One of our goats is being bothered by her left hind foot, but I can't figure out why.
Whenever she's on a hard surface (I don't see it as much when she's on grass or straw) she simply won't stand on that foot, she'll keep it lifted off the ground.
We thought maybe her hoof wasn't completely trimmed or something, so we trimmed her hooves again but she still did it.
(Actually the pads of her feet are at a kind of weird angle but there is flat on it, plus I considered trimming it down, but after a semi shallow layer was trimmed off I could see the pink underneath so I didn't cut further.)
Does anyone have any other ideas about why she might be doing this?
Replies
Hej from Sweden !
Sorry about Kara. I think about the pain factor, and wonder if the urge to mix with her herd buddies overrides her discomfort. Hilda could stay in her box when I open all the doors but she is always ready to waddle down the coridore to join her "girl friends" !
Good idea to separate off an area for her daughter, Peanut to creep in and get her grain ration. Hilda does love her hay and is really enjoying the new meadow hay we recently bought for them.
I hope both our ladies feel better soon. Thank you for your suggestions.
Hannah Person said:
It's the same with Kara! She'll walk and run, just not stand on it.
Although I think she's gotten worse I caught her limping just slightly today.
It's probably painful since they're not standing on it, but maybe it's not very painful if they simply don't stand on it, or they do disguise it. I don't know.
Does she get grain? I know grain adds weight, so I'd try and stop her completely. At 6 months the daughter is smaller right? You could probably build or close off a little area that only a smaller goat can squeeze through and put the grain in there. Her daughter should be able to gt in, but she won't fit.
Hej from Sweden !
You know Hannah, just the other day I was watching Hilda and saw that she walks just fine, it's only when she is standing. In fact she runs in the stable. So I know it can't be broken. I massage her leg every evening and as I have been doing so, it occurred to me that she might have a bit of arthritis. I also looked at her round body and thought this weight must not be helping things. I do think she may need a trip to the vet just to make sure and get pain meds if she needs it; hard to tell if she is in pain because as I massage that leg, I make sure I touch it everywhere and press for sensitive spots. There have been none and Hilda just seems to enjoy it. Do goats disguise their pain or just not show it? I have never had a goat appear like they are suffering from anything. I agree that she may need to be on a diet. Now my problem is how to reduce her grain when she eats from the same grain bowl as her 6 mos. old daughter Peanut. This will take some thought. Any suggestions on separating their food?
Thank you for your post. I do hope your lady is feeling better and has a quick recovery!
PS. You know Deborah, it is strange it's only one leg. But if it were broken, she should not be able to run as she does. I am thinking muscle strain or arthritis. Your lady limped for ann entire year. How did you stand it?
Hannah Person said:
One leg sounds more like an injury. I had a goat injure her leg, and I thought it was broken, so took her to the vet. It wasn't broken. The vet said she must have pulled a muscle or something. She continued limping off and on for a year, but has been fine since then.
We took her to the vet and the vet said it might be arthritis. Plus our goat is apparently overweight, which would add to it.
The vet gave us pain medicine for her and told us to keep her in a small pen with nothing to climb on for 2 weeks to see if it gets better if she doesn't have to use it so much. We also have to put her on a diet.
You might try asking a vet about Hilda, see if they can spot anything specific.
Hej from Sweden,
We are having the same problem with our Hilda ! We had the woman who does their hooves out to do her feet. She has rather unusual feet (she came to us with bad feet and we didn't know it) so she does her feet for us. I would not attempt to snip anything because not only do her nails grow extremely long, extremely fast, but you really can not tell foot from hoof at times.
Hilda had her feet done again, but she still holds that right front leg up , when standing. My goats are housed in our stable so when the weather is not good to go out, they all run and play in the stable corridor. I make sure she comes from her box and I watch her run with the others.She runs just fine, but when standing , up comes that foot again.
I rub her leg and foot and she never pulls away from my touch. It is really confussing.
I hope someone can help Hannah and I and my Hilda !