Need advice for bandaging eye on potentially blind goat

amyburemt

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Hello, Our male La mancha has had a very bad couple of weeks. First, he was attacked by something and ended up with an eye injury and punctures to his head/neck. We thought it might have been a large dog but when the vet came out and looked at the span between the punctures she thought it may actually be a large predatory bird. She gave him some various medications as well as some pain control and while that eye is slowly healing he will probably be blind in it. So a week goes by he's healing and he's running around with the other goats. Then our other calm male attacks him. Injures this poor goats good eye. We call the vet out again and his eye is so swollen that she isn't sure if it's actually protruding. She puts in some pain eyedrops , we clean the eye out and she also adds a small dose of steroid eye drops to try to get the swelling down. she also gives him a shot of long acting antibiotic. she said basically one of the treatments IF it is a protruding eyeball would be to sew the lids shut til it heals , but the chance that the optic nerve has been damaged through stretching or tearing would mean that he would be blind in that eye as well. One of my teenagers is the primary goat person so we are basically trying to leave the decision as to what to do with him up to her. So we put him in a small area with food and water, he's eating and drinking, and he's got his pain eyedrops and we keep it moist. the problem I'm having is the vet suggested putting something on it to protect it(he has hit it on the fence before) but I am not sure how to bandage a goat eye. I got an eye patch from walgreens but it's to small for the amount of swelling he has. I tried to modify a Styrofoam cup, but there's no good way to keep it attached. I put a large nonstick bandage on covered with a gel type eye wash but I'm not sure how to actually keep it on his face. His previous owners had de-horned him but he ended up with a nub of horn (about 1 inch) left on the same side as this eye. I guess my other question is, if we do end up determining that he can still have a good quality of life, can we still breed him? like will he be able to even if he's completely blind?
thank you for any information.
 

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Welcome back... What ever happened to the piglet that was stepped on?

So sorry to hear about your buck's misfortunes. You didn't mention the age (size) of the buck, but a Lamancha goat buck over 6-8 months of age... I would highly doubt would be attacked by any bird of prey. I don't know that even a Golden Eagle or Bald Eagle would attempt that close to a residence. Regardless... that's not the issue. No matter what you try to cover the eye with, he's going to rub against any/everything trying to scrape it off. I don't know if you're familiar with coban... https://www.vitalitymedical.com/coban-self-adherent-wrap.html But it's really good, stretchy, self-adhering, easy to remove (no pulled hair), and much better than duct tape or gorilla tape. It's what they use in hospitals.

If you have an urgent care nearby or hospital emergency room, you might ask if they would give you some and they probably would. ER's always have rolls that are nearly used up and I'm sure they'd give you one for free. I'd use a large sterile, non-stick gauze pad, liberally coated with ophthalmic ointment or triple antibiotic (or maybe even both) and then wrap it reasonably tight with coban.

As for if he'll be functional for breeding... well, you don't really need eyes for that to work. You might have to help guide him if he is totally blind, but even then, you might not. Where there's a will there's a way. When he smells her in heat, he will follow his nose. And, to add, if she's in heat, she'll be pretty interested in him as well.
 

frustratedearthmother

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You can buy Vetwrap (the livestock equivalent bandage material that LS is referring to) at most farm stores. Our local Wal-Mart carries it too.
 

amyburemt

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Welcome back... What ever happened to the piglet that was stepped on?
Thank you so much! We ended up having to put that piglet you are referring to down. we raise pigs for meat and had basically nursed her back to the point where she was eating and drinking fine, but we never could get her back up on her feet. We had the vet come back out and she determined that most likely the pig had something wrong in her neck and then we had to look at quality. She said even if we continued to put weight on her, we wouldn't be able to use her for meat at all because her muscle tone was so bad at that point from laying around and not being able to walk. we were said about it but also realized we had tried every trick in the book(including raising her up with a harness to try to get her in a standing position and physically rehab her). Thank you for the advice about the buck. i'm going to use the flexwrap and see how it goes. we are going to take it on a day by day basis i think with him. I have seen some animals come through some amazing things so i hate to just write him off yet. You know how you get that gut feeling that just tells you no this isn't the end point yet? that's what i have with him. thank you again!


So sorry to hear about your buck's misfortunes. You didn't mention the age (size) of the buck, but a Lamancha goat buck over 6-8 months of age... I would highly doubt would be attacked by any bird of prey. I don't know that even a Golden Eagle or Bald Eagle would attempt that close to a residence. Regardless... that's not the issue. No matter what you try to cover the eye with, he's going to rub against any/everything trying to scrape it off. I don't know if you're familiar with coban... https://www.vitalitymedical.com/coban-self-adherent-wrap.html But it's really good, stretchy, self-adhering, easy to remove (no pulled hair), and much better than duct tape or gorilla tape. It's what they use in hospitals.

If you have an urgent care nearby or hospital emergency room, you might ask if they would give you some and they probably would. ER's always have rolls that are nearly used up and I'm sure they'd give you one for free. I'd use a large sterile, non-stick gauze pad, liberally coated with ophthalmic ointment or triple antibiotic (or maybe even both) and then wrap it reasonably tight with coban.

As for if he'll be functional for breeding... well, you don't really need eyes for that to work. You might have to help guide him if he is totally blind, but even then, you might not. Where there's a will there's a way. When he smells her in heat, he will follow his nose. And, to add, if she's in heat, she'll be pretty interested in him as well.
 

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Thanks for the update(s)... sorry about the piglet... part and parcel of owning and raising farm animals :( Some go sooner than planned. Hope everything works out with your buck. Please keep us in mind and don't be a stranger.
 

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