# Navel Infection...please help!



## swivelswife (Jan 15, 2014)

I hope I'm doing this correctly, this is my first post.

On Sunday I brought home two baby kids. The one had an obvious infection of the navel. I have been holding hot compresses on it twice a day & squeezing the puss from it after each soaking. I then apply medicine and cover it to keep out dirt. I also started giving her 1 ml, SC injections 1 time a day of penicillin g. She is 8 weeks old and I wondering if I'm doing everything correctly? I was raised around horses my whole life, so if this was equine I would know what all to do but I'm new to goats so I have been reading every forum on here plus more to make sure this little girl thrives. If anyone can give me advice I would surley appreciate it. She is eating and drinking fine & also getting around like nothings wrong. Her temp is 102.8 so I'm thinking shes doing alright. Thank you in advance for you help. :whatgoat:


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## swivelswife (Jan 15, 2014)

I actually thought I would have a response before now, maybe this isn't the forum should be posting at?!?!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I actually just got in from feeding my kids 

What breed of goat?
What is her temp? Normal rectal temp on a goat is 101-103*F
As far as the navel... does she still have a bit of dried cord hanging? Is there a lump or bulge ?
When did you start the Pen G? Dose I use is 1cc per 20lbs 2x a day for 5 days
Also, give her some probiotic paste as antibiotics aren't choosy with the bacteria they kill off, you'll need to keep the good bacteria going in her gut.


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## swivelswife (Jan 15, 2014)

Thank you sooo much Liz for responding. She has no cord on there just a hole where the cord was. No fever & she is a Nigerian dwarf, yes there is a bulge there a super ball size, which was more a gulf ball size on Sunday. I started penicillin g yesterday 1 cc. I have a tube of Achieve Pro paste supplement for kids, is this what I need to give her, if not what should I give her please? Thank you so much for responding.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

You can dose her with the paste you have, I have seen it before and it does contain the micro organisms for digestion. 
Since the bulge has gone down since you've opened the abcess and drained it, you'll want to keep it open to allow additional drainage as it heals from the inside out by preventing it from scabbing over, you can do this by applying an antibiotic salve and wrapping her with gauze to cover the area as it heals.... with the navel though it's hard to determine if the abdominal muscle has closed and the abcess is on the outside under the skin or if she actually herniated at the umbilicus.
When you are manipulating the area, do you feel a hole into her belly or do you feel muscle and the bump over it?

If she is herniated, it's good chance she should see a vet and have it sutured.


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## swivelswife (Jan 15, 2014)

No, I don't feel any type of hole, it is just a hard lump that when squeeze very thick puss comes out. The hole is very small, smaller than a pencil eraser. I want to thank you very much for your response, it's kindly appreciated.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

You are very welcome :hug:

Keep her on the Pen G for the full course of 5 days, and keep the area clean, you can swab it with a gentled iodine solution to help with healing and though she will not like it at all try and get the lump cleared of the infection totally. You can flush it out with a diluted gentled iodine solution pulled into a syringe without the needle and squirt it into the hole, gentle squeezing until you see no more pus, cover with the salve and it should heal nicely. And she will really hate this so watch out for those flying hooves.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Good advice : )


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

The more I think of this, the more I'm thinking that she likely tugged at the dried bit of cord and tore it prematurely, which led to an infection where the wound was. I've had kids keep their dried bit of cord for up to 10 weeks but most of the time they've dropped off by 8 weeks and if they're off sooner they have had a scab form where it ripped the attached skin.

Just do as you have been and get the abcess cleared out, she should heal up soon.


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## swivelswife (Jan 15, 2014)

That is great advice!! Thanks again for your time


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

swivelswife said:


> I also started giving her 1 ml, SC injections 1 time a day of penicillin g. She is 8 weeks old and I wondering if I'm doing everything correctly?


Pen G needs to be dosed at the rate of 1 cc/20 lbs twice a day.


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