My little buck had extra eyelid at birth, causing one of his lower eyelids to turn in, the lashes irritating the eye. It was corrected by previous owner's vet with a penicillin shot in the eyelid, which caused scar tissue. My vet friend corrects this same problem with a stitch to the eyelid. Little buck has excellent papers, and inherited this condition from a Grand Champ dad. Still, after holding three kids(out of seven) for the stitch, I'm thinking this is not something I want perpetuated in the herd. It's a simple enough procedure, still I don't think I can learn to do it.

My question is, does anyone know if this is a dominant trait? If so, I could keep one of his little bucks without worrying about it recurring, once I get rid of all the animals that do have it, right?

Also, can anyone give me an idea about how common or acceptable this condition is? I know my buck's sire is used for stud service, still I don't feel I can sell my guy, or his offspring with the condition, without disclosing it.

Thanks for comments.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), January 10, 2002

Answers

I'm not sure if it is dominant or not, I don't think it's very common in goats, but it is common in sheep, so you might ask some folks with sheep whether it's dominant or not. If it is dominant, you will actually have an easier time picking a buck kid from your buck. Breed him to your best does, and then select a good buck kid that does not have the trait. If it's a recessive gene, it won't be as easy- every single kid would be a carrier of the trait even if the eyes were normal.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), January 10, 2002.

We have only seen this once in a LaMancha doeling, out of my daughters best doe, we never saw it before or after. If you are going to keep this buck, best learn to do the eye repair yourself. Just snip the eyelid with a sharp pair of new cuticle sizzors you keep just for this. Have someone hold them tight, and make the small snip, which opens the lid, just like opening a zipper on your jeans after a meal. I just pinched the lid away from the eye with my hand, and cut at the pucker. Apply a small amount of Terremycin, it is a quick fix that looks perfect the next day. I took this doe to the vet for her to see this inverted eyelid, she worked with the kids eye with her hand and showed me how to roll the lid down, told me to do this every hour or so. Yeah sure! I showed her in Goat Medicine where they say to give the injection of penicillin, she said "Sounds good, are you going to do it Vicki"? So I just took her home and snipped the eyelid like pipestone vet clinci in Minnesota told me to do. pipevet.com even though they sell the clamps and all for sheep. I would not hesitiate to do it again, as we certainly didn't see this as a heretiable trait, now if all your kids or even some of your kids from the same buck or doe always had this, then yes cull. We didn't see it happen this way at all. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 11, 2002.

We had a Kinder doe with Entropion this year too and I have been trying to find out if it is genetic and how common it is in goats. From the responses I've gotten so far it sounds like it is fairly uncommon. We took her to the vet and they did some some sort of stiches like they use on Shar Pei dogs. Thanks for asking this question.

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), January 11, 2002.

Thanks. Vicki, should this cut be horizontal under the eye? How long? Also, are we talking about much blood? Thanks for your input.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), January 12, 2002.

Mary the cut is up and down. Like unzipping a zipper, if you make a small tiny tiny cut in the lid, it makes the lid wider, so it isn't so tight that it turns in the lashes into the eyeball. Please do not do this if you don't know what I am talking about! Yes there is a drop of blood, it will fill the eyeball like a tear, and then instantly stop bleeding. The terremycin is for prevention of infection, the next day you will not see the snip even! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 12, 2002.

Thanks, Vicki. I did look at the site you gave me, and I thought that's what it seemed to say. I wasn't sure, though, how the vertical cut worked, but now I think I get it. Well, I guess I won't be trying this anytime soon myself, but I do think it sounds more like something I can do than the stitches. Thanks again.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), January 13, 2002.