Vet on call: Curious case of goat that had a malignant wound

The mixed breed goat arrived at my clinic on a motorbike last week, with Kariuki, the owner, cautioning me it was pregnant.
You see, some drugs may cause abortion in animals while others may led to bloating in pregnant goats because they reduce movement of the rumen.
A weakened rumen is also not able to function properly due to increased abdominal pressure caused by the enlarged pregnant uterus.
Kariuki talked fondly of the goat that was of Saanen and Toggenburg parentage. He only had the animal and its two female kids.
He said he looked forward to building a small herd with his initial one goat. The breed has a tendency of kidding twins and if they are females, then his herd could grow fairly quickly.
The goat provided Kariuki and his family with milk. He hoped as his herd grew, he would also have some income from the surplus milk as people in his neighbourhood already liked his tea made of goat milk.
This dream was threatened by a strange disease that had affected the goat. We had talked the previous day on phone and I decided to examine his goat and treat it for free as part of my community social responsibility.
He had already spent a lot of money on the goat and the problem kept worsening by the day over the last three months.
It would not have been economical for me to visit Kariuki’s home at Kiamumbi in Kiambu to treat the animal.
Just continued growing
I advised him to look for a large plastic crate where he could restrain the goat comfortably on his motorbike and bring it to the clinic.
Kariuki said he had noticed the animal’s left front outer hoof digit bleeding and thought it had a puncture wound caused by a sharp object such as a nail, wire, thorn or wood splinter.
He had called in an animal health service provider who gave injections and advised him to wash the wound with hydrogen peroxide and apply tetracycline spray until it healed.
Despite the treatment and Kariuki’s follow up with the advice given, the wound started growing outwards forming a cauliflower-like structure. It would bleed profusely on slight injury.
Kariuki called in another animal health service provider who gave more injections and advised continued washing with hydrogen peroxide.
The wound just continued growing and even started decaying in some areas and emitting a foul smell. That is when he decided to seek my second opinion.
By the time Kariuki called me, he had spent a lot of money on his goat and could not afford to pay more.
“Doctor, I request you to help me here because I do not want to lose my goat or the goat to lose its leg,” Kariuki said.
All the four doctors at the clinic were eager to see the condition explained by Kariuki. None of us had seen such a case.
The bacteria live inside cells
We examined the foot and the wound. The disease structure was growing from the area between the dead hoof and the live tissue called the coronary band. It was already about twice the size of the affected hoof.
The goat kept licking the wound. The animal was otherwise in good health and body condition.
The pregnancy was advanced and looked like the goat could be carrying twins. I assigned the case to Dr Edgar.
He quickly concluded, correctly, that the affected hoof would require to be surgically removed high above the growth.
I agreed with his verdict and treatment protocol because it was evident the hoof could not revert to normal function regardless of the cause of the growth.
At that point, Kariuki wondered whether the goat could have been having cancer.
Edgar completed the surgical operation in about an hour as I supervised. The goat appeared relieved and no longer tried to lick the bandaged leg.
I took a sample of the growth and submitted it to the laboratory for confirmatory diagnosis.
Such wounds may be caused by infection with bacteria that cause continuous growth of granular tissue.
The bacteria live inside cells and are difficult to treat with antibiotics. The growth could also be due to cancer or a condition called “proud flesh”.
The laboratory would give the verdict in 1-2 weeks to enable me advise Kariuki further.




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