# Buck lost a scur...bloody mess (pics)



## Chickenfever (May 12, 2010)

Just thought I would share my experience with losing a scur.  Got a call two weeks ago when I was at work from a neighbor saying my goat was bleeding profusely from it's head.  My DH raced home and discovered he was missing a scur and his head was bleeding with a steady drip.   He rushed him to the vet where they cauterized the bone and wrapped his head.  I then gave him Pen G shots for 4 days.  The vet said this likely would have kept bleeding.  
If this ever happens again in the future I think I'll try to deal with this at home with blood stop powder and wrapping. (see if I can save a $120 dollars).  You live and you learn with goats.  He's doing fine now, we re-wrapped his head after a week per the vet (it started bleeding again when we unwrapped it and he started bawling, poor guy), it's due to come off now for good.  

Good thing he doesn't have ears (mini mancha), made wrapping a little easier


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## SarahFair (May 12, 2010)




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## helmstead (May 12, 2010)

All bleeding stops eventually <smirk>

Really, it would have quit.  This happens to bucks all the time.  I know it looks like a lot of blood, but it's a head wound.  You should have seen us descurring one of our senior bucks...


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## glenolam (May 12, 2010)

What's that on the other side of his head?  From this angle it looks like a full blown horn!

The blood stop powder really does work - my kid last year had a bud fall off and it was a soppy bloody mess.  I thought it would never stop. Poor kid looked red, dark red and black for a week, but it stopped and he didn't seem to mind.

Poor boy - give him hugs from me!


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## cmjust0 (May 12, 2010)

I know this will probably induce a giant "UGH.  " but I'd wash all that dried blood off his face.

Not for aesthetics, either...if it were winter, I wouldn't bother.  But, well....flies. 

I know, I know..


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## helmstead (May 12, 2010)

Yeah I'm a little surprised with all the vet DID do, that they didn't clean him up...:/

Just a side note, instead of that bandage, try Shut Eye patches for cattle.  They stay on w/adhesive just long enough for healing, and if when they fall off, it's not healed enough...you just apply another one.


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## cmjust0 (May 12, 2010)

A shut-eye patch...I probably wouldn't have thought of that, Kate!  Good idea!


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## Chickenfever (May 12, 2010)

The blood actually came off within a day or two and he's back to white now, I was surprised.  
Good idea with the patch.  His other scur is very loose like a loose tooth and I'm worried it's only a matter of time, so anything I can do by myself next time is great.  I don't want another vet bill. They even injected him with lidocaine before cauterizing.  My DH said he was crying and putting up a good fight until the lidocaine, I'm guessing that bone being exposed hurts pretty bad.  
 It's hard for me to know what I need to worry about. It sounds like you seasoned goat people wouldn't have stressed over this at all


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## cmjust0 (May 12, 2010)

Could be the crying was more related to the fight than the exposed bone, as I'm sure they were attempting to restrain him.  Prey animals that they are, goats don't care much for being restrained.  

Indeed, most kids in the disbudding box start crying LONG before the iron hits their heads, and the application of the iron doesn't seem to intensify the crying much at all..

Frankly, I don't think goats have much feeling in their heads.  I like to think of it as "elbow skin."  Go ahead...try it...pinch the crap out of your elbow skin and tell me how bad it hurts..

Doesn't, right?

Well...to me, that's how goats' head skin is..  



Then again...maybe that's just my way to rationalize disbudding without anesthetic.


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## Chickenfever (May 12, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> Frankly, I don't think goats have much feeling in their heads.  I like to think of it as "elbow skin."  Go ahead...try it...pinch the crap out of your elbow skin and tell me how bad it hurts..


I wonder how many people are pinching their elbows after reading this, I know I did 

I don't know, when we changed the bandage after a week, he was fine until we came to the telfa pad the vet had placed directly on the bone, he didn't want us touching it and cried when it came off.  I just thought maybe exposed nerves?


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## freemotion (May 12, 2010)

Chickenfever said:
			
		

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  I think I made a bruise!!


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## cmjust0 (May 13, 2010)

Chickenfever said:
			
		

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> I don't know, when we changed the bandage after a week, he was fine until we came to the telfa pad the vet had placed directly on the bone, he didn't want us touching it and cried when it came off.  I just thought maybe exposed nerves?


LA LA LA...CAN'T HEAR YOU...LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

(...didn't I JUST SAY that's how I rationalize things?!?  STOP IT!...  )


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## Chickenfever (May 14, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> > I don't know, when we changed the bandage after a week, he was fine until we came to the telfa pad the vet had placed directly on the bone, he didn't want us touching it and cried when it came off.  I just thought maybe exposed nerves?
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> LA LA LA...CAN'T HEAR YOU...LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
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I do think you're right about them having decreased feeling on the head, why else would they want to ram their heads into everything      Is that better


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## cmjust0 (May 14, 2010)

Chickenfever said:
			
		

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That'll work!


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## RockyToggRanch (May 14, 2010)

My poor buck has scurs and knocks them off every few months. What a mess. I sprayed with blukote. Covered his eyes first. 


Now my buckling that I wanted to keep for breeding....has scurs. Both were disbudded by different vets. Not only scurs, but his horn buds seem to be growing too. I will learn to disbud before next spring!


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## StormyMoon (May 20, 2010)

Chickenfever said:
			
		

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Ok I did and then I read down to this post and I felt so silly lol
You would think it would feel like having a tooth knocked out and nerves , air touching it ouchhhhhhyyyyyyy!!! I could be wrong what do I know ...

Im glad he is getting better though.


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## babsbag (Jun 3, 2010)

I have a buck that supposedly had loose scurs, or so I was told. The seller had disbudded him and told me the scurs would fall off. When they got to about 5 inches long I decided to have them removed by my vet. They were NOT scurs. I was told that the horns kinda grew together like a unicorn horn. She removed them by basically sawing off the top of his skull. It was horrible. Open to his sinuses. Then it got infected. What a mess. 

For bandaging I used a sanitary pad with the sticky strip and stuck a lenght of guaze to the sticky part and then tied in under his chin. Then used vet wrap. It worked great and I could do bandage changes with no help. The pad made a great bandage. He was a pretty good patient, and it had to have hurt. 

He is not all the way healed yet, but it looks as if he still has horns growing. I cannot believe that with all the tissue that was removed there could possibly be any horn left, but either it is horns or a really really tough scab. Poor guy. Hopefully I can keep them short without hurting him.

It was a horrible ordeal and I will never wait this long again. I didn't know what a loose scur was supposed to look like, but I know now what it isn't supposed to look like. Never dehorn a goat. Disbudd. I can't say that loud enough.


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