbitten legs would start to loose hair, but haven't noticed any of that. How does a frostbitten hoof look? Do you guys think this would be a worry?
sorry, this is all over the place, but hopefully it makes sense. If not, feel free to ask for clarification on any part.
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How frustrating. A few posts that I had read said that when their goat got frostbitten hooves, there was swelling. Which I haven't seen with hers. Do you think I will? I just feel so bad about this whole thing. If she ends up loosing her hooves, would the best option just be to put her down?
I sent pics of both hind hooves. Do they both look bad then?
Ears falling off from frostbite is kind of like a scrotum falling off after banding. It's dead, so unless it gets dirt in there, it's probably not going to get infected. In fact, ears seem far less likely than a scrotum to get infected because they are on top of the goat's head as far as possible from the ground, unlike the scrotum that is on the ground when the goat is laying down and there are crevices where dirt can get lodged. If it gets infected, it'll be hot and possibly smelly with pus. If Mom didn't get a CDT a couple of weeks before birth, then there is a small chance of tetanus, but that's pretty rare. Mortality for that is almost 100%. If a goat gets tetanus, all of their joints lock up, and you can't bend them or open their mouth, etc.
The purple hoof is worrisome. What worries me is that if only the hoof pad got frozen, it could fall out, then you'll have a big hole where dirt and manure can get caked in there. But there is nothing you can do at this point other than watch. I'd check for pus and a bad smell. The fact that she is holding it up indicates that it hurts, so that's a bad sign also.
And I guess another thing about the purplish hoof is that all of her hooves have a bit of that coloring, and also her sister's. But her sister isn't favoring a leg or anything. Which is why I just figured that goats hooves may just be that color...but then again, I have never really examined the colors of my baby goats hooves 🤷♀️
Okay, sorry. I just checked closer, and her sister only has some purple on both of her hind hooves. Not her front ones. Then Sunshine (the one I'm having issues with) has some purple on all of her hooves. There is more purple on the one that she favors. I just feel so terrible, because it must be hurting her 😞 I was in the stall examining them all closely, and she went to a comfy spot and sat down like a dog for a bit. I wonder if both her back legs hurt. The poor thing 💔
To me, the first photo looks very purple. The second one looks pink. Maybe the photos are not accurate?
I don't know how a body part could have swelling if there is no blood flow, but that's really not important. I know you feel helpless and want to do something, but there is not anything you can do with frostbite. You just have to wait and see what falls off and then deal with it. No one can predict what will happen because we don't know how much of her feet were affected.
How is she doing today?
If you have a vet I would see about getting her in. They could prescribe something for pain and inflammation, such as Banamine.
They would also be able to give you a prognosis based on physical exam of her feet.
Tammy
Thank you for the reply. She is doing good, still jumps around (just not as much as her sister). She favors that foot more than she did at first. I've been soaking her hoof in epsom salt/tea tree oil warm water every day (the weather is above freezing now) and then I have put different medicines on the hoof. Is this all fine to be doing?
As far as the vet goes, I have never had to bring my goats to the vet. But I do know that there are a few within and hour or so from us. I just like to do everything I can myself first, since I'm kinda worried about the cost of the vet bill (I have no idea what to expect). I love my goats, but I just can't say that it would be worth $300 dollars, or whatever. What do you think? Do you think that it is necessary in this case to call around and find one that will look at her?
here is a picture from today is the greenish color between her hooves concerning?
I can't see anything green between the hooves in the photo. You might need to pull apart the toes and get a photo for us to see it. I'm wondering if the dark parts are going to fall off. It looks like there is already some separationg at the top of the dark part. If she froze down to the bone, that will fall off too. I've heard of kids losing part of a leg to frostbite.
There is no guessing what a vet visit would cost. It varies a lot, even in my area. At this moment, there is nothing a vet could do to stop frostbitten areas from falling off, and when ears or even a tail falls off, it's not a big deal. With legs, it could be more complicated because it's like a limb amputation, so just continue to keep an eye on it. If it gets infected, you'll have to choose between taking her to the vet and putting her down.
Okay, thank you. That is exactly the answer I was looking for. I will probably contact a vet if things start looking bad, but for now I will just see how things go.
The greenish color that I was talking about is probably nothing to worry about. It is just the two small lines that are on both sides of the "crack" between the hooves. You can see them clearly in the picture.
At this point I'm pretty sure that she will at least loose part of her hoof, but we'll see. Thanks again!
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