# Limping Goat/ No Signs of ANY Injury



## Nikki303 (Sep 11, 2014)

Hi All!

My 10 month old whether has been limping for about five days now on just his front right leg/ foot. Sometimes he holds it up, sometimes he paws at the ground with it. His hooves were way too long so I trimmed them up Monday evening. I'm in Colorado and we've had major flooding for over a month so things have been wet around here even though their stall is dry. I thought maybe with his long hooves and all the moisture, he had the beginning stages of hoof rot? After I trimmed him Monday, I examined his hoof and it looks perfect. I sprayed it with diluted bleach water and coated it with betadine. I repeated this process last night as well. Yesterday he seemed slightly better but today he seems the same. I checked his legs, shoulder, everything and cannot find a single sore or hot spot. No swelling. I'm really at a loss here. At this point, I can tell you every bump or mosquito bite he has!! I have two questions;

1) Is there something else I'm completely missing or should be checking for?
2) If he is sore from his hooves being too long or possible very early stages of hoof rot, how long will it take to see any improvement?

I haven't given him any medicine for pain because I didn't want to trim, treat, and medicate - and then not know what was helping. I'm thinking of giving him some aspirin tonight. I should also add that whatever it is, is not effecting him much at all. He is still active, running around, jumping on things, eating and drinking normally. It's just really making me sad to see, probably bothering me way more than him. Also, I have the vet coming out to give shots next Thursday and he will obviously look at him then unless this gets worse and I call him out early. Any thoughts from any of you pros? I've only had him and his friend for a year so I'm far from an expert on goat keeping. Thanks in advance!


----------



## gonegoaty (May 15, 2015)

I've posted a couple times about my goat... very similar situation. I'll be following your thread to see if you get any additional ideas, but here's my situation and what we've done so far:

My goat came to me about 6 months ago and his hooves were extremely overgrown. I trimmed them some right away but waited until spring to really start cutting them back each day. Then it started to get muddy from all the spring rains and he started limping. This was during the timeframe I'd been cutting back his hooves too so I wondered if it was hoof rot or from me cutting his hooves back too rapidly. There was no smell, no swelling, or heat anywhere. He just started laying down more and walking on 3 legs holding his front leg up. I was making sure his hooves were kept really clean, putting Hoof n Heal on them, and giving him supplements of Vitamin C and B Complex. Neither of these would directly fix the problem, but I figured the boosters for his immune system and digestive system couldn't hurt. I didn't let him lay around too much, I made sure he foraged around every day. The B complex can help stimulate the appetite too, encouraging him to move around.

My vet says it's most likely an injury in the shoulder that can take time, even up to a few months to heal. It could also be arthritis but that is less likely. She said she would recommend anti-inflammatories for either, so we're starting with that and will do xrays in a couple months if no improvements.

Because the metacam she's recommending is so expensive, I'm using Aspirin for right now. He is 60lbs and can have up to 2500mg every 12 hours. 

He has had this limp a good month and the last week he has shown an improvement. He walks around more using his leg, sometimes his limp is barely noticeable. It seems the most stiff in the morning when he wakes up, but then he gets moving around and eating.

I'd still like to know if there is anything else I can do to help him get better more quickly, but for now, this seems to be working. I did pick up some Absorbine from Tractor Supply and tried that on him a couple times, but I didn't see that it made much of a difference. 

It is hard to see them in pain, I know. Hope this helps. Good luck!


----------



## Nikki303 (Sep 11, 2014)

Thank you so much for your info. I forgot to add that it seems much worse first thing in the morning, just like yours. After a day of moving around the limp is barely noticeable. Because of this, I initially thought an injury. To me it would make sense for an injury (twist, etc) to be more sore in the morning and get better throughout the day. I will start him on aspirin tonight and try to hang in there until the vet comes next week. He is my triplet orphaned baby that I've had since he was 14 days old so it's so hard to see him experience anything unpleasant!

I hope your baby heals fast! Hopefully someone on here can maybe shed some additional light on our poor limpy boys! Also, I will post after the vet next week if he seems to have any other ideas that could help us!


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Hard to say without physically seeing him. Hopefully the vet can give you some answers.


----------



## grindylo (May 15, 2014)

Woah, I hope he gets better soon! It's awful to not know how to fix what's wrong. *hugs*


----------



## Nikki303 (Sep 11, 2014)

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone! He was basically back to normal this morning after being in such rough shape yesterday morning! He's such a baby  Hopefully he continues to improve!


----------



## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

I had something similar happen -- to two different does. It went away on its own. They do get rambunctious and, just like people, can injure themselves. One apparently hurt herself on the 4th of July. Every time the neighbors set off fireworks, the goats went charging around. She may have crashed into something in the dark. The problem started that night. She limped slightly when first rising and sometimes held her hoof up slightly while standing. She did not protect her foot, she still raced and jumped, so that took a while to completely heal. When she got better, another one started limping on one foot! She likes to jump off tall dogloos in a single bound. The limp went away in a few days. Of course, I worried about every serious ailment, especially CAE, even though the vet was not particularly concerned. No limps at all now for a long time. CAE negative.

Good luck.


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

They do like to make us worry dont they!..glad he is back to normal for you


----------



## elchivito (Apr 18, 2010)

What is Metacam? If it's good I want some.


----------



## bluetyger (Apr 14, 2021)

Nikki303 said:


> Thanks for the thoughts, everyone! He was basically back to normal this morning after being in such rough shape yesterday morning! He's such a baby  Hopefully he continues to improve!


But, what did you do for him to get better. My goat has the same problem and he being to the vet twice; the second time he had x-rays, and she didn't see anything. I'm going to start soaking his hoof in sea salt, and pray 🙏 it helps him, because my vet is puzzled about his lame hoof. Ps what can be done for my guy to get back to his old self.


----------



## Vaught003 (Jan 4, 2021)

bluetyger said:


> But, what did you do for him to get better. My goat has the same problem and he being to the vet twice; the second time he had x-rays, and she didn't see anything. I'm going to start soaking his hoof in sea salt, and pray 🙏 it helps him, because my vet is puzzled about his lame hoof. Ps what can be done for my guy to get back to his old self.


Have you had any luck or answers for your goat yet? I’m having the same issue. My poor fella has been limping for two months.


----------



## LW15 (May 3, 2021)

Vaught003 said:


> Have you had any luck or answers for your goat yet? I’m having the same issue. My poor fella has been limping for two months.


No I'm still trying to find a goat farrier. I sent emails out, and still waiting. I call my veterinary, she gave me the farrier name who did my horses 3 or 4 years ago. I soak his hoof in mineral dead sea salt. He need a full pedicure. I'm going to try to file it down, because his hooves are not flat on the ground. I read a lot on goat hooves and one had pictures showing how their hooves should look like. One look at the kid hooves and see how nice they are and compare the two. I only has two boys, so the pictures work good for me. The dead sea salt helps some he don't hop around as much, but he still need his hooves flat on the ground.


----------



## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

Make sure you're checking between their toes for rot and scald, not just the bottoms of the feet. It wouldn't hurt to get a bucket of water and a scrub brush and really clean the feet so you can get a good look...if you haven't done that already. 
Any scabs from mites? Those can be painful.
Maybe an abscess? I believe those can start deep and take a while to work themselves out. 
Of course, CAE is always a possibility, too. 
If you start a new thread, you may get more input.


----------



## NRam (Nov 26, 2021)

Nikki303 said:


> Hi All!
> 
> My 10 month old whether has been limping for about five days now on just his front right leg/ foot. Sometimes he holds it up, sometimes he paws at the ground with it. His hooves were way too long so I trimmed them up Monday evening. I'm in Colorado and we've had major flooding for over a month so things have been wet around here even though their stall is dry. I thought maybe with his long hooves and all the moisture, he had the beginning stages of hoof rot? After I trimmed him Monday, I examined his hoof and it looks perfect. I sprayed it with diluted bleach water and coated it with betadine. I repeated this process last night as well. Yesterday he seemed slightly better but today he seems the same. I checked his legs, shoulder, everything and cannot find a single sore or hot spot. No swelling. I'm really at a loss here. At this point, I can tell you every bump or mosquito bite he has!! I have two questions;
> 
> ...


Did you find out what’s going on? We have the same situation with our 9 month old Nigerian Dwarf.


----------

