# Holes after dehorning



## Sage Albright (Oct 6, 2015)

Hello! 

About two weeks ago our vet came about our goats. Our five month old buck had scurs which were removed and he has healed up nice. However our four month old was dehorning for the first time and the holes will not close up. They seemed to look okay up until yesterday. I noticed he had some food in one of the holes, which I removed. Now today the hole that I removed the food from looks like it's filled with yellow puss. Called the vet and he is going to try to squeeze us in today or tomorrow. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?


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## OneFineAcre (Oct 6, 2015)

If you can get some chlorhexidine or some type of antiseptic or even peroxide to flush it out
I would check temp to see if they have a fever
If you have an elevated temp possibly treat with antibiotics


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## Hens and Roos (Oct 6, 2015)

OneFineAcre said:


> If you can get some chlorhexidine or some type of antiseptic or even peroxide to flush it out
> I would check temp to see if they have a fever
> If you have an elevated temp possibly treat with antibiotics



what about Vetericyn?  The local farm stores by us carry it.


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## Sage Albright (Oct 6, 2015)

Vet managed to come today and said it looks normal. He said they usually get a coating over where the hole is before it fully closes. I think he called it a membrane? He tipped the goats head to the side and nothing drained out. Even when he touched it, no drainage. He said to just watch it and make sure nothing changes. He still has a big gaping hole where the other horn was. I'm not sure how long that will take to heal. My other goat's holes are completely closed and almost fully healed. 

I do have Vetericyn. I'll keep that in mind if anything changes with his condition.


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## Southern by choice (Oct 6, 2015)

If they are large they should be wrapped. The yucky stuff may have just been snot as the "holes" are down into the sinus. You run a higher risk of infection by not wrapping.
We had a doe done and her head was wrapped for weeks... 6 total.
http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/de-horned-2yr-old-doe-week-3-update.28257/page-2#post-358403


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## babsbag (Oct 7, 2015)

My buck had his head wrapped for a month, and that was just to remove a scur. The holes are nasty.  I would use a sanitary pad with a sticky strip on the bottom and stick it to a long piece of gauze. That gave the pad some ties and I would just tie it under the chin and then wrap it all with vet wrap. Not easy but it worked. His got infected a few days after the surgery so I was re-wrapping and putting an antibiotic wash of some kind on it every other day. Horrible experience.


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## OneFineAcre (Oct 7, 2015)

Hens and Roos said:


> what about Vetericyn?  The local farm stores by us carry it.


That would work


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## Sage Albright (Oct 7, 2015)

The vet told us not to cover them. Which I thought was odd since you could literally see his sinuses moving when he would breathe. It looked like that with both the boys. I'm just not sure why our 6 month old is completely healed and the younger buck isn't closing up as fast. Guess I will give it another week and see. I did spray him with some medicine this morning just in case. Thank god there aren't many flies up here anymore. But I'm still using the fly spray as a precaution. He is acting completely normal. Running around, eating, drinking, and he fainted for the first time yesterday when I was trying to catch him! 


I really hope they close up soon. He keeps getting food in them and it's hard to clean it out completely. 

On top of all this we had a big scary last night with the older buck. We typically let them roam the yard and we are in the process of building a fence for them. However if I go outside and the older buck sees me go in the house he runs down to the front door and bangs on it until I come out. He's very attached to me. So last night I needed to run in the house for a minute since the phone was ringing. I grabbed my dogs long lead and hooked the buck up for a second so he didn't come down to the house. I wasn't even inside that long and when I came out I literally heard him screaming. I ran up to where he was to find he had wrapped himself completely around a 3ft tree and was laying on his back with his legs in the air. Foam was coming out of his mouth. He was literally choking! The lead was so tight that I couldn't get it unstuck so I had to cut it to get him free. Then he just laid there breathing weird and coughing. I freaked out and called the vet. While waiting for our vet to get here the buck got up, ate some food, and was running around acting normal. Once the vet got here he said he was fine but if I would have come out a minute later I would have found a dead goat!! So scary. He gave him an anti inflammatory just in case. It was literally the scariest thing I have ever experienced. I couldn't imagine losing him!


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## ragdollcatlady (Jan 8, 2016)

I am glad your buck is OK! How scary! 

I know the post about the holes is a few months old, but I have had a couple of goats dehorned and I personally cover them, especially to protect the membranes and sinuses from dirt and flies. I use raw honey and a nonstick pad, held in place with vetwrap and a final wrap of duct tape. Changed every 2 days until the holes have a solid looking center, then uncovered but monitored closely for any issues. This is in addition to the injectable antibiotics recommended by the vet that removed the horns. My goats have had scurs after the removals, but nothing too bad.


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