Foot rot? scald?

About trimming #4... I might hold off on that one for awhile. By trimming it. the raw part of the foot would be more in contact with the ground. That little bit of overgrowth might be doing the job of keeping that part of the foot out of the dirt for now.

Like LS said - it's a little hard to get great detail out of the pic - but that's what I see.

I took a few more pics today as I can't see an improvement. It doesn't appear to be foot rot or scald or anything. I honestly think that the hoof fell off because the foot grew too fast after the initial fracture healed.

What you are looking at from the pictures is the fleshy toe of the hoof. The toe is curled over. There is also a picture of the bottom side of the hoof which is missing the nail as well.

I have been washing it every night and most mornings. Every night we place either vetericyn or blue coat on it along with a bandage and vet wrap on it to keep it there till the morning.

In the morning I will most of the time take the bandage off. I kept it on once but the flesh started to look wilted and nasty looking, like it had been kept in water too long. I've started to take it off in the morning after the dew has dried so that I can keep as much of the moisture off as possible.

I'm at my wits end. I see no improvement. He still limps, understandably. It doesn't look like anything is growing and the toe is curved. I thought about cutting the curved part of the toe off but I have nothing to coterize it with.

I'm not a Dr. but from what I see there, it may be time to get a vet involved... That looks like it's going to need surgical removal. If there's a veterinary college/university near enough, you might call/Email them and see if they'd take the case as a learning/teaching function which would be free or cheaper for you.

Leave everything be and give LA 200 (IM or SC) every 10 days. Seriously, if you trim anything at all anymore you'll be in danger of causing a fibroma. Put that sheep in a dry barn stall and watch him for a few weeks. I would not bandage it AT ALL, you're right that it will cause it too be overly moist and exacerbate the problem. If you want to put something on it, apply zinc sulfate (the hoof and heel stuff that LS mentioned) or oxytetracycline topically.

mysunwolf said:

Leave everything be and give LA 200 (IM or SC) every 10 days. Seriously, if you trim anything at all anymore you'll be in danger of causing a fibroma. Put that sheep in a dry barn stall and watch him for a few weeks. I would not bandage it AT ALL, you're right that it will cause it too be overly moist and exacerbate the problem. If you want to put something on it, apply zinc sulfate (the hoof and heel stuff that LS mentioned) or oxytetracycline topically.

Click to expand...

What about washing that hoof? I understand not putting a wrap on it but if I don't it will still get hay and stuff from the floor on it. Will just washing it off, not scrubbing, continue to reopen it. And do you agree with LS in getting a vet to surgically remove the curved toe?

Agree - time to get professional help!

I agree with the others that a vet should be involved if possible, then they can decide if it's time to remove part of the foot. It's also unusual for sheep to get a fever and an infection from this kind of hoof damage, so that would be another reason to call the vet. I think you shouldn't wash the hoof with water as long as you clean out the stall daily. You can flush it with iodine if you want to clean it and make sure there's no infection. My advice above is for if you didn't want to get a vet involved for one reason or another.