Our male goats love their new field here at the farm. They especially love tromping around in the woods. Sunday, though, Oreo came hopping up to the fence to get my attention as I was walking to the barn. As you can see, his leg was terribly swollen.

My first thought was that he'd injured himself. But that didn't seem consistent with the swelling all the way up the leg, rather than in just one area. John was the one who first realized it was a snakebite. We messaged our vet and searched the internet where we read scary things like, "if treated in the first couple of hours, animals are likely to survive." Afraid to wait for a response from the vet, we went ahead and dosed him with Benadryl. We did hear back from our vet later (love that she responds to us even on a Sunday afternoon!), and she confirmed that it was likely a snakebite and that we ought to continue dosing the Benadryl and add an antibiotic.

When we first found him, he would put no weight on the leg at all, and John had to carry him up to the barn. Today, though, the swelling is down, and he's putting weight on the leg. Hopefully, he'll recover fully and in time for him to do his thing during this fall's breeding season. ;)