INJURY: Goat ankle broken/dislocated

[Oatmeal2023]

Hi there, I'm relatively new at taking care of larger animals and am having my first experiences with major injuries and emergencies.

Right now, I'm dealing with a younger boer goat of mine with a likely broken ankle. Unfortunately, I have no experience with such an injury and a vet is both a long distance away and an expensive expenditure. But it is not out of the question. Though it is late I admit.

At first I thought it was only a sprained ankle as immediately after it happen while he would not put weight on it to walk at all, he would lean on it slightly when he jumped up on a fence/wall though. Swelling was also contained to a small area the size of a golf ball maybe a little larger. I immediately put a homemade splint on it with gauze underneath, wooden slats for the splint itself, then wrapping it pretty tight with sticky bandage. Then contained him in a large stall away from the others.

I then monitored his progress over the next week and it became quickly clear that it was more than just a sprain. 3 weeks now the swelling is gone, and he puts some amount of weight on it to walk but still hobbles with 3 legs a lot of the time. His behavior is still good. Even jumped up on a stump when I let him out for monitored exercise.

I replaced the splint a couple times and looking at it now, it is a small lump near his ankle area. I don't feel any broken bits inside nor did I feel any when I first checked him. Nothing seems lose but clearly something is not where it is supposed to me. Picture included. First picture is a day after it happened, second picture is today.

Right now my intention is to put the splint back on and hope he continues to recover. He is making progress but I'm not sure if it's the progress I want to see for his injury. I'm still only at the half way point of the minimal recommended recovery time that I've read online. He is more of a pet goat than anything but would very much prefer not to put him down.

Thank you for all advice and suggestions.

 

[Mini Horses]

First, even a bad sprain will be sore for a while. Soft tissue takes a while to heal & recover.

I suggest you feel the uninjured ankle / leg and movement as you hold onto it. You are feeling what moves, is in place on good one. Then gently hold and move injured one. Same areas should feel similar. Start there. Light movement side to side
and forward/ back as if walking.

A vet wrap bandage will help with support while healing. I feel your concerns and offer this comparison to see if you feel any differences or his show of discomfort. It's a start.

 

[Ridgetop]

Keep the splint on for another 3 weeks to a month. Is this a growing kid? If so, re-splint and rebandage every week in order to avoid stunting the growth on the leg. Even if he seems to have healed, you want to keep the splint on to make sure that either the bone has healed, or a bone callus has formed to hold the break together. If it was a leg bone, prognosis is good by leaving the splint on for at least 6-8 weeks. If it was an ankle bone, the bone may knit together with a bone callus (bone scar tissue). If this happens, it is possible that although he can walk, he will not walk without a limp or odd gait. If this is a Fair project animal, he may not recover enough to be shown, however if a meat animal, you can probably get him healed to butcher size. If this is a buck kid destined to be a breeding buck and the broken leg is one of the front legs, he may heal enough to breed even with a limp. He will need the strength in his rear legs and feet for mounting the doe while the front legs are for balance. IMO, I would consider giving a dose of Penicillin to avoid any infection from failure to heal.

FYI: Another good splint material is very stiff wire - 1/2" x 1/2" folded in half for extra rigidity. You can wrap this around the leg and mold it to the shape of the leg. That will be better support than straight slats of wood which can move out of place when he tries walking. For kids, or for breaks in the more slender leg bones, you can cut 1"-2" diameter PVC pipe in half lengthwise making a U shaped PVC splint. Then cut the pipe to the correct length. Whichever you use, be sure to wrap padding heavily on the leg to avoid rubbing by the splint. Then use vet wrap to secure the splint. (You can also use duct tape to secure bandaging as long as it is not applied to the hair.)

 

[Oatmeal2023]

I suggest you feel the uninjured ankle / leg and movement as you hold onto it. You are feeling what moves, is in place on good one. Then gently hold and move injured one. Same areas should feel similar. Start there. Light movement side to side
and forward/ back as if walking.

This is super helpful, thank you. Being inexperienced, detailed tips like this go a very long way for me.

Keep the splint on for another 3 weeks to a month. Is this a growing kid? If so, re-splint and rebandage every week in order to avoid stunting the growth on the leg. Even if he seems to have healed, you want to keep the splint on to make sure that either the bone has healed, or a bone callus has formed to hold the break together. If it was a leg bone, prognosis is good by leaving the splint on for at least 6-8 weeks. If it was an ankle bone, the bone may knit together with a bone callus (bone scar tissue). If this happens, it is possible that although he can walk, he will not walk without a limp or odd gait.

It does seem like an ankle so it'll be unfortunate if he does end up with a limp but fortunately he isn't for a fair or breeding or anything like that. Just a pet. He is still less than 2 years old so not quite full grown but getting there. I went ahead and put another splint on with your advice and will leave it on for another few weeks.

 

[Mini Horses]

Please let us know how he's doing🥰

 

[Oatmeal2023]

UPDATE: So I took off his cast this week. It has been just under 7 weeks since his initial injury. I attached a picture of the cast I made for him.

It seemed to help very quickly. Within a couple days he was walking on it like a peg leg without issue. He would even run on it a little when he had the space.

However, it has been off for over a day now and he has not returned to using his leg and is back to limping on just 3 legs. The leg itself looks weak so I suspect it is from lack of proper use over the weeks and some form of physical therapy may be in order. Or it may be how it healed. I don't have a clue.

I felt it again and moved his ankle back and forth and it seems to behave the same as his other leg. But otherwise he is still in good spirits as usual and he does use it very occasionally when he needs to. But some habits might be left over from the cast as he doesn't stand on it completely straight.

 

[Margali]

From my own cast experiences, it will take a couple days for stiffness and aching to ease. He should slowly start using it more.

 

[Mini Horses]

Agree....slow use is better, also. Maybe some aspirin or arnicare...or buteless, it you have any of those, to ease the pain/ache. Even aspercreme or Absorbine jr on the ankle itself. It'll take few days to restretch the muscles & tendons in the ankle, leg and shoulder. They're all connected...🥰

 

[SageHill]

Thanks for the update!! That was a nice looking cast too!
More than likely from lack of use. My main working dog, Obi, broke a toe (last year? year before?) long story short once the cast was off it took a week or so for him to start using it more normally. And I took him to the chiropractor as well.

 

[Ridgetop]

Good job with cast. As long as bone has healed, he will eventually start walking on it again. Muscles will be stiff and sore for a while due to not having full use while in the cast.