Goat with huge lump under ear- possible tumor - Graphic picture added

[Cricket]

Have you tried Ichthamol? I love that stuff. We used it on cows where I used to work and it's wonderful. (I also use it on myself for cuts that get semi infected). You can get it at the pharmacy for humans, but it's a lot runnier--the animal stuff is thicker.

 

[babsbag]

And he personally has been tested for cl?

No he has not been tested. My vet, who has her own herd, and my mentor who has 20+ years with goats both assure me that this is not a CL abscess. I have never seen a CL abscess when it is open so I have no clue.

The thing about CL is that if that is what he has then this is truly a case of contracting CL with no possible exposure. I have had him since he was 10 weeks old. He came from a closed tested herd with never a case of CL on thier land, ever. Same for my herd. And no deer in my pastures. He was also a bottle baby and separated from all the adult goats at birth.

He has been off of my property twice, once to a show where he left my trailer, entered a ring for a few minutes and went back into my trailer. He wasn't even penned at the show. The goats at the show are vet checked before the show, by my vet so I know there was nothing there of danger to him.

The other time he left was to service a doe I had sold. He was in the pasture for maybe 30 minutes, and then back home. The doe was tested clean when I sold her a few months before his visit. No other goats in the field with her or him.

I just sent this picture to my vet so we will see what she says next. She has drained many a CL abscess and she is pretty confidant that this is not what this is.

If it is CL then there is an obvious problem with blood tests and the notion that it can only be passed from an abscess or an internal abscess.

 

[babsbag]

Have you tried Ichthamol? I love that stuff. We used it on cows where I used to work and it's wonderful. (I also use it on myself for cuts that get semi infected). You can get it at the pharmacy for humans, but it's a lot runnier--the animal stuff is thicker.

I have never heard of it. I will have to look it up. Thanks

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Yeah, with that kind of back history I would doubt cl too.

 

[Hillsvale]

Looks like the mastis two crappy sheep we bought had... hope your guy feels better.

 

[xa.logan]

Ew.. That's definitely infection. It's probably best to flush all that mess out of there. I'm not a vet, but that's just what I would do. In most cases, masses that recede with antibiotics are foreign bodies. Anything that is a tumor will not react to antibiotics, since a tumor isn't itself an infection.

We once had a salivary abscess on a dog (mucocele) that didn't draw any sample. Put him on antibiotics, the abscess receded but then it came back when the antibiotics were halted. Sent a sample to the lab, came back negative for cancerous. Tried to drain it from the outside, but it ended up looking like yours. So finally, the doctors put the dog under anesthetic and opened the thing up. It was full of serum and... a piece of a stick that the dog swallowed.

 

[babsbag]

Ew.. That's definitely infection. It's probably best to flush all that mess out of there. I'm not a vet, but that's just what I would do. In most cases, masses that recede with antibiotics are foreign bodies. Anything that is a tumor will not react to antibiotics, since a tumor isn't itself an infection.

We once had a salivary abscess on a dog (mucocele) that didn't draw any sample. Put him on antibiotics, the abscess receded but then it came back when the antibiotics were halted. Sent a sample to the lab, came back negative for cancerous. Tried to drain it from the outside, but it ended up looking like yours. So finally, the doctors put the dog under anesthetic and opened the thing up. It was full of serum and... a piece of a stick that the dog swallowed.

Since it did get smaller with antibiotics we are leaning towards the abscess which is much better than cancer. The vet will clean him up on Friday and I am betting there is a fox tail on something similar in there. It sure is ugly, but doesn't smell much, which is strange.

 

[babsbag]

He went back to vet this morning. She cleaned out what is now clearly an abscess and sent him back home for another 7 days on Pen G and some Granulex V to spray in the wound. She took some samples and will be sending them off, one of the tests will be for CL

He has NO possible exposure to CL so

If it is positive this will be a case of spontaneous contraction.

 

[babsbag]

It isn't CL

The abscess looks good and is closing up. The vet never found anything in it so where it came from is anyone's guess but so glad it isn't CL.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

That is great news!