First abcess--could it be CL?

[Straw Hat Kikos]

If dealing with CL what you do is you move the goat away from where all animals are and a place where other animals do not go. You put them on a stand. Be sure that you have a tarp or plastic below to throw away. CL bacteria can live 3 years in soil. Use a razor blade and cut one cut, from the top of the lump to the bottom. Wear gloves and squeeze all the puss out. Stick your fingers into it and get it ALL out. Then use a large syringe and squirt water several times into it to further clean it out. Once it is all out and rinsed with the water, put 10 or so cc's of alcohol into it. Leave it for 5-10 minutes. It takes some time for alcohol to do it's thing. Then spray 10 or so cc's of iodine into it. By this time it should have all CL puss into a vile for lab testing and anything else should be on the stand (I put the goat's leg in a trash bag to keep all fluids and puss off the stand too) or on the tarp. The goat should have had alcohol in the wound to rid it of disease and iodine to help with the healing process. Be sure there is no puss on the goat and once you are all done, put the goat into a separate area until it heals fully. Could be 7 days, could be a month. You don't know. Also put iodine on and in the wound every day until healed. Once healed it can go back with the herd.

 

[kayzee]

My "herd" is two wethers and a doe who is currently away being bred at another ranch, and my facilities are just what exist in my smallish back yard, but I've got the two boys penned up together and if necessary I will cull them both or send them onto homes that are okay with a CL positive animal.

Since the pus is squeezing out into his mouth, I can collect some for testing without cutting through his cheek, and I'll send off a sample on Monday and hope like the dickens that it's not CL.

Fortunately, he seems to think the pus is very tasty and swallows it all, so at least it's not getting all over the place.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

My "herd" is two wethers and a doe who is currently away being bred at another ranch, and my facilities are just what exist in my smallish back yard, but I've got the two boys penned up together and if necessary I will cull them both or send them onto homes that are okay with a CL positive animal.

Since the pus is squeezing out into his mouth, I can collect some for testing without cutting through his cheek, and I'll send off a sample on Monday and hope like the dickens that it's not CL.

Fortunately, he seems to think the pus is very tasty and swallows it all, so at least it's not getting all over the place.

Got ya. You don't have the room for all that. Culling may not be a bad idea but CL+ really isn't a big deal. What kind of goats do you have? Sorry if you already said.

CL can go internal if if it does the goat MUST be culled. I'm not completely sure how it goes internal (nor is anyone I believe) but I would think that eating that much of it could be really bad for him. That is if it even is CL which we don't know yet. Only way to tell is to test it. That's good you are having him tested.

This should help to see if it is even CL even before you send the test in. What does the puss look like? What's it's texture? Color?
If it is thick, sticky, greenish to yellowish, then it may be CL. CL is very very sticky, it's very thick and it is mostly yellow or greenish, but not always.

 

[BrownSheep]

Since he popped it in his mouth I wouldn't be surprised if he had a tooth abscess

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Yeah, I don't think it is CL either. I think it's just some abscess. Goats get abscesses and it's usually not a big deal

 

[kayzee]

The pus is white and fairly thick but not "cheesy" like CL is described--however, it's coming out through his mouth so it is diluted by saliva. It's also tinged with a little blood.

My goats are Nigerian Dwarfs, which is great for a small space, but I only have the one pen. I did follow the procedure with gloves and a tarp and iodine, etc, when I tried to draw the fluid out with a syringe.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

The pus is white and fairly thick but not "cheesy" like CL is described--however, it's coming out through his mouth so it is diluted by saliva. It's also tinged with a little blood.

My goats are Nigerian Dwarfs, which is great for a small space, but I only have the one pen. I did follow the procedure with gloves and a tarp and iodine, etc, when I tried to draw the fluid out with a syringe.

Well there shouldn't be blood unless that's from chewing on the inside of his mouth. That's kinda weird.

You couldn't get CL puss out with a syringe. It's way to thick. I'm not sure this is CL. We'll see here soon. I hope it's not.

 

[kayzee]

He's healing up beautifully....so beautifully that I'm concerned there won't be anything left to test come Monday when I can send it off. Does anybody know how long the pus stays viable for testing under refrigeration? I don't know that I'll be able to get anything out through his mouth even now, which leaves me cutting into his cheek, and it's in a place that's impossible to keep a bandage on.

I feel pretty confident that it isn't CL--once it popped, the whole thing just drained away, not in many separate chambers like CL is. I'm still not taking any chance. Poor little guy cries to be let out of the pen (which is actually bigger than a lot I've seen multiple goats kept in) every time we're out there. He's used to having the run of the yard and playing with the dogs. He's terrified of me, I'm the mean lady who squeezes his face...

Meanwhile, I've put out an advertisement trying to sell him, but of course I had to be completely honest about what might be wrong with him and I scared everybody away. I'm sure I'll be able to sell him for meat for the right price, but ideally I'd love to sell him as a pack goat for hiking....unlikely, I know, but he really would be perfect. Small enough to fit in a not-huge dog kennel for the car, but strong enough to carry, I would guess, around 100 lbs, and he always sticks close to the "leader", whether caprine or human.