Doe with a crooked toe

[Ariel301]

I purchased my LaMancha doe Gracee early last year and her feet were in bad shape. They weren't horribly overgrown but she stands funny on one hind foot. She's 7 years old, and I don't know how long the foot has had problems, but I would like to correct it before it leads to any other leg issues, and so she will be better for showing.

The issue is that the outside toe on the one hind foot sort of rolls to the outside, and she walks almost on the side of it. It's not extreme, but she wears the hoof down unevenly, which causes her to roll it sideways worse, and it just gets to be a cycle. The inside toe grows too long on one side but not the other, and the outside toe wears crookedly also. I trim them flat every couple of weeks, but I think she just walks on it sideways now out of habit, because the muscles in her pastern are not strong from walking wrong so long. Her other feet are perfect.

Does anyone have any ideas for helping to correct her? Right now I am trying to stuff cotton in between the toes to straighten the bad toe to the correct position, and then bandage the whole thing up so she has to stand correctly, but she won't leave it alone long enough to even see if it helps. Is this a solution that will help? If it seems like a good idea, I can get a muzzle to keep her from picking at her 'boot'. Or is there something else I could try?

 

[Roll farms]

This is just a 'wild idea' that popped into my head, but maybe you could talk to a farrier. They know more about how to straighten out crooked feet than anyone I know.
That or 'magic shoes' like Forrest Gump had....

 

[ksalvagno]

Another one you could talk to is an orthopedic vet. Or at least a vet who loves to deal with bones and such.

Depending on how long she has had her problems, it may not be correctable.

 

[currycomb]

i am thinking along those lines, 7yr old goat, probably been that way for awhile. you may encounter more problems by trying a quick fix. i would just keep trimming a little every couple of weeks, taking more off the side you want her to walk on. may take a year or more to see changes. you are trying to change tendons and ligaments that won't stretch the way you want.

 

[Ariel301]

Currycomb, that's pretty much my thinking. I've been clipping, then bandaging up the foot to sort of prop her over onto the toe correctly, and help strengthen the tendons. Sort of like the orthopedic insoles some people get for their shoes to make them walk correctly. It may not work though, at her age. She may have had this her whole life; she was born and raised at a commercial dairy farm until we got her, and when you have hundreds of goats, you don't have the time to work that closely with just one.

There isn't a vet or a farrier around here who knows a thing about goats, unfortunately. Our vet won't even treat them. I wish I had my old farrier from Colorado, he was so good at making creative corrective shoeing, he could whip something up for her no problem. I saw him save so many lame horses that the vet just wanted to euthanize...

Suprisingly the issue doesn't seem to slow her down any. We hike and pack with her, and she does well in the show ring too. I just don't want to see her get bad arthritis or anything in that leg from this.