Whats wrong with this elk hoof?
Elk
The hind hoof of my cow elk this year looked like this.
What is it?
I'd guess it's a form of slipperfoot.
One posted like this last year
That is crazy looking. Because of this I would not eat the meat. Please contact me for my shipping address so that I can dispose of it properly for you. :)
I'm thinking that she had her toes crossed hoping you would miss! Obviously didn't work and now she has you wondering!
Maybe she was in the middle of making a wish?
That obviously didn't work out.
;-)
Hoof Disease has been an issue in the Pacific Northwest for a few years. See this article from the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife: http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/health/hoof_disease/
Is this a Roosevelt Elk from Washington?
I think she was using sandpaper on her feet to try to toughen them up for the hunt. In the process she developed hoovestolong, its a rare disease that first broke out in Alabama and is now infecting elk everywhere.
Elk was taken in N. Colorado.
Here is my buddy's thoughts on it. He was there when I shot her and is a physician.
"Laminitis (inflammation of the connection between the coffin bone, called "P3", and the hoof wall) is going on here -- but not the usual laminitis.
The "usual" laminitis is a nutritional issue caused by excess carbohydrates in the animal's diet. Obviously, though, this animal had the same diet for all four feet!
In this case, I think she was injured. P3 (in horses, there's just one P3 bone, and in deer and elk, there are two, side-by-side) should be the core of the toe ... it's what the hoof wall grows to cover on the upper and front surface. The hoof wall in a healthy animal is tightly applied to the surface of P3.
Well, if that right rear hoof wall was "tightly applied" to the bone, then the obvious explanation is that the bone was deformed -- and I'd guess that was from an injury.
If I'm right, that'd explain why the toe is so long, too. The toe should trim itself with walking, but a deformed toe didn't "trim" naturally, and so she got overgrown.
So, my bet is that if we would have dissected it, we'd have found a healed but angled fracture of her P3s on that foot."
Bowfreak, you are a fine man to make such a generous offer. And if a whole one is too much to dispose of, I have a little room in my freez......uh, my garbage can !
May have gotten tangled in a wire fence. But sure looks like an injury to me.
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Looks like the hoof rot we have here in some of our elk. They think it's from exposure to the same that cause sheep hoof rot.
Certainly could be complicated by the foot rot organism (Fusobacterium necrophorum). For the most part, it is an opportunist looking for a way in. I have seen deer with abscesses of the mouth/tongue that were caused by this organism.
Here's what wrong:
One's a llama. The other's an elk.
:)
Possible, Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) survivor....
may have been injured by hanging in a fence as was jumping it.
seen the same in deer that got hung in fences & got out.
always hind feet.
