# Growing horn pain/itching?



## Clementsfarm13 (May 21, 2017)

My three and a half months old kid has his horns growing right now, and no I'm not disbudding him, but I can tell he's itching/sore or something because he puts his head on my lap and just wants me to rub his head around his horns for hours it feels like. Anyway to help him or comfort him other than me petting him?


----------



## Clementsfarm13 (May 21, 2017)




----------



## Latestarter (May 21, 2017)

From my understanding, it's not a good idea to rub on their horns/head when young as it could lead to less than desirable behavior when they are grown. This, I'm under the impression, is even more of an issue with a male... You didn't mention if he's a wether. To the best of my knowledge, there's no pain associated with horn growth... I mean IMHO it's kinda like our finger/toenails growing... If it were indeed painful, they wouldn't be butting heads with other goats during the growth stage, but they do.


----------



## Clementsfarm13 (May 21, 2017)

He is a wether


----------



## goatgurl (May 21, 2017)

horn growth isn't painful in my experience but they do itch sometimes.  Latestarter is right in that it can cause behavior issues as they get older but if it makes him and you feel better get something like an old nylon bristled hair brush to scratch around the base of his horns.  and by the way his horns are way to big to disbud, they would have to be surgically removed at this point.  enjoy him.


----------



## nstone630 (May 22, 2017)

I've noticed with my kids, even the newest 3 day old, itching of the head is equivalent to behind the ear for a dog. They eat that up!! 

I don't know if it's related to horns coming in or not. But they sure to love those areas scratched!


----------



## Clementsfarm13 (May 22, 2017)

Okay thanks y'all! and I'm definitely not disbudding my baby I don't personally care for that. So im probably going to take some brushes and make him a little scratching post in his pen for him to rub against and i plan on just giving him scratches for now and easing him out of having so much hands on attention as he grows. But him and his brother (both wethers) are my first and only two goats and I will just continue to love on them while they are small and I can!


----------



## Goatgirl47 (May 22, 2017)

I used to have a goat with horns and I do have a couple of goats now with scurs and all of them loved to be scratched behind/around the base of the horns or scurs.


----------

