Hello,

I have a 2 year old wether with something on his hind feet. His fronts are fine. I have noticed this at other times of the year, not just this season. It appears to be dry, scaley skin between his dew claws and between the dew claw & hoof. Sometimes it looks like dry skin and other times it becomes red and the scales come off and stick in the hair on his legs. The hoof appears to be fine. They are routinely trimmed. In the past, I have painted the area with iodine and it helps. But last week I noticed that he was limping on one hind leg, so I checked again and sure enough, it's back and his leg is swollen and hot. He is biting it too. Now, he may be limping because he got knocked around by the bucks that he's penned with and the limp has nothing to do with the skin problem. None of my other animals have this. No, I haven't taken a sample to the vet to determine what exactly I'm dealing with yet-hoping someone else may have had something similar and could help. I was thinking of shaving the area and soaking his foot in something? He's a very well behaved wether-so there's no trouble doing this. Any suggestions?

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), October 30, 2001

Answers

Forgot to mention that the whole herd was wormed with Panacur within the past month. Maybe a different wormer (topical) would help. Any ideas?

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), October 30, 2001.

Before a trip to the vet you may want to use 1cc per 100 pounds of Ivermectin 1% injected under the skin, repeat in 21days to see if it is mites. Envirnmental staph can attach itself to certain animals, those who didn't receive as much colostrum, thsoe that are stressed more than others, and staph like this is very hard to get rid of. It starts out mild then the body starts replacing skin faster than it sloughs it off, like shingles, this is called phemphegus (sp). We have successfully treated this with Nacel for 5 days, cleaning the area with chlorhexiderm and nolvasan scrub. Make sure he isn't living in wet conditions. You may also want to boost his immunity with ID-1 (goatworld.com sells it) or another immune stimulant (the one sold in Hoeggers) be it mites or staph there is a reason he is getting this with everybody else is fine. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

Could be laminitis. Caused by feeding too much grain, or feeding too lush hay or pasture. Have you trimmed the hooves in the last few days? Assuming there is no foul smell when you trim, laminitis is my best guess. As the hooves grow out you will see irregularities in the hoof if this is the problem, things such as double soles, double hoof walls, and crumbly white stuff. Medicating will not really help it, all you can do is to change the feeding program for him. He is a wether and doesn't need any grain, unless he is working as a packing or harness goat.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), October 30, 2001.

I agree with the Ivomec. We had a buck with a similar situation and the vet had us give injectable Ivomec every 2 weeks for a series of 3 shots, cleared it right up.

-- Leslie in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), October 30, 2001.

We had a goat many years ago that seemed to have the problem you are talking bout now. I did happen to have the vet take a scaping but never did hear back from them. What we eventually did was scrub her legs down, were her back ones too, and then soak them in a bleach solution or you could just wash them down with the solution a couple times a day when you are if you are milking her. I figured it was a fungus or parasites or something and they couldn't stand the bleach !! Seemed to cure her. We had an old Scottish family doctor when we were growing up that use to say. "use bleach on anything on the outside of the body and whiskey for anything inside the body"...guess a "wee" dram of whiskey wouldn't hurt either...for you not the goat !! Good Luck !!!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), October 30, 2001.

I had a goat with a similar sounding problem and used Dr. Naylors Hoof and Heel. Cleared right up.

-- Laura Rae Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), October 30, 2001.

Hi Charleen

Sounds like a touch of mites. Vicki remember this was going on in Lorna's herd as well as my buck. We washed the bucks legs with Listerine, don't laugh this really works and works well, if it is indeed mites. Do the ivermect thing but also try the listerine wash once a day every other day unless you're drowning in rain like us. Good luck. Anne

-- Anne (pygmy@bulkley.net), October 31, 2001.

Hi Anne, I am going to use the Listerine the next herd we bring in for resale! Sounds like a great idea to me! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 31, 2001.