# Averting injuries to hooves



## 5th_overture (Apr 2, 2011)

The old maxim, "learn from my mistake" definitely applies to this post. We had a about 4x3x3 foot steel box made of 4 panels of large steel mesh welded together with steel conduit. The goats would often play on it, jumping on and off in order to escape from a higher ranking goat. Last week on thanksgiving day, one of our 9 month old does had gotten one of her toes stuck in between a small rip in the steel mesh and the metal conduit. I didn't hear her scream at all that night, so I assume that it happened an hour or so before I woke up. She had fallen over the edge (the space which caught her toe was on the top) and had almost ripped her toe clean off. The joint had been dislocated and was clearly visible. The poor thing was in a lot of pain, judging by her scream when I lifted her off. We drove down the street to our vet who thankfully had seen this in cattle before and suggested amputation. She took off the toe and the bone above it and sewed it up, and now Tilly is doing much better! The reason I am posting this is as a warning; don't leave anything with your goats that could potentially snare one of their hooves. Learn from my mistake!


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