My goat started limping on his right foreleg about two weeks ago. I can not find anything wrong with it. The limp seems to be getting worse. I am going to clean his leg and hoof today with warm soap and water and take a good look again. If I still can see no marks, do I assume he sprained it? What do I do for a sprain?

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002

Answers

After you clean his leg and retrim his hoof, pour hydrogen peroxide on it, soaking his hoof, perhaps this will help you find what has happened, if he has a break in the skin it will fizz. With wet weather, they can get abscess in their hooves, usually up near the coronary band, where the meat of the foot meets the hoof. If you press on this you can feel it. I had never heard of goats getting these like horses can until this year. Look way up between the toes also. Is their swelling in the knee? If it was a simple sprain it would have gone away by two weeks. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (Nubians) (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

I would also feel his leg really carefully, start at one end and work down. For example, feel the shoulder and prod it carefully, watching all the while to see if he winces, and work downwards until you can find out where it is most tender. The pain is almost always in the hoof- with my goats it is usually that the foot needs to be trimmed or there is a thorn embedded, sometimes too deeply to see without a little trimming.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 05, 2002.