Knit and Purl Birthday Injections, CDT Vaccine

(The following is not in anyway an instructional on what you should do with your animals, only what we do. Please contact your livestock veterinarian for professional advise.)

Knit and Purl turned 1 year on April 28th. Unfortunately for them, we didn't celebrate with cake and balloons. Instead, we spent the day trimming hooves and giving them injections and oral de-wormer. Every year you should vaccinate a goat with it's CDT shot which prevents Tetanus and Entertoxema (Overeating Disease). You can find syringes and vaccines at Tractor Supply. We use Durvet from Tractor Supply Company (Durvet Link). Read labels and instructions carefully, some medications must be refrigerated, With Durvet, the left over medicine should be disposed of. Most injection amounts (CC Units) are based on the weight of the animal. Our girls weigh approximately 80 lbs each, so we give them 2 ml or (2 CC units).

We use a clean needle for each animal and dispose of the needles in proper containers.

My dad was diabetic so we use his "hazardous waste" containers. Then contact your health department for legal disposal in your area, do not throw used needles in the garbage! This is extremely dangerous, think of your garbage men and if they were poked with a strange needle how they would have to undergo medical testing to rule out infectious diseases. 

I was very proud and nervous to give my first injection. Zach has injected the girls with de-wormer, but this was my first CDT shot. They're getting larger and stronger and it was better for him to do the holding and me to do the injecting this time.

Our first goal was to stay as clean as possible. We took the goats out away from the stalls and into the clean or rather (straw free) area of the barn.
We prepared all the injections before hand and replaced the protective caps on the needles and lay them on a clean paper towel so their easy to access.

To prepare the injections take the needle and pull the suction back so it lines up with the right CC line on the tube. Insert the needle into the vaccine bottle through the rubber seal. Inject the air into the bottle, (this stops the vacuum effect) then suction out more than the correct amount of medicine. I flick the syringe to get the air bubbles to the top then re-inject the extra medicine back into the bottle until the suction lines up with the correct CC unit line.

Zach holds the girls on their side. He grabs the front "ankles" with one hand and the back "ankles" with the other hand. Then he sweeps them on their side and kneels on their neck. Their neck fits into the crevasse between his knee and his foot against the floor, so he's actually not putting any pressure on their neck just keeping their head wedged. Then while their being held, I separate the fibers on their thigh to find skin beneath all those curls and swab the area really well with alcohol and a cotton pad. Then I remove the needle cap, pinch the skin up so you have a little triangle of skin at each end of your pinched fingers, inject the needle into the triangle just under the skin. These injections should not go into the muscle. If the goats start to wiggle, let go. It's better for the needle to go flying, then to tear the goats skin or inject yourself. They may lick the area for a while, but they'll be fine in a few minutes. We always give them goat treats after injections to get back on their good side and to reward them for being so brave.

(check out the January 26th, 2010 blog to see how we trim the girls' hooves. It's titled Trimming Goats Hooves, the Girl's get a Manicure)