# Alpine doe with hoof rot



## TAH (Feb 15, 2016)

We just recently got a new Alpine doe that turned out to have hoof rot. We are looking for a natural way to treat it? I have been soaking her hoof in salt water for a week but it is still not all the way better. She seems to have a pretty mild case. I just soaked her hoof in salt, lavender oil, tea tree oil, and warm water today. We have her locked her up in the barn so her hooves stay dry. She lived in wet dirt and grass her whole life. Her name is Sophie and she is 4 years old. If you have treated hoof rot and know how to do it naturally I would really like your advice. Will post pics soon.  Thank you.


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## TAH (Feb 15, 2016)

Ever since i soaked her foot today she has been walking on her knees. Is there anything that I should do?


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## Latestarter (Feb 15, 2016)

Greeting @TAH from the front range in Colorado. Glad you joined us on BYH. Sorry your goat's hoof issues brought you here. What do you consider "naturally"? Typically zinc sulfate or copper sulfate is used... those are natural... Anyway, here's a few links you can check out.

http://extension.psu.edu/courses/meat-goat/health/foot-rot/treatment
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/As/As-596-footrot.pdf
http://www.goatworld.com/articles/feet/footcare.shtml

Welcome once again. Lots of good goat folks here. I'm sure some will be along to say HI shortly. Mean time, make yourself comfy and take a look around


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 15, 2016)

If the hoof rot is severe, she will need both topical treatments (copper sulfate soaks are great) and some sort of antibiotic.  What does it looks like?  Smell?  

I was just out today doing hooves on a few gals and one had some mild irritation so we soaked it in a mild bleach solution after trimming.


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## babsbag (Feb 15, 2016)

A friend of mine that is my goat mentor swears by using an antibiotic like Duramycin LA 200 and applying it topically to the foot rot. She saves all the bottle of LA 200 that turn brown and uses it for foot rot.


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## TAH (Feb 15, 2016)

Pearce Pastures said:


> trimming.


Her hooves are a very mild case of foot rot. It does smell a little bit but not super bad. What is your ratios for the mild bleach solution? What about white vinegar? How often do you want to soak there feet? Thank you.


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## GLENMAR (Feb 15, 2016)

You need to cut way any bad part of the hoof. Use a product like copper tox. And give penicillin.
You may also need a pain med.


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## TAH (Feb 15, 2016)

Can you use coconut oil? lavender oil?


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## GLENMAR (Feb 15, 2016)

You need to kill the bacteria that is causing the roof rot. She sounds like she's in pain. I would use the copper tox.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 16, 2016)

We went through something similar several years back with a 4 almost 5 year old doe that we bought. We had to take off a good deal of hoof. She actually had to be sedated so we could do all 4 hooves. I understand your doe's hoof may not be as bad but the fact that she is walking on her knees is also not good. If this continues the bones will also shift to compensate.

I understand the natural approach as well, however there are a few things to consider.
Is the all natural approach working?
If it is not then how long will you allow the goat to suffer before using a treatment that works?

I ask these two questions because many of us that own goats have seen far too many animals suffer, many die because a person refused to use a treatment that was not considered natural.
Just food for thought.

We battled our doe's hoof issues for 9 months doing the coppertox, cleaning, soaks, bleach,trimming... it would look a little better and she would walk ok and then once again return. Hoof wall separation was ongoing. 2 vets had seen her. We were at our wits end. Finally a vet that deals mostly in horses and cattle used a treatment for horses on her.

Cleaned hoof, trimmed, applied  oxytetracycline (remove needle and applied) all over the hoof then put the tetracycline powder over it. Gauze then wrapped with vet wrap. She was placed in a complete dry lot . We repeated treatments every two days for 10 days. She looked like a little racehorse with her boots on. 

Her hooves completely healed up and no issues since.
We watch her very closely as her hooves grow quickly and this doe LOVES to walk through anything wet  seriously- all the other does will walk around wet areas but not her - she will just stand in the wettest or muddiest spot. Silly girl!

Because it is topical there is a 24 hour milk withdrawal. In her case because it was every other day of treatment we pitched 2 weeks of milk. But her hooves were finally healed!

Don't let your goat suffer needlessly.


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## TAH (Feb 16, 2016)

I looked at her hoofs this morning and they look better but still smell a bit. We are planing to get coppertox soon. She is not in pain really she still gets up and walks around with pretty much know problem. How do you do the bleach     trimming?


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## Southern by choice (Feb 16, 2016)

Dip in bleach water and trim hoof.

IMO Koppertox and bleach treatments are a waste of time.

Do you have hoof wall separation?


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## TAH (Feb 16, 2016)

I cleaned her whole foot and where it is separated. Do you just had in normal bleach?


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## TAH (Feb 22, 2016)

She has know hoof wall separation. We got beta-dine to treat it. Should i keep her hoofs dry? I trimmed off the affected area of her hoof today. We are putting DMSO on her knees and it has helped a lot. Here is a picture of her. In the pic if you look at her hoof you can see that one side of her hoof is bigger than the other. Any idea of what that could be.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 22, 2016)

Can't see the hoof in the pic. Better to get a close up.


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## TAH (Feb 22, 2016)

It is only on the bottom. If you look at her hoof the left side is bigger than the right side. Is that a problem?


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## Southern by choice (Feb 22, 2016)

I can see her face great... LOL need a foot pic.
And yes they should not be two different sizes.


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## TAH (Feb 22, 2016)

Will post pics of hooves soon.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 22, 2016)

ok


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## TAH (Feb 24, 2016)

I couldn't get pics of the bottom of hoof. Here is what I was talking about with the one side being bigger than the other side.View attachment 14767


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## TAH (Mar 31, 2016)

She is almost all better   . She is so happy. We used Betadine.


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## misfitmorgan (Apr 1, 2016)

To answer your earlier questions about bleach. 

We do hoof trimming for people all over the state for goats and sheep. We use a small wash basin and a narrow medium stiff scrub brush. Put one cap of bleach to 1 gallon of regular water...we scrub the hooves with that mixture...then trim then scrub again them let them go. To clarify this is for mild cases, if you have a severe case you probly do need antibotics and something ment specifically to treat hoof rot.

Generally hoof rot is caused by wetness and or combination of wetness and over grown hooves. We see most cases of bad hoof rot with cavities in the hoof when goats/sheep are over fed corn products.

So if your treating a mild/medium case..always trim if possible then bleach as mentioned above and try to keep their feet dry otherwise. If you have cavities in the hooves, cut back on the corn products.

We are not vets or farriers and have no formal training but we trimmed roughly 150 goats/sheep last year all over the state with repeat visits and no complaints. We specialized in overgrown feet, even in cases were they were walking on their knees for long periods of time before we got called.


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## Neelie Nix (Dec 7, 2018)

babsbag said:


> A friend of mine that is my goat mentor swears by using an antibiotic like Duramycin LA 200 and applying it topically to the foot rot. She saves all the bottle of LA 200 that turn brown and uses it for foot rot.


So you can draw up LA 200 and apply that on a severe case of hoof rot vs having to inject it? I have a goat that we just bought and she has severe hoof rot.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 7, 2018)

Neelie Nix said:


> So you can draw up LA 200 and apply that on a severe case of hoof rot vs having to inject it? I have a goat that we just bought and she has severe hoof rot.


Yes, we did this but you have to bandage the foot and keep dry.

Another thing that works really good is Naylors hoof and Heal. It is zinc based so it works really good.


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## Neelie Nix (Dec 7, 2018)

Southern by choice said:


> Yes, we did this but you have to bandage the foot and keep dry.
> 
> Another thing that works really good is Naylors hoof and Heal. It is zinc based so it works really good.


Thank you! I Have tried that. Hers is just awful we got her with in the last couple of weeks and I was not aware of her hoof rot at this time until earlier this week when I was doing her feet for the first time in who know how long. When I got to her back left foot it started bleeding and I did not really even cut it I wrap it and she is in the barn by her self separate from my other goats. Could soaking in salt help too? Do I need to give her penicillin?


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