TROUBLESOME CRITTERS

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DON'T USE ALCOHOL
One of the best ways to treat an ear infection is simply to keep the affected area dry.

Dear Andrea:

Our pet Nubian goat, Flower, got loose the other day and jumped the fence. It appears that she may have broken her leg. She's walking on the leg, but very tenderly. Will it heal? Can we do anything?

— Elizabeth Martinez
Taos, NM

Dear Elizabeth:

Will it heal? Chances are, yes. Will it heal correctly without some type of cast or fixation? No, probably not. The best thing you can do outside of having your veterinarian take some x-rays and apply a cast, would be to confine Flower to a box stall with access to a very small outdoor area. Make sure she gets some sun, which helps vitamin D metabolism and is important for healing all tissues. Minimize her jumping and climbing by providing her with food at nose level and soft grassy ground with little to no large rocks. To relieve the pain, cold pack the limb at least once a day for the first week. You might even stand Flower in a bucket and run cool water over the limb if the injury is in the lower leg. You can also give her a couple of adult buffered aspirin once a day, or every other day, for a few weeks to help bring down the swelling.

While it's common for tethered goats to injure themselves, it's fairly uncommon for most adult goats to fracture their limbs while running and jumping since they are a mountain animal. I'd suggest checking the quality, freshness, and calcium/phosphorus content of your feedstuffs to assure yourself that the fractures aren't related to nutrition. Also, bad bruises and sprains of ligaments and tendons are much more common than fractures but often appear so sore that the animal will be just as lame for just as long. Rest and whirlpool therapy will really help these injuries as well.

Dear Andrea:

We have a terrible time with grubs in our holstein-heifer herd. What can you do to get rid of these nasty pests?

— Andrew Baron
Carbondale, IL

Dear Andrew:

Grubs are parasitic fly larvae. Botflies, as they are also called, are usually members of the genus Hypoderma . They look like bees and lay their eggs on the hair of the legs and lower belly of cattle. The eggs hatch and the larvae burrow through the skin, setting off on a long migration through the cow's muscles and connective tissues until they reach the skin on the back. Here, each grub forms a subcutaneous lump with a breathing hole through the skin, and remains here destroying tissue until they drop out, mature into a fly, and start the whole cycle over again.

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