# Broken Horn:(



## MeganH (Apr 6, 2013)

Found our doeling today with a broken horn, it was bleeding quite a bit and broken of fairly low. We put on bluekote and then blood clot powder(picture is before we put on the powder). Also gave some probios just in case. The bleeding has now mostly stopped. She isbeatng normal and acting like nothing happened. Any suggestions as to what else to do? Anyone know why/how this could have happened?. Thanks!!


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

Probably head butting. I would see how close to skull it is you may have a unicorn. Did the blood stop work? Give it a couple days so you can see what your options are. Personally the other hork looks small maybe have the vet cut them both off properly. She will look better, if you dont cut that bad one off completely, she will a nasty scur.


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## MeganH (Apr 6, 2013)

Ouch I didn't think they would headbut that hard blood stop worked great. I think I will give it a couple days to heal up and see how bad it is. Don't want to clean it fully now as I don't want to start bleeding again. Then we might have to take her to the vet like you said.


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

We had a doe lose a horn and we never really new how. What the vet did was wrap it with gause well and took vet wrap. Wrapped it around the horn area and under the chin and back around the other horn . Wrap it well. He said not to take it lostitoff. Let it fall off. She is fine and you really can not tell she lost it al all. I would not leave it uncovered


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

One of my does had a horn broken as a kid. Long healed when I got her so I don't know what happened but it hasn't been a problem. She has about half of it left.


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## Barnes19 (Sep 8, 2013)

Ouch poor darling. She'll be fine ... but I'd be a bit concerned about that being open still and her in with other goats.

Obviously she's best off with the company if thats where she's happy, but I'd want to be protecting that wound with a good bandage to be honest ... she can easily have another head butting session with another goat and open it all up again.

It will heal and I wouldn't expect scars ... but as mentioned above, if the horn does survive and grow back it won't be so good, at best its likely to be weak and prone to keep snapping off again. Not something you want to be going through all the time!

Its an ugly op frankly (from what I've seen of it anyway) but she would likely be better off (for her long term comfort as well as her looks) to have them both taken off below the root so they don't grow back.

Unless the op has changed a lot, that means the vet will give some form of anesthetic/sedative and remove the horn/s with a wafer slice of skull as well. Under vet control thats a lot less messy than what just happened to her ... and you see shes not that upset about that.

It heals without too much scarring, just looks like any other dehorned goat really ...


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## MeganH (Apr 6, 2013)

We separated her from the heard because I was afraid of her getting hurt again as well. The other goat in the picture has an injured leg so the are in the hospital pen and they get along great. I hope it will grow back nice. It is hard to see where it broke off at the moment because we haven't cleaned all the blood off(don't want to reopen a scab). But I don't think it has gone deep into the skull so I have hope. The only thing that makes me worry about a bandage is that she will try to rub it off on something and hurt herself.. But like you said she may need a trip to the vet to remove both so we will just keep our options open thanks! FYI, goggled other broken horns and got some real horror stories on the Internet- yikes!


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## usamagoat (May 2, 2013)

If the break is close to the head, part of the horn is still hanging on or looks to be older and infected, call the vet immediately. If the break is close to the head, the like hood is that it will be very bloody and it will be necessary for you to control the bleeding as soon as possible to save the life of your goat. Cayenne pepper will help clot the blood, or if you do not keep pepper in your house try cornstarch, baking soda/powder, or flour in that order. What you need to do is to provide a clotting system for the animal since it is bleeding too fast for the blood to do that on its own. Then using sterile cloths or the cleanest cloths you have, place them over the wound and bandage it until the vet comes. This will keep out dirt as well as continue to prevent the excess bleeding. or if you want put salt, or even if you know how to iron it. good luck!


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