Evaluating Lameness

• CAE
• Degenerative Arthritis
• Foot & Mouth Disease
• Foot Rot
• Foreign object in hoof
• Fracture or Soft tissue or joint damage
• Injection damage to Sciatic or Peroneal nerves
• Laminitis
• Overextension of the stifle and hock in young kids
• Overgrown and incorrectly trimmed feet
• Swollen feet from pregnancy (pregnancy toxemia)
• Weak pasterns

Here are some considerations for identifying the most likely problem causing the lameness.

• Is it a pregnant doe in the last month of pregnancy?
  • Swollen feet from pregnancy and there is no treatment but watch out for pregnancy toxemia occurring
• Is there a foreign object  wedged in hoof?
  • Foreign object in hoof
•  Are the hooves long and turning to one side or causing the animal to walk on the back part of the hoof?
  • Overgrown hoof or incorrectly trimmed
• Is there a bad smell to the hoof and a dark area between the inner and outer part of the hoof?
  • Foot Rot
• Have you recently given an injection in the muscle of the rear leg?
  • Injection damage to Sciatic or Peroneal nerves
• Is this a new born kid with rubbery leg?
  • Overextension of the stifle and hock in young kids. This should correct itself in a few days without any treatment. Just make sure the kid gets nutrition from the mother during this time. If it is not corrected in a few days, you may need to brace it for a short period.
• Are the pasterns at a significant angle to the leg?
  • Weak pasterns
• Did it occur after consuming highly concentrated or lush forage diet or following pneumonia, mastitis, and metritis?
  • Laminitis
• Did the lameness come about very quickly?
  • Fracture or Soft tissue damage. If there are no signs of a fracture, soft tissue or joint damage should improve over a month or so with anti-inflammatory medicine and isolation for a period from the other animals.
• Are there blisters or vesicles forming  in any of the following places: lips, tongue, teats, or the coronary band of the hoof  and possibly salivating excessively?
  • Foot and Mouth Disease
• Did Knees gradually become enlarged,  weight wasting, hard udder,  Pneumonia, chronic cough?
  • CAE. Test by vet can confirm this.
• Was it a gradual onset of lameness in an older animal in joints with possible swelling?
  • Degenerative Arthritis