# Swollen Knee



## Hasligrove (Dec 10, 2008)

Hi everyone, Yesterday one of my yearlings got a swollen knee. It feels soft and fluid filled not hard at all. It is swollen on the front of the knee right under the rubbed area. It is about the size of a slightly flattened golf ball. He is in no pain. Running playing and head butting. My first thought was a bee sting or spider bite. I gave him children's benedryl and several asprin. No change. Any thoughts?


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

I guess no one has a good answer for you. I assume this goat is CAE free? Does it look like it is festering at all like a wood sliver or still just a soft lump? I've seen soft lumps on humans near joints, which is called a Ganglion Cyst. Not sure if this could happen to a goat or not. Its basically where the joint fluid leaks from the joint and forms a small balloon of joint fluid under the skin. Sounds similar to what you are describing.

I just Googled it and found that it does occur in the knee region. At least on people.
http://arthritis-symptom.com/d-g/ganglion-cyst-knee.htm


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

I've posted some on this on the packgoat e list. DMSO is good for dissolving and shrinking soft lumps like this, whether they are cysts or hematomas. Use a roll-on variety and put in around the center of any holes in the skin. Don't soak the skin where there might be an opening. 

You can buy DMSO at feed stores here. It's an off label use for goats.


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## ashkelon (Jul 25, 2009)

I just noticed one of these on Cabra's knee. 

My dobermanns used to get hygromas on their elbows and sometimes hocks from the rough way they would lie down on concrete floors. They would flop down and thump the elbows and one of these would form.

Since he's now sleeping in the chicken's empty feed bunk, rather than the tanbark or in the hay, I figured he smacked it on the bunk, either getting in or out.

I have this stuff that we put on the dobies called "Iodex", a nasty black, vitreous, gunk. It's one of those "voodoo" things that reading the ingredients shouldn't do anything, but seems to work. I have some DMSO for the horses, but it completely slipped my mind. I will use that.

There is no heat, bruising, broken skin or anything but the soft, discrete, swelling in the joint that came up overnight. He has no pain, either. Vet said she thought it was one, as well. 

Thanks for the heads up about the DMSO, totally spaced it.


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