Please tell me if this is normal!!! We have a 7 month old buck with rectangular pupils. In bright light his eyes dilate not into small slits but into perfect, sharp -cornered RECTANGLES. We had some friends over recently that raise goats and they had an odd look on their faces when we said something about his eyes. So.. we showed them and they said they had never seen anything like it. This is our first experience with goats so we thought this was normal. Could someone please tell me if this is normal and if not what would cause this???? Also we had him dehorned at about 3 months and now at least one of his horns is growing back. What can we do??? He is mainly a pet so we really don't want the horns. Thanks for any help!!!!

-- Lou Ann in KY (homes_cool@msn.com), January 08, 2002

Answers

As far as I know, all goats have rectangular pupils... at least our 9 goats do. I've never really looked at other people's goats eyes that much, but I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if theirs were different. We've only been into goats for one year however, so maybe someone else knows differently.

About the horn... I've only heard of one way to remove a horn so that you are guaranteed it won't come back, and that is by a veterinarian surgically removing it under sedation. I've heard it is a messy & painfull procedure... I'd ask your vet his/her opinion.

-- Sharon in AL (Sharonspaws@aol.com), January 09, 2002.

Hi Lou Ann. It's normal. Next time you get near a horse, cow or any other animal that feeds mostly on grass with its head near the ground and the pupils are the same. It gives them a wider field of view to stay alert for predators approaching from the side or rear.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), January 09, 2002.

http://www.nwinfo.net/~milkmaid/ http://www.skybusiness.com/goatscanada/index91.html http://www.greatgoats.com/management.html

Unless your vet sees other goats, you would be much better off letting a seasoned breeder in your area look at the bucks horns. Perhaps the goatworld.com 911 site would be a place to start. If it is just scurs another burning is in order, if they are horns growing back than the elasatator method is what I would use. Read the three sites and contact them for more questions answered. Give tetanus shots before you start. Your friends that raise goats and thought your goats eyes were weird, aren't the ones who disbudded him are they :)..............This would be a good time to also think about castrating him! A intact buck makes a very poor pet, mostly because you can't stand to PET him when he is in rut :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 09, 2002.

As I recall my goats alway had rectangular pupils, what is freaky is I had a brother in law who had eyes like that when he was a kid, (child that is).

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), January 10, 2002.