Possible hoof rot. Need advice

[Donna R. Raybon]

If it is foot rot, you do have to trim feet back to healthy tissue. But, my experience has been that when the go lame as you describe it is almost always foot scald between the toes. Yeah, NC got pounded with rain this year!!! We got more than our due here, too, but not near as much as NC.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

If it is foot rot, you do have to trim feet back to healthy tissue. But, my experience has been that when the go lame as you describe it is almost always foot scald between the toes. Yeah, NC got pounded with rain this year!!! We got more than our due here, too, but not near as much as NC.

Amen! Thank goodness my two have a nice dry barn to hole up in during it all. At least it drowned out our not so friendly neighborhood rats though!

 

[greybeard]

The barn was dry and the fields had good ground cover - it was the areas between the barn and field and all the major travel routs that became a horrid mess. We even have drainage grit and that wasn't enough. The mud was horrid this year.

I have had years like that myself, and have had to go in and install more gates just to give more pathways for the animals and my own rolling stock.
Dunno how other livestock do in small places, (100 acres or less) but cattle are animals of habit and will walk the exact same path over and over except while actively ambling around grazing. For cattle a well structured animal will lift his front hoof and step forward and then the rear hoof will set down in the exact same spot the front hoof just vacated, meaning the ground gets compacted, and before you know it, that trailway is not just devoid of grass, it is an indentation in the ground several inches deep X about 16" wide. Doesn't matter, rain or shine, they walk that same path, and when it rains, that path holds water, which turns to mud as they steadily trod along, getting deeper each time it's stepped in. Gateway openings are worse. Because they often all try to squeeze thru at the same time, again depressing the ground rain or shine and it turns into a quagmire.
You can see those pathways in this most recent google earth picture of part of my place and even see 4 of them lined up following the same little path. At the bottom, the paths all converge on a gate opening into the woods and that opening is a mud hole in wet weather.
(you may have to 'click to enlarge' to get a better detailed view)

 

[LndSchneid]

My 4 1/2 year-old Boer goat has been limping last 1 1/2 days. She’s pretty calm and is not like my younger goats as far as jumping on things in running around like a nut So I know she didn’t hurt herself and I felt up and down her leg and her leg is fine. We’ve had about 15 inches of rain in the past three or four weeks which for this area can cause some problems. I’m suspecting hoof Rot. Unfortunately the first chance I have to get help With her is tomorrow afternoon. She’s usually OK with me messing with her but since she is in pain she’s being a little more difficult. She’s 140 pounds and I’m 100 pounds. I’ve never dealt with this before so I don’t even know where to start. Trying to research it and coming up with something different every time

Some of my sheep and goats always get hoof rot right after a rain. I make a mixture of pine tar and zinc sulfate with warm water, if need be I put it in an old rubber boot and just stick their leg in it as quickly as I can. It's best if I can hold it for 60 seconds but if not I still find this stuff remedies them right away. If they're a little too fussy I just pour it right over the top of the foot knowing that it kind of sinks around.

 

[Daxigait]

I used to use the expensive stuff but coppertox is gotten really high so instead now I wash it out with bleachto get a clear picture, then sometimes I'll do a second thing and treated with chlorhexidine but it needs the bleach first. Then I dump Wonder dust on it. Works like a charm.

 

[goatboy1973]

My 4 1/2 year-old Boer goat has been limping last 1 1/2 days. She’s pretty calm and is not like my younger goats as far as jumping on things in running around like a nut So I know she didn’t hurt herself and I felt up and down her leg and her leg is fine. We’ve had about 15 inches of rain in the past three or four weeks which for this area can cause some problems. I’m suspecting hoof Rot. Unfortunately the first chance I have to get help With her is tomorrow afternoon. She’s usually OK with me messing with her but since she is in pain she’s being a little more difficult. She’s 140 pounds and I’m 100 pounds. I’ve never dealt with this before so I don’t even know where to start. Trying to research it and coming up with something different every time

I use oxytetracycline (LA 200) off label for my goats. I 1st restrain the goat whether it is a headgate or you can use a milking stantion, or hog tie the goat etc. Whatever the restraint method you need to be up close and personal and eye level with the hoof. The next order of biz is to inspect the hoof before anything is done to it and look for DPPTLS...Deformities, Punctures, Penetrations, Tenderness, Lacerations, and Swelling. Then thoroughly clean the hoof with a hoof pick and a small brush. Next you are going to clean the hoof with a good 75%/ 25% Betadine/ rubbing alcohol mix with a couple tsp of the blue Dawn® dishwashing liquid and scrub the hoof thoroughly and rinse thoroughly with water and completely dry the hoof. Finally, I give an IM injection of LA 200 at a dosage of 4.5 ml per 100 lbs. I have done it this way for over 18 years and have always had great results. There is also a vaccine you can give that targets the specific bacteria that causes the hoof rot but unless you culture the hoof wound you won't know if this will work or not. Wet environments will produce a reoccurring infection so putting them back in the same environment isn't recommended. This is what works for me and my goats...you may find a better solution. Hope this helps out.

 

[Girlies' Mum]

I use oxytetracycline (LA 200) off label for my goats. I 1st restrain the goat whether it is a headgate or you can use a milking stantion, or hog tie the goat etc. Whatever the restraint method you need to be up close and personal and eye level with the hoof. The next order of biz is to inspect the hoof before anything is done to it and look for DPPTLS...Deformities, Punctures, Penetrations, Tenderness, Lacerations, and Swelling. Then thoroughly clean the hoof with a hoof pick and a small brush. Next you are going to clean the hoof with a good 75%/ 25% Betadine/ rubbing alcohol mix with a couple tsp of the blue Dawn® dishwashing liquid and scrub the hoof thoroughly and rinse thoroughly with water and completely dry the hoof. Finally, I give an IM injection of LA 200 at a dosage of 4.5 ml per 100 lbs. I have done it this way for over 18 years and have always had great results. There is also a vaccine you can give that targets the specific bacteria that causes the hoof rot but unless you culture the hoof wound you won't know if this will work or not. Wet environments will produce a reoccurring infection so putting them back in the same environment isn't recommended. This is what works for me and my goats...you may find a better solution. Hope this helps out.

I agree with goat boy from a sheep perspective though he has lots more experience than I do I am sure! Here in the UK where it is not renowned for its dry climate i.e. is pretty much permanently muddy, we see loads of foot scald and less (but still commonly) foot rot. They are 2 different things - foot rot is much more extensive and smells unforgettably revolting, scald is usually redness etc down in the cleft of the hoof, can be difficult to see, needs good cleaning. For foot rot we would cut back all the affected tissue (and it may be a horrific lot) and give IM oxytetracycline (long acting) and SC metacam if available for pain and oxytetracycline spray to the foot (area should be kept dry). If picked up fairly quickly and it wasn't too nasty (i.e. the usual case) in scald we would clean and treat with oxytetracycline spray alone and try to keep the foot dry for at least an hour or 2. However, vital to exclude other things first as @Goatboy says (don't know about goats but sheep get stones which can be really tight and sharp in their feet especially if muddy and a great quick fix). Bad scald I would treat as foot rot. My beloved 100kg sheep got bad limping earlier this year and was clearly in a lot of pain. I have your problem as I weigh 50kg, so all in all I got the farm animal vet out who could only find a small tender area, which didn't really account for anything. She gave IM oxytetracycline and metacam and I repeated the metacam till she was better and she was great after 4 days..... never did find out the cause. The foot rot vaccine is used quite a lot here commercially, but I only have 4 little darlings, so I sincerely would hope i would pick up any foot rot before it was serious. Good luck. hopefully your goat is better now.