# Does my goat need skin grafts?



## goatgirl (May 27, 2011)

I have a 1 year old Doe that  I found soaking wet and muddy with some lacerations on her back/hip area.  I cleaned the wounds and although she was a bit sore when I put her up for the night she went on out to graze the next day with the herd.  Day two went fine but by day three the wounds were soggy and not healing well...I gave her a new tetanus shot as a precaution and antibiotics as treatment....next day it was apparent she was horribly infected..like I have never seen...she reeked!  I began giving her massive doses of pen. , Banamine and shaved the whole area on her hip so I could get a better look.  The original lacerations actually began to dry up and heal but it was as though the infection set into her area on top of the hip(under the skin).  Horrible.  It was so bad I had decided to not allow her to suffer and was going to have her put down.   Her back leg was swollen on that side also. Even her abdomen began to swell as though infection was draining into her abdomen and migrated, as it filled, to the chest area. This all sounds crazy and I do have a medical background-never heard anything like this.  I don't know how she lived like this.  She never went off of feed so I decided to give her a chance.  She even began straining and (I know this is VERY gross) thick puss drained out of her behind when she passed her pellets.-yes...still pellets....I again was going to put her down at the site of that-So sad!  I made the descision that the rotten skin had to come off of her hip. Unbelievably she stood with her head in my daughters lap and chewed a cud while we cut the dead skin/tissue from her hip.  It left 4 x 3 area of exposed tissue below, also a deep wound just beside her spine at her tail head.   We continued her treatment of huge doses of antibiotics and a new tetnus shot every 7 days. I applied a pressure bandage to the leg to help push the fluid from the swollen leg back to her body, it worked and the leg is normal size now.  The area is SO hard to bandage and keep flies out of.  From a distance you can not tell a thing is wrong with the Doe...She is amazing.  I was wondering if anyone has had this happend and what are the chances of the skin growing back...or SOMETHING growing back to cover it.  I have to continue with her antibiotics. As she has developed another very small pocket of infection to the side of the wound. I do have pictures if someone needs to see them....thanks


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## PattySh (May 27, 2011)

Not sure about this one but if she is hanging in there I'd try too! I have seen pictures of a horrific wound to a horses leg that did heal without skin grafts. I would suggest cleaning the area with chlorahexidine daily and changing the pads also.  You can use the chlorahexidine to flush open that "pocket" after you lance it. I had a dog get a  dog bite to a nursing udder once and what a mess it all sloughed open, you could put a fist in there. She ended up totally healed and with little visible scar. I would like to see pictures, you can pm me if you don't want to post them but thinking people would like to follow progress on this little girl. I hope she makes it!! Make sure she has a tetnus shot.


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## redtailgal (May 27, 2011)

..................


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## 20kidsonhill (May 27, 2011)

I am not normally this blunt, and i am all for giving them a chance, Infact have a doe with a badly broken leg in the sick pen right now, We treated her ourselfves, and splinted it. But what you are discribing sounds horrible, And if you have no plans of taking her into the vet, I would put her down.


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## mossyStone (May 27, 2011)

A few yrs ago two of my little pygoras was attacked by my neigbours dumb *** dog.. We lost the doeling the day of the attack, but the little buck survied. We had the vet out he was tore up bad skin, and  meat missing.. The vet said he thought he'd pass away ... 

We kept up with the flushing/ paking of wounds the vet came back a week later and cut of dead tissue ect...

He had no skin grafts, the vet left wounds open to drain we cleaned 3 x a day.... lots of antibitocs/ pain meds, and prayers 

I'd for sure get a Vet to help out.

Henery is still with us he hates dogs and has a slight limp....
Goats a amazing at healing.

Now we have Great Pyr and no dogs/or other varmits make it out of here...... he is worth his weight in GOLD


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## goatgirl (May 27, 2011)

***********GRAPHIC>>>PICS***********



I would post pictures on here if my computer would upload them....does anyone else have trouble with that?  I need to take new pictures tommorow or sunday.  the scab that had developed is coming off little by little and looks good underneath(I think). As with any wound where skin is growing back it is sometimes two steps forward and one step back at least in appearance.  I appreciate all the info. everyone is giving.  I have used maxi pads (LOL) I may go with adult diapers as it is SO hard to keep them on.  I would REALLY not keep an animal alive if I thought they were suffering too much, I agonized over the descision but I am SO glad I have let her fight...it came down to looking at her and as corny as this sounds .....feeling what SHE wanted to do.  Really she seems so unfazed by the whole thing and I am astonished at her progress.  I was sure to cut until the skin bled when I was debriding it.  I was surprised as well at how still she was during the process, my goats are incredibly tame.  I'm so proud of her. She is really all better with the exception of the skin growing back. I will try again to post the pics.    i think it worked this time.......this is just after the dead skin was taken off.


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## redtailgal (May 28, 2011)

............


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## aggieterpkatie (May 28, 2011)

Yeowch!  Keep us posted on her progress. I hope she heals up quickly and you don't have too much trouble with flies and such.


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## dianneS (May 28, 2011)

Wow, that is nasty looking.  I agree though that she should heal just fine if you can keep infection out.

Animal wounds heal up much better than ours and rarely require a skin graft.  I've seen some really nasty wounds on horses heal and the hair grow back too.  I had a stray cat with a huge hold in its leg, all the way down to the muscle.  With massive doses of antibiotics and lots of wound care, she healed up just fine.  I was shocked that a hole like that closed up with no problems, but it did!

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## rockdoveranch (May 28, 2011)

My first thought after seeing the picture is to suggest you try water therapy. 

Put an attachment on your hose that is like a shower head with lots of holes for water to come out and turn the water up enough to have a pretty hard stream.  Run the water on the wound for a good 10 to 15 minutes at a time, and at least 4 to 5 times a day.  

If you can use slightly warm water that would be good, but don't use hot water.

The water will stimulate the tissue to granulate and heal.

Good luck an let us know how she does.


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## rockdoveranch (May 28, 2011)

I wanted to ad that you should add Distilled Vinegar to her drinking water, a small amount for her to get used to it and increase slowly.  Since I do not know how large her drinking container is, I cannot advise on the final amount.  I put about 1/2 cup in my dogs 4 gallon water bowl.

Others will suggest Apple Cider Vinegar, but Distilled works for me.

The Boxer dog that I had before the one I have now developed skin problems after moving out here.  He would get little cuts that would lead to largish deepish open oozy sores that would not heal.  I spent a fortune on him on vet visits and antibiotics and shampoos and conditioners.  I discovered vinegar was one of the ingredients in the shampoos and started doing some googling.

I started adding the vinegar to his water and his skin totally cleared up and for years and until he died, he never had skin problems again.

I know it changes the PH of the skin, but cannot remember exactly what it did to heal my dog's open icky sores.

My daughter's Boston Terrier has allergies that affect his skin.  Vinegar has helped him.


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## elevan (May 28, 2011)

Best of luck to you and your goat.

You've gotten a lot of good advice thus far...I'll leave my comment at that.


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## AlaskanShepherdess (May 28, 2011)

If your interested in trying something natural I would HIGHLY recommend Comfrey poultices. Comfrey's healing powers are AMAZING.


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## Our7Wonders (May 29, 2011)

CrownofThornsNDGoats said:
			
		

> If your interested in trying something natural I would HIGHLY recommend Comfrey poultices. Comfrey's healing powers are AMAZING.


Comfrey is a great healer, though you do have to be careful.  If there are any signs of infection the comfrey can heal so fast that it "traps" (for lack of a better word) the infection inside - causing an absess.  I'm all for comfrey but just wanted to throw out that precaution - all of my herbal books list it as a possibility - because comfrey is such a rapid healer.


That poor doe, that is a awful looking wound.  Please let us know how she does.


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## PattySh (May 30, 2011)

OK that pic is a little bigger and deeper wound than I imagined. Not sure if what you are doing is working, if it is keept it going but...I took  over the care of a relative once who was a quad (paralyzed)and bedridden.  On arrival here had a  huge deep (to the bone)  bedsore sore on a hip. Visiting nurses showed me how to  pack the wound with guaze soaked in a mild bleach and saline solution  covered with another bandage to hold it in daily to keep infection  out (not sure the "recipe" as they left it premade but wonder if you could google it, I know it was the liquid premixed saline solution you get for flushing wounds with bleach added).  They said the bleach was very commonly used for bedsores as they got infected easily. It healed really fast, did have quite a scar but skin did cover. He was very compromised with circulation so your goat has a very good chance of healing well (if infection and parasites can be kept at bay).


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## RockyToggRanch (May 30, 2011)

rockdoveranch said:
			
		

> My first thought after seeing the picture is to suggest you try water therapy.
> 
> Put an attachment on your hose that is like a shower head with lots of holes for water to come out and turn the water up enough to have a pretty hard stream.  Run the water on the wound for a good 10 to 15 minutes at a time, and at least 4 to 5 times a day.
> 
> ...


My vet suggested this for my horses chest wound. He left the wound open to drain and wanted me to hose it with cold water twice a day minimum..10-15 minutes. This was to keep it clean and not let it close before it finished draining.


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## Goatherd (May 30, 2011)

I don't know if this would be an option for you, but you might consider aloe vera juice.
Aloe juice is natural and has healing properties as we all know.

I have found this at Sam's Club, and I'm sure there are other places you could look.
For a gallon, I pay $6 and change...very reasonable.

After you flush the wound, this could be applied without dilution.  Fill a spray bottle and thoroughly soak the wound.

I would think this would aid the repairing of the skin and would also be soothing to the skin.

Just a thought...


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## rockdoveranch (May 30, 2011)

Goatgirl,

When you have a chance, please let us know how she is doing.


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## goatgirl (May 30, 2011)

rockdoveranch said:
			
		

> Goatgirl,
> 
> When you have a chance, please let us know how she is doing.


Well still haven't had time for new pictures (with the holiday)......there has been awesome progress with the wound and a bit of a "step backwards" also....I guess that is normal with a wound like this but no biggy.   The original deep portion of the wound by the spine seems to be filling in extremely well. That was the one area I was most afraid would never heal back correctly but I am so surprised and pleased with most of the wound.  I use the water therapy, once a day.  The wound bed clears up with the water and nice looking skin shows and great capillary bleeding filles it in...the bleeding is small ofcourse.  At this point I just did my second debridement this evening.  There were a couple of small areas that needed to come off.  when I originally cut the dead tissue away I decided to give some areas some more time....as I wasn't absolutilly sure they needed to be cut away but with the new growth you can really tell good tissue from the few dead spots.  Also I originally was using maxi pads and vet wrap to help cover the wound but she worked them off.  Unfortunately this is the kick-off week for poo-poo fly egg laying and they have mistaken my doe's wound for their hatchery!...ewwww.  Earlier this week there was a small pocket of infection that developed so  I upped her antibiotics and perhaps the maggots actually helped as this evening when we trimmed off some more tissue and flushed the wound there was absolutely no infection in the wound.  I had to really work to get at the maggots but all the tissue they were near is so pretty and pink.  I have changed to using diapers with the vet wrap to make sure there is no area flies can get into.
I think the diapers will work nicely.  So ....so far, so good.  The doe is incredible and so cooperative. I want to wait at least a week or so....perhaps debride once more and make sure I have cleared all maggots and I may look into the herbal wound healing mentioned. Hopefully I will have new pictures this week. Thanks for all the information!!


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## goatgirl (May 30, 2011)

redtailgal said:
			
		

> Its a nasty looking wound for sure!
> 
> Any idea how it happened?
> 
> ...


I am not absolutely positive but pretty sure it was a Gator....we have a pond in the back pasture and it attracts the occasional small gator.  They are not usually a problem and have never messed with out animals but considering that I found her covered in muddy water with the cuts I decided she went to the pond for a drink and a small gator tried to get her but she got away-with a few lacerations! I didn't really come to me until I saw the unbelievable infection that manifested.....gators have such terrible bacteria in their mouths.


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## currycomb (May 31, 2011)

scarlett oil is amazing at keeping the flies away, keeping the tissue moist, and just helps the healing. you can just spray it on, cover if you wish, or leave open. at some point you will need to let it breath and dry out a little.


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