Remember my lumpy goat? It's spreading to others!

[Ariel301]

I posted a while back about a goat with an odd hard lump on top of her head. I've tried repeatedly to drain it, and found that it is not an abscess (hence not CL) but is solid...whatever it is. I haven't found a vet who will do anything for me. I have been planning to remove it myself and just haven't gotten around to it...well now it's happening on more goats!

Two does have solid masses on the flank, right in front of the stifle joint. Again, they are not abscesses and won't drain, they're more like tumors or something solid. They pop up literally overnight to about an inch or two in diameter and then grow and grow, the biggest one is as big as a grapefruit now in only a few weeks. Two more does have them on the front edge of the shoulder blade, and a buck kept in a completely different area with no contact with these does has one on his chest. We've checked them all, and they are all the same, none of them are CL. These are showing up in my herd and also in the herd I bought the doe with the head lump from.

Any thoughts on what is going on/where to go from here? We don't have a local goat vet at all.

 

[20kidsonhill]

I would be calling a lab and seeing if you can send them some kind of sample, or calling the vet even a couple hours a way that is good and driving a goat to them to look at, and take samples.

 

[cmjust0]

Fast growing lumps on the flank, right in front of the stifle, are **HIGHLY** suspect for CL.. That's a well-known site for a CL abscess, for sure..

ETA -- Sorry, posted this before I read the rest of the post about where all the other lumps are popping up. If I'm thinking right, when you say 'front edge of the shoulder blade' and 'chest' also sound like CL sites.. And by CL sites, I mean they're lymphadic sites..

What are the chances that your goats are popping knots at lymphadic sites and it's NOT related to lymphadic swelling..? And if that's the case, then what are the chances that a goat would have something that would swell the lymph nodes like this but NOT be caseous lymphadenitis, which is among the most common diseases in goats these days?

Me and Occam will be shocked if this isn't CL..

 

[Ariel301]

The problem is, these don't have pus in them like CL knots. I've stuck a needle in to drain them, and there's nothing there. The first goat has a lump on the very top of the head (not a CL site) that has been there for months now, and shown no indications that it's ever going to burst. The second doe to become affected, the one with the grapefruit sized lump on her flank, feels like there's blood vessels in there feeding this thing, it doesn't feel like CL at all. I'll look for a lab to send photos and samples to, there's not even a vet within a four hour drive that will touch goats. The local livestock vet, when asked what it would cost to get him to do a biopsy, asked me what I paid for the goat, when I told him $100, he told me to just save my money and buy a new goat! The herd this is originating in does have some CL affected animals, but these lumps are completely different from the CL. My goats are all vaccinated against CL, but one of my does (housed with the head-lump doe) has suddenly got a lump on her flank pretty much underneath the stifle joint--even though she's vaccinated and has never been exposed to a goat with an active CL lump. :/ The doe with the lump in front of the shoulder--it's on top of the shoulder blade towards the front (not really where CL shows up in that area, or farther back where vaccine lumps show up) and is about the size of my fist. I've tried draining all of them, which is usually pretty easy to do with CL, but there's no fluid in these at all. Really weird, but with several animals getting it, I'd think it's got to be contagious.

Here's the head lump again.

 

[Ariel301]

Anyone know where would be a likely place to send a sample? And what to send them...since there's nothing in there to collect with a needle, I imagine I'd have to cut off the lump and send them that!

 

[Hillsvale]

we had a doe with a lump on her neck, I tried to cut it but it seemed solid...squeezed it a bit and a bit of pus came out.... filled it with iodine and drained that... a day or two later it seemed to be back so this time I filled with iodine and left that there and gave her a shot of LA pen ... lump disappeared and hasn't returned... no one else has had any though.

we have vets who deal very little with goats as well..... hope you figure it out,

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Ariel, where are you located?

 

[Ariel301]

Northwest Arizona. I'm going to cut into Juniper's head lump in the next few days and see what's in there, hers is the only one that doesn't feel like it has veins in it.

 

[PattySh]

Does there look like a small center hole? We had a steer years ago that had botfly swellings all over him. Some of the lumps got really big. I remember taking a scapel and being so grossed out when I thought there would be pus and a huge maggot thing came out.

 

[Hillsvale]

Northwest Arizona. I'm going to cut into Juniper's head lump in the next few days and see what's in there, hers is the only one that doesn't feel like it has veins in it.

you might be better off trying a syringe to draw out anything.... it would give you a better idea if you need to cut into it.