Fixing Jeanie's Ear

Last month, Jeanie caught her tag out in the woods and ripped her ear lengthwise.  At first we left it alone to heal but then the lower portion of ripped ear became necrotic and Jeanie was very sensitive and painful.  Intervention time!  This is where being a veterinarian in training comes in useful.

First step: Sedate Jeanie with the appropriate dose of xylazine.  I gave Jeanie a "standing" dose meant to make her only a little sleepy but Jeanie is apparently sensitive and went down like a rock.

Next: Clean and examine ear.  I gave a local lidocaine block to desensitize the ear.  Use sterile instruments to cut away the dead tissue.  The larger part of the ear was healing well so I left it alone.  Cleaned the infected part thoroughly and applied triple antibiotic ointment.

The great thing about alpha-2 agonists like xylazine is that they can be reversed. So I gave Jeanie tolazoline and she perked right back up.

All the other goats had to watch what was going on.

Jeanie gets some grain as a reward.