Unfortunate Accident

The pictures are not bad but the description of the accident is somewhat gruesome.  You have been warned. 

Joe was feeding the horses and a few cows that are in the same field Thursday.  The goats go almost everywhere but they have started running to the hay when they hear the tractor.  When he is taking the hay to the field the bale is in the front of the tractor on the spear.  He sets it down, turns the tractor around and grabs it with the hay unroller in the back of the tractor.  This time, the goats were trying to get all over the hay.  One of the pet goats, Glitter, was trapped between the bale and the unroller arm.  When Joe opened it up to let her out, he saw one on the other side that was impaled on the spear.  Imagine a goat in the above picture where the X is.  

Joe had to get out and pull the goat off of the spear.  It had gone all of the way through.  He carried it to the barn and called me at work.  He was coming to town a little later and I said if it was still alive to bring it in.  It would be better to have it at the clinic if I needed to euthanize it.  

When he brought it in it was actually quite perky.  The spear had entered at the top of the right flank and exited out the other side.  Checking out the holes, I could tell it had also gone through the rumen.  I had to enlarge the holes on both sides to get to the holes in the rumen to suture those up.  By some miracle I could find nothing else damaged.  

This was one of last years kids that was too small to sell last fall.  I think he was a triplet that I had fed some.  He recovered fine from the anesthesia and I gave him some pain medication and started him on an antibiotic.  

‘

Friday he was up and eating and drinking.  He was still doing well this morning.  He is not out of the woods yet however.  There is a huge risk of peritonitis, (an infection in the abdomen) because of contamination from rumen contents.  And the rumen incisions could still dehisce (come apart).  But for now he is staying in a dog run at the clinic with all the hay and grain he wants.  

I decided that if he lives, I am giving him to the daughter in law of a  coworker that has a few pet goats and would like more.  He could have a good life there.