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We banded our bucklings this past weekend and have one that seems to have an infection. He walks real slow, the area is swollen and hard, but not a bright red. He also won't lay down and seems just downright miserable. We gave him about 3 cc of penicillin and sprayed (the area) with iodine. Is there anything else I can do for him? He weighs about 30 pounds. I know it seems like alot of penicillin to give him but I wanted to get it fast and will drop down on the dosage tomorrow. Any help would be great.
Did you give your little guys a dose of Tetanus Antitoxin before banding? (or give CD&T at least 10 days prior?) That would be my first concern. Does he have an elevated temperature? Is he still eating and drinking? Also, are you sure you got both testicles when you released the band?
No tetanus antitoxin before banding, but did give CD&T prior to banding. He is now off feed and does not nurse. I haven't yet checked the temp, but will. Checked and both testicles are down. I hope he will be ok is there anything else I should be doing in the mean time, I plan on giving him another dose of penicillin. in the morning. Let me know if this is ok.
With this much trouble so quickly after doing this procedure, I am a little concerened that perhaps you have some of the plumbing in the band with the testicles. Is he peeing normally? Are his bowel movements normal? I think I would be inclinded to take him to the vet, have the band removed, and have him castrated, then, it may also give the vet an opportunity to see if perhaps some of his small intestine is also pinched into the band. I have all but stopped using iodine with the information that it actually does not promote healing. We spray our wethers bands with any antiseptic aerosol every weekend. I would keep up with the penicillin at the dosage you are using (3cc's), but give the shots every 12 hours. I would also at the very least give him some Banamine from the vet for the fever and pain. A tetanus anti-toxin shot is needed also.
I just ran out to take his temp and its 104.3. He's the only one out of six that seems to be having an infection but will keep an eye on the rest of them. I've never banded before and I did not know it was going to be this hard. Meaning I don't know if its harder on me or on them. I had to leave the barn the first few hours after we banded them because of the cries - I just couldn't take it, but they seemed to be fine the next morning. Do most people band or do they castrate? Just curious. I did think of castration but with the flies in full force I thought that it would be worse with an open wound.
We band all of our little bucks when they are about 2 months old. After a week, we cut off the sack on the lower side of the band, spray with antiseptic and they normally do just fine. Occasionally one has a little pus and we just continue to spray with Furox or tamed iodine. We have never had one to bleed more than a drop when we cut the sack off and that is unusual. If he were mine I would cut the sack off so I could spray the area with antiseptic.
Just came in from doing chores and he is no better actually he is worse. Was able to get him to drink water and he is acting like he is giving up I think about the only thing I can do at this point is to take him into the vet in the morning. I think he is also getting dehydrated so I'll be pushing the water until morning. Thanks so much all of you for your help I will keep you informed on how we turn out after we get back from the vet clinic. I will also not use the iodine for this anymore but will check into the products Vicki and Kay suggested. My thoughts right now is that we will lose him but hopefully the vet will help.
Just adding my two cents, (being a grandma to 3 newly castrated little guys). I took mine to the veterinarian and had them do the dirty work. They only charged $8.00 for each of them, which I didn't consider too bad. They sedated them for the procedure which I thought was very humane. They came home walking a little strange, but after a a few hours, were back to their old bouncy, playful selves. The vet left the bag open and packed it good with wound powder. I didn't have any problems with flies getting in the wounds - and it is definitely fly season here in the mountains. My husband (who is a urologist) says it is better to leave the bag open as it reduces the chance of infection. I just couldn't go with the banding method - I was thinking of how painful that would be having ciculation cut off to an organ until it dies. I've see the pain humans are in when they have come into the hospital with something called tortion a/k/a strangulation of the testicle. They suffer for days if left untreated. As I said, just my two cents.
I was kind of wondering which method would be better, less painful and more importantly, less stressful.
We haven't banded before but we will give it a try on our male newborn when it is time. Of course I could not do it - I am like you. I can't stand to hear them suffer - not even a little bit. We have taken them to the vet to have them castrated (again, my husband did it..I could not..LOL) and they seemed to have been fine. Kind of quiet for the first day or so, and we did have a problem the first time with the goat pulling out a stitch - had to take him right back to the vet.
Well no need to take my little buckling to the vet in the morning, as he died about 10:30 this evening. Maybe I will post him in the morning to see if he had some other problem beside just infection. He peed yesterday with no problem that I saw. All other little bucks are doing fine. Its been hard on me more than anyone but I'm the one that is out there with them everyday its tough. Want to thank you all again for your advise, I'm sure I will need it again and hopefully you'll be here.
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