How To Help Injured Goat Stand/Walk Again

[HomesteaderWife]

Hi BYH community, it has been awhile since I have been here, apologies. Well, stray dogs attacked our goats a few evenings ago and unfortunately lost one herd member. They did a lot of damage in a quick time. One goat is fairly okay he is back on his feet, shook up, some minor cuts he is treated for and vet sent antibiotics for him.

One little fella who was standing when we got to him went to the ground once he realized he was safe and come to find out the reason was a severe open wound (vet called it cavernous, pulling in air and bloating him). He was taken to the vet and stayed overnight with them to repair that wound and suture it, amputate one ear, stitches in back leg, and other ear worked on. The problem with his bad wound is that it's right in the "Armpit" of his left front leg. They kept him longer because he would not stand or walk for them, but sent him home with more antibiotic and pain medicine and wound spray. We didn't receive any advice on how to even try to get him to stand.

He will stand on back legs and put weight on them, and we can get him to put weight on front right but he immediately collapses back down because of the left leg area. I am sure as bad as it was he is quite sore. The problem with trying to help him stand is we can't get him under the legs the way you normally could.

We are just seeking some information on how often to try and get him on his feet and how we can do this without having pressure under his front leg. He's probably 80lbs and dead-weighting himself when we try. Thanks for any kind of help and please let me know if I can provide addition information.

 

[SageHill]

So sorry about the dog attack. I've seen what they do.
I don't have goats (only sheep) and have never had to deal with what you have. The thing that comes to mind is a sling like they use on old dogs. Can be fashioned with a towel if you want. Makeshift handles sewn or cut in. I ~think you could avoid the wound area. At least you could ~maybe walk him around? No idea. At 80lbs that's a fair amount of weight.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Thank you @SageHill not sure if my reply here will work since we’re outdoors in bad service. We’ve got a cloth reusable shopping bag I can cut in half like they used to do at the clinic I worked at years ago to help sling dogs to help walk. We also have cloth towels that would work but I’ll just need to evaluate if putting it to lift his front half would hit that wound or not. My husband is worried about trying to get him moving too much but it was hard to really ask much at the vet or get info as chaotic and busy as it was to put it in the best terms. For now though he’s in good spirits and eating and drinking and vocal. He’s a bit tired all around but for what he went through he’s doing a lot better than that night.

I know him and his daddy are both shaken up a lot which may impact his willingness to really try to do much. It was a close knit small herd with his momma and even though she wasn’t the nicest to him, that was their family group and what the dogs did to her was traumatic and they were both there.

Thanks for any additional info on getting him up again

 

[SageHill]

The reusable cloth bag should work perfect for that!! Good thinking. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Mini Horses]

Agree the bag should do fine. My only suggestion would be such a sling for dogs. I would consider once it twice a day lifting. Short time at first, maybe 5 min, increase as he's able. Just getting his body reposition for a short time will help overall circulation & stress on organs & memory. Pain pills "might" cause some lethargy for him. I'd try standing just before a pill...

Plus, I'm sorry for the attack on your little family & hope these heal for you.

 

[Baymule]

I've used Arnicare pills for my dogs when bit by copperheads.

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[Baymule]

My sister took a bad fall recently and I took her Arnicare gel rub and the pills. She said they really helped. I used both the pills and the rub when I had knee replacement surgery, they really work. Give your goat 2 tablets every 15 minutes for 3-4 doses, then every 3-4 hours.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

So little man (I say little he's probably 80lbs) still has a few more days of pain medicine from the vet and the antibiotic shot they sent with him instructed to be given yesterday was given.
We did try the suggestion of standing before the pain pill which we got the longest results out of.
My husband holds his back end and I hold his front up. I haven't found a sling anywhere and the cloth bags are so heavy that they rip since he is so large. I did however find a group of large towels at a yard sale yesterday which we got.
We have a towel around his chest to help me hold him while also holding his shoulder just not underneath. The way he lays the towel can't go under the back end so my husband just holds him up there. He sets a timer on his watch so we can try and get longer times from him.
Last night we got a couple of minutes and he eventually put a little weight on the leg and took a few steps forward. He's been getting lots of love and praise for it and he wags his tail when we try and tell him he is doing good.
My theory is to also, since that's always how he has been trained, try positive reinforcement so that he gets something extra yummy when he is standing to motivate him. Any ideas on a good treat such as fruit, veggies, or if anyone has tried Manna Pro goat treats?

His daddy is up on his feet about 80% now and begging to leave the stall but he is still very slow. We may try leashed supervised short walks. I wonder if seeing his dad go outside will motivate him. I sure miss our walks.

 

[SageHill]

Sounds like you're making progress. Slow and easy is good. LOL on the cloth bags, DH brought home some tangelos from a client -- they were in a cloth bag. I looked at that and thought about you and your little guy, thinking no way that would hold his weight. But then I've got Trader Joe's bags that would hold a ton.
Keeping fingers crossed - follow your gut instinct on mmotivation - maybe apple slices?? Sweet and juicy.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

This morning was actually a really happy step. My husband had came to say hi to him before breakfast and while he was tending other animals I was getting their food ready. He vocalized a little and I knew he was excited for his grain. I sprayed some of the wound spray from the vet on him after I set the food in the middle of the little stall. I noticed he seemed like he wanted to get up when I had to spray under his leg. I gave him a little bit of time after the spray then I gave him a small bit of pushing pressure on his shoulder since he had that side against the wall. He scrambled on his back end and I helped lift him a little so he put weight there and I proceeded to help lift chest and shoulders without reaching under. He got his front right leg planted with a bit of weight barely on the sore leg the wound is under. He gave a good pee and everything clear there still and the other end he went and looked clear too/normal movement. I gave him a light push on his hind end and he took a few shakey steps to the food and tried to lean down to eat. I lifted the bucket up and he was standing eating with only a little help of me next to him just keeping a hand on him. He wanted to go over after a few nibbles to where his daddy was in their little house and I noticed amongst the slow steps he did put a little pressure down on the bad left favoring it obviously so but improving. He then let me know he was done and laid down where he could see his dad. Even though he’s close to 3 years old now and he was hand raised since mom didn’t want anything to do with him, he does love his dad. So we will just keep at this and look forward to improvement as that go with just me with him was no towel or bag. The bags kept ripping to start because poor fella just would not put any weight on his own feet but we are encouraging and praising him when he is up.
We have some apples I will try him with, and when we have to make an errand run Thursday if he’s still improving my husband said we can grab him a bag of goat treats for some further motivation.