Removing a scur

[KleinsCoop]

My 2 1/2 year old saanen has a scur that is starting to grow into her head. We got her from the Amish last May. We've kept it trimmed but it's getting to the point I don't think I can do it safely. My husband read about using castration bands on it. He put one on her yesterday. Now I read that it is horribly painful and can put her at risk of illness due to opening up her sinuses somehow. It bothered her at first when he put it on, but now seems fine. Should I go out and cut the band off and call the vet? I don't want her to be in pain or get sick!

 

[Sweetened]

Someone else will chime in, but i think removing the band now might not be a good idea.

No matter what method you use there will be pain, there will be risk of infection. Once our weather warms but is still cool enough that the flies arent out, we will have to do our saanen who has both scurrs that hang down over his eyes. We will be using a wire saw to saw through them as quickly as possible. They will bleed, it will hurt, and it will have risk of infection, but the risks of damaging his sight if he butts heads with someone is just as great.

We plan to bring him in and have him castrated after next breeding season, and will have him surgically dehorned then, which is also wrought with risks.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Do you have a pic of the scur? We have a buck who gets them a bit but they break off when they boys play rough. There is blood, but not much and we then just make sure it is dry and clean.

We did once remove a bad scur that had developed on a baby buck (the only reason we did it was because he was so young that we were hoping to permanently remove it). We used a saw and disbudding iron. It was gross and I wouldn't want to do it again. We sawed off close to the scalp and then applied the iron to cauterize. Afterwards, we put on a topical disinfectant and gave him pain reliever. He was fine and the scur did not come back.

 

[KleinsCoop]

This is the only picture I have of it right now. That's her in the middle. I can take a better one tonight when I go out to check on them.