# Pygmy goat with injured leg



## lilcheeks (Jun 28, 2015)

I have a 6 month old pygmy goat that I found yesterday with its rear left leg tangled in an electric fence rope (fence wasn't on). I have no idea how it got tangled or how long it was tangled for (3 hours?) . The fence rope created a loop around the leg but I don't think it cut off circulation as there was enough slack for me to pull the rope to create a larger loop to get the leg out. 

Last night he wouldn't use the leg at all, and this morning he seems to use it when he's just standing around for support, but not to walk. 

Do you think it could be broken? There wasn't any cuts or swelling that I could tell and like I said, the rope was tight enough to create a hold but loose enough for me to get him unstuck.  

Should I bring him to a vet for x-rays? Just let him rest? He's eating great yet, just lounging during the day. 

Thoughts?


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## mysunwolf (Jun 28, 2015)

I would just watch him and make sure to help him get up as many times a day as you can so that he does not get sick from being down too much. Usually after 3-4 days if it's just a pulled muscle they will have healed up. If it's still not better 4 days from the injury, I would consider getting the vet involved. Let us know how he does!


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## OneFineAcre (Jun 28, 2015)

mysunwolf said:


> I would just watch him and make sure to help him get up as many times a day as you can so that he does not get sick from being down too much. Usually after 3-4 days if it's just a pulled muscle they will have healed up. If it's still not better 4 days from the injury, I would consider getting the vet involved. Let us know how he does!


X2


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## Goat Whisperer (Jun 28, 2015)

x3

Like the others said, just keep an eye on it. Goats are pretty hardy and bounce back from this kind of thing. We have given aspirin to a doe who wouldn't use her leg, but it is best to consult a vet first.

I know someone who had a goat pull off half a hoof because he jumped a fence. The goat if fine now and managed to breed several does right after the injury, he was also a young buck too


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## lilcheeks (Jun 29, 2015)

Just wanted to give an update on things.  Yesterday morning (approx 12 hours after injury) he was still favoring the leg a lot but like I mentioned was using it to support himself while he ate.  Throughout the day, he got up on his own and roamed around eating in the pasture.  By evening, he was using the leg to walk but with a heavy limp.  I assume that fact that he was using it is a good sign.  While I brought them in for the night, i felt the leg and the goat didn't seem to mind.  I didn't squeeze or anything, just rubbed up and down to see if I could feel anything major, which I felt normal to me.  

This morning when I went to them out, he was up waiting and crying for food as he always does, but back to favoring the leg a lot.  My assumption is the leg is probably stiff in the morning just like I would be if a had an injury to a muscle, so I hope this is what it is.  Thank you everyone for your advice, I will keep you all posted.


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## animalmom (Jun 29, 2015)

Very glad to hear he is using the leg... now, where the heck are the pictures, please and thank you... you can't get us all concerned over your young lad and not show us pictures!


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## lilcheeks (Jun 29, 2015)

Sorry..here is a picture of my two kids   The black one on the right is the one that has the leg injury currently.


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## Hens and Roos (Jun 29, 2015)

they are cute!  Hope his leg get better soon.


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## frustratedearthmother (Jun 29, 2015)

Nice looking guys!


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## lilcheeks (Jun 30, 2015)

Small update.  This morning when went to let them out, he was laying on the injured leg, and when he got up was favoring again.  As I fed them, I wanted to get a good feel of his leg so I was able to hold the hoof part, and actually move it up and down without him caring. I was able to poke around the thigh area without any issue and actually brushed the leg with a soft brush and he didn't care.  Below is a link to a video from last night just to show you how he is favoring it.  At the end of the night he was back to limping on it but in the morning it seems more sore.  Based on me being able to move the leg around myself seems like its still a muscle issue, but doesn't seem to be getting much better.  

https://goo.gl/photos/EU85aHCo1wpiZpUe7


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## mysunwolf (Jun 30, 2015)

You could try penning him for the next two days to try and get him to be less active. From the video, I would still not be worried about that injury as of right now, but if he is showing absolutely no progress by tomorrow or Thurs I would consider calling the vet. I am impressed that he is putting even a little bit of weight on it and will take that as a good sign.

I had a sheep get her back leg stuck in the round bale hay feeder last fall, and she limped pretty badly for the first few days, but by a week you couldn't tell anything had happened. She went on to lamb a few months later.


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## lilcheeks (Jun 30, 2015)

mysunwolf said:


> You could try penning him for the next two days to try and get him to be less active. From the video, I would still not be worried about that injury as of right now, but if he is showing absolutely no progress by tomorrow or Thurs I would consider calling the vet. I am impressed that he is putting even a little bit of weight on it and will take that as a good sign.
> 
> I had a sheep get her back leg stuck in the round bale hay feeder last fall, and she limped pretty badly for the first few days, but by a week you couldn't tell anything had happened. She went on to lamb a few months later.



Thank you very much!  I was so afraid that when people saw the video they would think it was really bad, so I am happy hear your feedback.  Regarding penning him, he actually doesn't move around a whole lot at the moment.  Since the injury, he has stayed inside most of the time but has ventured outside to do some eating every now and then.  Since he is still new to us, he is fairly shy yet so when I go near him he tends to keep a safe distance, which is why he was moving away in the video.  Thanks again for all the support!


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## lilcheeks (Jul 1, 2015)

Another update!  Last night he was out with his brother munching on weeds and stuff, and when I walked up to the fence, they both came jogging over to me.  I noticed that he was using his leg, still limping but using it a lot more.  Then this morning when I let them out, he was still limping but using it more than usual.  I would say he is healing up pretty well so far.  Thanks for all the input from everyone!


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## Hens and Roos (Jul 1, 2015)

Glad to hear he is getting better!


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## lilcheeks (Jul 8, 2015)

I wanted to post a final (hopefully) update on my little guy.  All weekend long he was doing great, in fact, Sunday night he was running around and seemed 90% better.  Yesterday however he was limping again, still using the leg to walk but starting to favor it again.  My guess is, he played a little to hard with his brother and "tweaked" his healing muscle.  Not sure if that is common or not, but I hope its just a small set back.  Thanks again to every for their input!


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## animalmom (Jul 8, 2015)

Glad to hear the little fellow is doing better.  Seems he too thought he was much better and over did it trying to make up for some lost run time.  Got to love those boys, can't keep them down!


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## mysunwolf (Jul 8, 2015)

So glad to hear this, I agree it sounds like he felt a little_ too_ good and re-injured it a little! Hope he continues to do well.


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## Poka_Doodle (Jul 8, 2015)

Glad to here this


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## lilcheeks (Jul 9, 2015)

Bad news, he was limping more this evening so I examined his leg again and now it looks like he's been biting at it. He has some hair loss around the injured area and it looks like he broke the skin a little. He's still walking on it but I'm going to bring him to the vet tomorrow.


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## Goat Whisperer (Jul 9, 2015)

Hoping its nothing serious


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## Pearce Pastures (Jul 14, 2015)

I hope all is well.


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## Goat Whisperer (Jul 20, 2015)

Update? @lilcheeks


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## lilcheeks (Jul 21, 2015)

Sorry for the lack of update, I didn't update right away because it was going to be a rough one.  I ended up taking him to the vet and to make a long story short, the leg was dead and started to rot off, at least thats how the vet described it.  She said the blood was cut off from the leg long enough to kill the nerves and the leg.  I didn't think the wire/rope was tight enough to do that so I assume a lot of it had to do with him trying to get away from it.  Anyway, she said it was badly infected and spreading.  She said one option was to amputate it, but there was a lot of risk in doing so.  Ultimately we ended up putting him down as the risk was too high for us.  So ya, I cried for about 24 hours and stayed away from the forums for a bit because it just made me sad.  Sorry for the bad update.  I can't believe I didn't notice the infection but even after she told me, it wasn't super obvious as it was all internal injuries.


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## Hens and Roos (Jul 21, 2015)

so sorry to hear the sad news


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## Goat Whisperer (Jul 21, 2015)

So sorry you lost him


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## mysunwolf (Jul 21, 2015)

Oh no, I am so sorry


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## lilcheeks (Jul 21, 2015)

Thanks for the kind words.  On the bright side, we were able to find a new goat friend for our other goat as he was VERY lonely after that.  So things moved along very quick and we were able to find one the same age, but a Nigerian Dwarf instead of Pygmy, only 15 min away.  The stars aligned on that one.


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## lkmartin1230 (Jul 21, 2015)

I almost had a bad experience like this. One of my goats got its leg stuck in a rocking chair and was there for who knows how long. But, I am really suprised she didn't have anything permanentlywrong and it healed. Sorry for you lost him.


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