# Infected Ear Tag



## Kaneel (Oct 7, 2012)

My goat got her ear tagged for validation a week or two ago and we've been told by my ag teacher that it's infected. She was supposed to give me a spray to put on it but she forgot and i can't recall the name of it. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can put on it?


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## fd123 (May 29, 2012)

Blue Coat..
...id pour some peroxide on it, and clean it the best i could..then id put some triple antibiotic creme (nerosporin) on it...
If it starts getting bad.(if it were me)..id take the tag out and replace it later, after its healed up good..


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

Blu-Kote is awesome for wounds so I would put some of that on it. However knowing how to care for human piercings correctly I am also going to give you the same advice I would give a human with an infected piercing. Make a sea salt *not *iodized salt only sea salt water mixture as strong as your tears and soak her ear in it as many times a day as your can then if there is any goop on her ear gently wipe it off and spray some Blu-Kote on it. Sometimes on deep wounds such as a piercing hydrogen peroxide can aggravate tissue and delay healing especially if you don't wash it off afterwards. Before I knew any better I used it on my goats ear tags. They never healed even after nearly three months and I had to remove them.


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

I agree with sea salt. We have to have these huge cattle size tags on our wethers to be shown at the state fair. They always get infected. The sea salt/water does work... It helps dry up the infection. Just make sure you turn the tag so it gets in there good. We haven't used blue kote on the tags but it does work really well on other wounds.


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## Kaneel (Oct 7, 2012)

My ag teacher told us to spray it with hydrogen peroxide every day, as well as twist the tag. I believe the sea-salt will burn the wound though....and my goat in particular (although most others don't either) doesn't take well to any kind of pain people inflict on her, especially ear-wise. I'm going to see about getting some Blu-Kote though, I hope my local Neuhaus & Co. or feed store has it in stock.

RE-EDIT:

Ah, I just checked it in TSC and it says it's ok for many different animals, including goats, So I think I'll try and find some  Thank you for all the help! I'll try and keep an update on what's going on, as well as asking any questions I have along the way


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

Warm sea salt water as strong at tears does not burn at all. I have used it in my own ears and it is very soothing. It takes that soreness away. Hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria, but it also kills the white blood cells attempting to heal the wound. It can cause irritation and lengthen overall healing time. But if that's what you want to use I hope it works. If you don't think you can hold her long enough to soak it you can also spray it on but really soaking will really help much more. Its a myth that twisting helps healing. It actually aggravates it the best thing you can do is soak it and leave it alone.


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

People who get new piercing absolutely swear by a mild sea salt solution for it when healing and/or infected. It definitely is made weak enough so it doesn't burn the wound. Actually, it feels very relieving when you use it on a piercing, takes away the itch and annoyance and feels cool and nice.


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## fd123 (May 29, 2012)

well dang!!!! i thought i had given some good advise on the peroxide....thats why i love this site!! i dont have to deal with trial and error too much anymore...I just wrote down seasalt in my goat book!! Thanks EVERYONE for sharing your knowledge and experience, it makes being a goat owner soooo much easier!!


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