# Bottle baby with broken leg.. advice moving forward



## Janie (Mar 5, 2019)

So our baby goat Fern has come into the unfortunate situation of (I believe) breaking her leg. As we have had our first warmer days and are over any hard freezes, I finally saw fit to move the baby out to the barn for the first time since she came home (she has been sleeping alone  in an indoor pen in the house without issues/outside with the rest of the farm for the rest of the day). With 4 1/2 foot fencing panels and plenty of space, I figured she would be alright. Within a matter of minutes her "baby left alone" maaing turning into bloody murder screaming and I ran out to the barn where she was dangling by her back leg from one of the slats of fencing. 
I scooped her up and rushed her inside to assess the damage to find that her leg has a likely cannon fracture below the knee and above the hoof and (wrist?) joint. My knowledge of goat anatomy is limited, but I was pretty sure I could feel with my fingers (under the skin, no compound fracture) where it may be broken. My partner and I fashioned a quick and dirty splint right off the bat while we did some more research. I then put a better splint on her for the night with two plastic butter knives (wrapped in medical tape) over padded skin and wrapped firmly with ace wrap. This morning, after gathering my boy scout level field experience of setting bones with little confidence and some pointed reading of the forum + other goat help sites, I splinted her leg in what I believe will serve her for an acceptable amount of time. She now has three long flat sticks (one thick one along the back of the leg and two along the sides) that extend just past the back of the knee and about half/quarter inch from the end of the hoof (to allow her to put weight on sticks to the knee rather than on the bone and pasture joint). After probing her leg again (could not feel break as well as before but I did not poke around too much and may be due to swelling, though even evidence of swelling was moderate) I pulled her leg firmly but gently by the base of the knee and the hoof (pulling apart) in attempt to straighten and set the bone better before laying it to the splint sticks. Then I padded her leg very well with guaze and toilet paper, added split sticks, then wrapped firmly with ace wrap and again with medical tape.

The splint is functional and Fern has started to try to hobble on three legs. She is clearly in pain because she does not fuss when left without me or any of her animal buddies (she will usually scream until being reunited unless she is sleepy with a full belly), but she is very responsive to attention when I do go in to see her. She still butts&nuzzles while maaing for attention and will even try to come when called. She popped up and came hobbling and crying for her bottle this morning, which she guzzled just as heartily as before. I am now at a lack of knowledge for how to proceed especially regarding (if) necessary medication and how to help her heal. We do not have ready access to penicillin or other medications and can not afford to take her to the vet currently as we just paid rent and purchased a new vehicle last week.. I'm feeling  guilty about not getting her the best professional help and worried that she may be in a lot of pain, but I'm hoping I've done enough that she can heal well and without great issue. Will this splint serve her well through the healing process or will I end up with a sad, deformed goat? I do know that if this one is done properly I will still have to check it regularly for circulation and change it again in two weeks or so to check how its healing. We plan to keep it on for 8 weeks or as long as it takes to heal really, is this appropriate for goats?Is there any thing else I can do to help her along and make sure she doesnt end up with an injury that causes her lifelong pain?

PS Since my last post about Fern concerning her taking a bottle, she is guzzling the bottle like it's pure molasses. She is now on her 9th week and partially weaned (at 8 weeks reduced milk to half and replaced other half with water, then reduced milk by one oz daily, we were at about 4 oz milk  when this happened). With this break I have been considering putting her back on a full bottle with hopes that she will be properly nourished and I will be able to keep good track that shes still eating well, but maybe I should just go along with the weaning process? I had debated leaving her on the bottle until 12 weeks anyways and this might just be a viable excuse, but should I be concerned about diet change/scours if I increase her milk again? She is also eating about 1/2 cup of grain a day and nibbled at it hungrily this morning when fed. Any advice on this? Carry on my way or put her back on full milk and supplement as well? Grain? She seems to still be eating her regular diet (milk, alfalfa, grain) well, just very subdued and wants to lay down. 

She is not panting hard, shaking, or showing signs of shock. I just know her personality and that its unlike her to just want alone time, though thankfully it means she is resting up. We have not given any medication so far but love and pets.. Mostly worried about pain and do not want to cause undue suffering to my baby.. Really hope you guys can help and give some reassurance/pointers because this is NOT a situation I had any kind of preparation for! (sorry in advance for my thousand questions!!)


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## Fullhousefarm (Mar 6, 2019)

We’ve had three with a broken leg over the years and all three are grown and healed! 

Your splint sounds good. We changed ours every few days to make sure it wasn’t rubbing or getting moist and irritating the skin. The vet warned us that a skin infection could be worse than the break! It needs to go from the hoof (but let her natural hoof touch the ground) to the top of the leg. Just down enough it doesn’t rub above the leg. 

We left it on 6 weeks- ours was put in an area where they couldn’t jump on anything or go crazy for 4 weeks. (Stall and chain link pen with nothing to jump on at all!).


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## Sheepshape (Mar 6, 2019)

I've only had sheep with broken legs, but they do very well in the long run. Sound animals do much better than their parents as the bones can remodel and often leave the animal without any obvious deformity or disability.

So points I'd add. Get some painkillers from your vet....fractures are very painful.The only drugs she should need are analgesics....and those not for more than a week.  Make sure there is some sort of wool padding under the splint and over the top and bottom of the cast/splint to prevent chafing (much as we have sheet wool dressings under any fracture cast).

Change the cast/splint etc. weekly to allow for growth and remodelling of the bone....with painkiller given at least half an hour before for the first couple of changes.

Personally I'd increase her milk a little as she is probably taking less solids, but continue slowly with the weaning process. As long as she is feeding well, then she'll heal.

Just to stress, most fractures in young animals do extremely well and usually heal with no obvious trace. My only exception was a ewe lamb who fractured her hip.....no idea how. I found her with her back leg drawn right up and hobbling around on 3 legs.I thought to euthanise her, but she was eating, getting around and did not appear to be in a great deal of pain. She went on to slowly bring her leg down, but had a seriously bowed back leg. She went on to be a huge and capable adult who lambed  and lactated successfully in 3 seasons. Eventually arthritis caught up with her and she began to have difficulty getting up....at that stage she went to market.

Good Luck.


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## babsbag (Mar 7, 2019)

I had a young buck that broke his leg in the same manner,  he too was jumping the fence. His was complicated by him cutting his leg at the same time and he did it up with a bone infection. It all ended well. He was in a walking cast so no weight on the leg. He was in the cast for 8 weeks.


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