# Contracted tendons in newborn doeling



## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

I swear, can we have a normal kidding yet?!?!

Shelli, second freshener Alpine, gave birth to triplets yesterday. The first one was a small doeling, just over 4 pounds. She was slowest to get up and going. When she did stand, her front legs wouldn't straighten. The knee is bent and her hooves point so that she looks like she is walking on her tiptoes.

The vet said it was contracted tendons from being crammed with two bigger babies and not able to exercise those joints in utero. We were given splinting supplies and banamine. The splints seem to slip off or get twisted around nearly immediately - even when the vet put them on.

Today (she was born yesterday afternoon), we've warmed and massaged her legs and worked the joints. I've been taking the splints off to let her walk a bit - which is a rather unsteady process! Then I put them back on for sleeping and lying down - even if they rotate and don't actually stretch the joints, it seems better than letting her tuck those legs under her and keep the tendons more contracted. But it's hard to watch her struggle with those splints on as she can barely move her legs when she is lying down and gets a bit twisted up.

By the way, we feed good quality grass hay free choice, plenty of alfalfa hay, free choice loose minerals (Sweetlix for goats), baking soda and copper bolused 5 months ago. At first, I thought it might be WMD, but she doesn't really fit that. But nutritional issues have been on my mind.

She is strong otherwise - alert, good suckle reflex, wants to walk even if she can't! Vet checked everything else out and this appears to be her only issue (heart, lungs, etc all sound fine).

Anyone else ever deal with this? Any advice or tips?


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I know this will probly be a dumb question Madness but what is WMD?

I have nigerians & have had on occasion a kid seem a little more wobbly on there legs or not quite as straight becuase of being jammed in those little goats bellies with 2 siblings. Usually within a day or so they are all just the same pretty much. If you have Vitamin E casules you could give the oil from the inside of the capsule to her & I THINK some folks here also do the Bose-E shot for the newborns for this reason? I have never given Bose-E shots to any of my goats before so I can't help you with that. Did the vet suggest that or give them a shot of anything?


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## Natural Beauty Farm (Feb 17, 2003)

Bo-Se and Vit E capsule broken into mouth will help, repeat as needed.

We splint with TP tubes split and cut to size and taped with duct tape.

It sounds like you are doing good. Relax the vet is right, its nothing you did, just too many kids in a small space. We had problems one year, hard snow so girls were locked in barn a lot right before delivery. Normally we take them all for a walk daily of 2 plus miles, seems to help with lots of delivery problems.


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## dkdairygoats (Apr 13, 2006)

WMD is white muscle disease...you will see more weakness with this and usually a huge improvement with Bo-Se.

I've had several kids born with contracted tendons. I don't splint any of them...they are normal within a week or so. Walking on them straightens it out. Now if they are walking on their knuckles...then you need to splint. As long as they are on their hooves, even tiptoes, they do okay. In my experience anyway.


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

Yup, WMD is white muscle disease.

Thanks everyone. I asked the vet about Bo-se. She said she has never seen selenium deficiency in our area and didn't even think she had any on hand (it's vet Rx only). She did manage to find one injection at the other clinic and said we could have it, but warned strongly about selenium overdosing. Soo....didn't get it. I have vitamin E+Se gel but was reluctant to give that too after talking to the vet. We're picking up Vitamin E capsules today.

She just had lunch and wants to go play now! I'm thinking we might splint for just a while longer. Splinting, or simply just time has really improved one leg a lot.

Thanks again everyone, it's nice to know that this is just something that happens and it's not that big of a deal!


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

It's been a week. I'd say that her legs are able to straighten more, but they aren't completely straight. But her muscles appear to be really really weak, so while I can pick her up and straighten her leg out without stretching the tendon, she is unable to hold her legs in that position while standing on them. She looks like a little crab when she walks around since her legs are bent out to the sides.

We did give Vit E but just one dose. We'll get another in her today. I'm paranoid about selenium overdosing because of what the vet said, but perhaps she really does need it. Ugh.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

She sounds like she's just runty. I'd listen to the vet about the selenium.
Make sure she's getting plenty to eat and the legs should straighten up as she grows a little and puts weight on them. She may not be able to compete with the bigger siblings for food. I hate bottle feeding but personally would probably pull her and bottle her.


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

We do all bottle feeding. The other kids are on the lambar but she gets her own bottle (she is small enough that we had to start her on pritchard and haven't gotten her over to the lambar nipples yet). She was 4.3 lbs when she was born and we ought to weigh her today - she is certainly growing!

I really do hope she continues to outgrow this. She went from not being able to walk, to scurrying around like a maniac. But over the last few days, there just hasn't seemed to be much of a change. I haven't seen her this morning (I'm off the farm) but my mom reports that she can barely walk she seems so weak. But she drank her fill this morning and all other things seem normal, so I guess we just keep on going!


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## Natural Beauty Farm (Feb 17, 2003)

Some vets do not realize that goats need different things compared to cattle. Sounds like she might benefit from some Bo-Se, even if you try it once. Don't give Cu-Se to her though.

The vit e is cheap for a bottle at WallyWorld. Keep a bottle at the farm with her. One a day might help.

I had a kid given to me once that sounds like your girl. I gave her 1cc of Bo-Se a day for a week and she is now a strong healthy doe. A lot of us give our does Bo-Se before they kid.


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

She's gotten a second Vit E dose and we'll add that to her usual daily routine. 

I'll talk to the vet again about getting the ONE Bo-Se they have. I thought the newborn dose was 1/4 cc - was the kid you got older? She is a week old, probably 5-6 pounds (we can weigh her).


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

Doeling was born here early Sunday AM. Weak pasterns all four feet. I gave her 1/4 cc BO-SE, IM. She's fine now. Walking normally on all four feet now. It usually doesn't take too long to correct itself. Good luck with your little one.


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