CAE Neg. but cracking joints?

[holliroewe]

I have a doe that came from a CAE neg. herd. But she hasn't been tested since she was a yearling. We are testing her again wednesday. My question is, what else causes cracking stiff joints? She is a pretty big nunian doe, she will be 5 in march, and she is currently preganant. Thank you!

 

[Queen Mum]

Not every joint noise is due to CAE. She may need her hooves trimmed. She may just be walking funny because she is pregnant. She may need minerals, copper, selenium. Sometimes noisy joints are from an old injury. Or she may just have noisy joints.

 

[holliroewe]

How do you find out if it is a mineral deficiency?

 

[elevan]

How do you find out if it is a mineral deficiency?

Your vet can run a vitamin / mineral blood panel.

 

[Roll farms]

Give her a good hoof trimming and see if that fixes it. I've found that the overgrown hoof sounds an awful lot like cracking joints.

 

[holliroewe]

She DOES need her hooves trimmed. But this sound comes specifically when I left her leg and bend it at the knee. And it doesn't move smoothly like my other doe. Im reeeeeally hoping the vet can help with this one

 

[Queen Mum]

Well, if your shoes were misalligned and you were walking on them alot your knee joints might get kind of irritated and inflamed. Then they would start making crackling noises. That's what joints do when they are irritated and inflamed. If you correct the source of the irritation the crackling will probably get better. It's the same way with hooves on goats.

It might take a week or two for the crackling to go away after you trim the hooves, but it will probably solve the problem. It's certainly worth a try. It is the most frequent cause of noisy joints in goats. BTW. Also just give some minerals for a while and see if that clears things up as well. Can't hurt.

You can, meanwhile use some salve on those joints just for good measure. If those measures don't fix her up, THEN you can spend a bunch of money on the vet to track it all down.

 

[holliroewe]

That totally makes sense...! Very helpful info! Thank you! They haven't touched the minerals I put out.... In 2 weeks....

 

[Queen Mum]

You might have to drench them with the minerals. Some mineral formulas the goats won't eat. I mix mine with molasses and warm water and give it to the goats with a drench syringe. The goats will drink it that way. Otherwise I can't get them to take it.

 

[SarahFair]

I bought a doe whos knees you could hear around the house. I felt SO bad for her!

She had really bad hooves and Ive been working to get them to normal and since then the cracking has decreased.
She also had a kid on her and I wonder if it wasnt due to that as well