Another Day with the Goats: Pt. 5- Contracted Tendons in Newborn Kids

Have you ever seen a kid with legs so bent that it is walking on it's knuckles? This is usually a condition known as contracted tendons. Bent legs in newborns are not uncommon, and are not such a very bad thing. Usually, this condition caused either by improper nutrition (deficiency in vitamins A & D, or selenium) or by crowding in utero, sometimes by both. This buckling is one of Nelly's triplets. He and one of his sisters had badly bent legs, the other one also had slightly bent legs. Good news: the legs straightened out in just a few days (3 if I remember correctly). In the video below, I show the kids legs and the treatment. I hope this helps someone!

Basic treatment outline:

1. Administer A & D

2. Splint legs with cardboard

3. Continue the above until legs straighten.

Contracted tendons in Charlemagne, a Saanen buckling.

As you can see, his legs are severely bent, so that he is actually walking with his hooves curled under him.

Charlemagne at about a 7 days old. His legs are now perfectly straight.

Juliet (the doeling with contracted tendons at birth), at about 7 days of age.

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