Licking an injury

[Hykue]

My older goat who seems to be having some more general problems (she WON'T eat her grain) has a small wound on her side. It started out about the size of a quarter. By the time I saw it it was already congealed, so I didn't disinfect it, but I have been keeping track of the skin around it, and it never feels hot or infected, nor does it look infected. She got the injury over a month ago. She keeps messing with it, licking it all the time, and it won't heal over because of it. Now it's getting bigger around, as she irritates the skin around it with constant licking. Is there something I can put on it that will deter licking without irritating the wound?

 

[20kidsonhill]

We use this for enjuries: http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e078c2-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&gas=blu kote

 

[cmjust0]

My older goat who seems to be having some more general problems (she WON'T eat her grain) has a small wound on her side. It started out about the size of a quarter. By the time I saw it it was already congealed, so I didn't disinfect it, but I have been keeping track of the skin around it, and it never feels hot or infected, nor does it look infected. She got the injury over a month ago. She keeps messing with it, licking it all the time, and it won't heal over because of it. Now it's getting bigger around, as she irritates the skin around it with constant licking. Is there something I can put on it that will deter licking without irritating the wound?

Sounds less like an injury and more like 'rain rot' to me. I'm speculating 'cos I can't *see* what we're dealing with, but I say this because if it were a simple wound, she'd almost certainly let it be and it would scab over and dry up and be done and over with in no time.. She's not letting it be, though.. Next question is, why won't she let it be? Well, in *humans*, we tend to be consciously aware of ugly scabs and stuff like that and they bug the crap out of us on a mental level, so we pick at them and do other nasty, counter-productive things simply because our neurotic brains tell us to.. She, however, is a goat with a brain the size of a walnut. They don't really do "neurotic," nor "fixate" like we do. We like to anthropomorphize sometimes and assume our animals are thinking like we are, but the reality is that they're not.. They tend to be a whole lot more "in the moment" and a whole lot less self-conscious about an unattrative scab...lol

So, for her to be 'messing with it' indicates that it's on her mind at that very moment in time -- it's gotten her immediate attention, in other words -- and for it to do that pretty much means it's still physically bothering her.. To me, that means it's probably still physically hurting or irritating her...that it's still 'active,' in other words.

Now, when I read the words "older" and "general problems", what I hear is "compromised," and rain rot -- aka dermatophilosis, a bacterial skin infection -- is generally pretty opportunistic in goats. An older goat in lesser health would be a prime candidate..

Cleaning and debriding the area would be good, and if it were me, I'd probably go ahead and splash it with 7% iodine.. The infection is *in* the skin, so the iodine won't take care of it 100% -- but it'll help dry it up. To take care of what's in the skin, I'd also put her on PenG or Oxytet or another broad-spectrum antibiotic for a while.. Should help.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

We use this for enjuries: http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e078c2-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&gas=blu kote

Yeah, this stuff is great. We used it on our chickens to when they would start pecking at each other-it helped them heal and tastes awful and so deterred the peckers.

 

[Hykue]

Thanks. I actually didn't even think of bluekote! I'll get some on Monday.

As to the rain rot - it is possible, but it started when we were at the end of a drought, when she was one dry goat - would it have come up in drought conditions after an injury? It looked like a small scrape at first, and she wasn't messing with it much then. The bigger it gets, the more it hurts, so the more she messes with it. I'll try the bluekote first, I think, because she's already doing the cleaning and debriding so well herself that I don't think she needs my help, and I'd rather not put her on antibiotics if I don't have to. She really doesn't much trust me to get near her, so the less interventions the better. Especially since she doesn't like grain anymore, so I don't have an "olive branch" to offer once I tick her off. If the bluekote doesn't work, I'll get the abx.