Alpine doe with hoof rot

[TAH]

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.

 

[TAH]

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

 

[Latestarter]

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

 

[Pearce Pastures]

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.

 

[babsbag]

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.

 

[TAH]

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.

 

[GLENMAR]

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.

 

[TAH]

Can you use coconut oil? lavender oil?

 

[GLENMAR]

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.

 

[Southern by choice]

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.