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Goats/Young wether injury.

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Expert: Goatlady - 9/8/2008


Question
We have a four month old Nubian wether that we banded recently.  Today he got upended by an adult doe.  When she rammed him part of his scrotum was ripped just above the elastrator band. His sack was well dried but not ready to come off yet. We cleaned it out real well with betadine and then put novalsan on it and packed it into the tear.  I gave him a baby asprin for pain.  Should I start him on antibiotics?  He did get his tetanus when he was banded.
  The wound did not bleed very much and he can run and jump,  while we were trying to catch him for treatment he was very active, so he is not incapacitated but I'm sure he hurts there.  Anything else I should do besides hugs and kisses?  We live in Washington, His temp is normal, he did not eat much tonite just kind of laid down in the corner.  I have him isolated with his bro so no one Picks on him

Thank You,
Pauline

Answer
HI Pauline,
Ouch! You did everything I would have done except I would give him another tetanus anti toxin injection if it has been more than a week since the last one. I use equine origin 1500 unit tetanus anti toxin - the vial holds about 4ccs and I use 2ccs for a small kid and the 4ccs  dose for larger kids (over 30lbs) - you can repeat the tetanus anti toxin in another 7-10 days if needed.  Keep it clean and  topically treat like you are doing. Putting him with his brother  is also a good idea for now as well. Watch for infection  and if it does start to get nasty looking (which I doubt if you treat and clean topically daily for a week or so), but if it does and/or he begins to run a fever (normal is 101.5 to 103.5)  , you can start him on antibiotics but I would not just yet. And hugs and kisses. Lots of them! Ouch!

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Goatlady

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Specializing in New Goat Owner understanding of goat physiology, goat anatomy, goat care and herd management. *I am not a veterinarian, any advice and information should be verified by your veterinarian before administering to your goats. (! During times of severe weather in the Midwest, I may experience a delay in internet service due to the interference of the satellite reception - but will answer your questions as soon as service is restored. !) Note: Keep in mind, the goat expert is volunteering her time to help other goat owners, she also runs her farm with her own herd of 100 goats and may not be at her computer at all hours. Questions are answered as soon as she can possibly read and answer them, usually within 24 hours.

Experience

18 years experience of raising goats and herd management. Active hands on experience with goat herd and research with various Caprine University Research and Extension Centers nationwide. 15 years dedicated to helping other goat breeders/owners with goat anatomy, goat disease and goat health care issues via phone, published goat care articles and internet interaction. The information I have to offer is not only from personal experience and years of research updated often as new information is made available to me, but supported by many Veterinary Research colleges and all medications and information I have to offer on how the medications work and what dosages "I" use, is information I have acquired by discussing directly with the company's veterinarians and staff research experts.

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5 year active member of International Veterinary Information Service

Publications
United Caprine News, Homesteaders Magazine, Columnist for Goat Magazine, Owner and Author of GoatPedia™

Education/Credentials
Graduate Programs in Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University

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