Goat Conditions: What is carpal hyperextension in goats?

Carpal hyperextension in goats is a condition and topic of primarily Nigerian Dwarf breeders though there have been instances of it in mini goat breeds. You will often see it referred to as “CH” in various discussions. In the condition the knee of the front leg, bows backwards at the carpals. If you compare the bone structure of a goat to a human these are the bones similar to the wrist in a human.

The first writing regarding this was about “Limping Goat Syndrome” on Pholia Farm’s website. The conjecture there is that it is caused by a mineral deficiency. Personally I believe that is a part of it, but I think it is likely genetics that cause the mineral deficiency as in my experience you see more carpal hyperextension in certain lines. What is tragic in the post on Pholia Farm’s site is all the comments with people looking for solutions and suggesting things they have tried. This has impacted quite a few goats.

It is a hard situation to track down because it does not appear consistently and can just pop-up sometimes.

What does carpal hyperextension look like?

One of my very first goats ended up having carpal hyperextension. It started like many cases do with a hanging leg. When she got up after lying down she would hang one of her legs, this soon turned into a limp. We sought veterinary case, including at Oregon State University but eventually her quality of life was such that we put her down.

Symptoms seem to generally start around a year or year and a half old. Bucks also seem more likely to have symptoms than does.

Doe with carpal hyperextension this picture is of the left leg which is not effected

Doe with carpal hyperextension this picture is of the left leg which is effected

Initial studies

So far there has been one study on carpal hyperextension in goats performed by Oregon State University. The study was crowdfunded by goat breeders under the name “The Wonky Leg Campaign” and goat herds in the Oregon and Washington area were included.

Initial results were presented on June 6th 2023. You can view the recordings of the presentation by Dr Leah Straub from Google Drive. The summary was that there is a genetic component to this, but more study is needed to further understand it.

Treatment for carpal hyperextension

I don’t think there is an effective treatment for carpal hyperextension at this time. We don’t know exactly what causes it and from the study that has been done it has a genetic component. Some people have had success with vitamin and mineral treatments, I find that some goats get bad to a certain point and then things settle out in their leg. Other goats become crippled and their quality of life become really bad.

Is there a list of carpal hyperextension lines?

You will not find a list of all the goats that have CH somewhere. Often people get frustrated when they join discussions and can’t get a list of goats or breeders. Myself and some others manage a Facebook Group to discuss it and one of the rules is you may not mention specific herds or goats. The reason for this is it is a sensitive subject and we are trying to encourage sharing. Also there has only been one initial study done, so we don’t know everything about it yet.

Finding out more

The main place where discussion about carpal hyperextension happens is on Facebook.