Ginger's hoof: Canker

Well, I've been dealing with one of my senior does, Ginger, who is 13 years old with a bad hoof.  We think it's Canker, which is not contagious to other animals or to humans.  This growth on her left back hoof has been there for quite a while, but as she gets older, it's growing bigger and bigger.  The only thing that we can do at this point is keep it trimmed down by cutting it off every 2 months or so.

 The pictures below are NOT for those weak in stomach!! 

The two pictures below are of the growth before it was cut off.

Side view of the growth

Top view of the growth

Canker is the progressive growth of extra flesh (Horny Flesh) on the hoof, primarily found in horses, but this does happen occasionally in goats, obviously.  So, my friend came over, who has experience in dealing with horses that have canker.  So here goes the pictures...

Maggots in between growth and hoof

Though you might be saying "EWWW", maggots actually play a huge role in the cleaning process, as they only eat the dead, rotting flesh.

Making the first cuts

Looking more "normal" :)

This part of the growth didn't actually hurt her until we got down to where her hoof was looking more like a hoof!

As you can see, the blood is squirted everywhere.  That's because the growth (Canker) has it's own little arteries and blood supply in it, therefore making it a very messy job :)  Since we didn't have a disbudding iron, we started a fire and got it SUPER hot.  Then we put a piece of rebar in it and waited till it got red hot in order to cauterize it.  Placing the hot rebar on her hoof helped stop the bleeding fast!

All done cutting.  Just gotta clean it up!

So, that was my big adventure last month!  Fun huh!??

I hope this is able to help someone in the future :)

-Hannah