# Udder problems...



## Goatgirl47 (Dec 12, 2017)

I have a 2.5 year old 2F Nubian doe that is due to kid in roughly 8 days. She began filling her udder at the end of November, but it is lopsided. Her previous owner (whom I've bought goats from before and trust) said that it wasn't so when she freshened earlier this year (with a single that she pulled and bottle-fed). Her previous owner also said that she could be getting mastitis because of her sickness (a couple weeks ago she had a temp and was not doing well at all).However, I check her all over everyday and so far there are no lumps and no swelling in her udder. Is there a chance that when she freshens it will even out? If it doesn't is there anything I can do to try to make it even? Like milking the smaller side multiple times per day?



 

And also, two of my young FF does (both coincidentally born on our farm) have developed some wart-like bumps on their udder - and in the case of one, her vulva area. They are due the 11th and the 16th of January. Any idea what these are and is there anything I can do about it? (pictures are of my Mini-Mancha doe - due soonest)


 


 


Thanks in advance!


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## Goat Whisperer (Dec 12, 2017)

You might want to have a vet check for staph.


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## Goatgirl47 (Dec 12, 2017)

Goat Whisperer said:


> You might want to have a vet check for staph.



Check for staph in all of them? Or just Semi Sweet (the Nubian)?


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## Southern by choice (Dec 12, 2017)

All of them. The wart like bumps remind me of staph. 
The lopsided udder is odd.

tagging a few that may know more about the lopsided udder. Not sure they have had the issue (outside of kids nursing one side) but they may know why it is happening.
@goatgurl @babsbag @frustratedearthmother


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## frustratedearthmother (Dec 12, 2017)

No idea....I second the vote for a vet's opinion.  I will say that at first glance I thought the bumps might be fire ant bites....but after looking more closely I changed my opinion.  That would have been too easy...


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## babsbag (Dec 12, 2017)

I have one with Staph right now and it does look like those bumps. I clean it with Fight Bac or chlorhexidine. I scrub the heck out of it and the more blisters that pop the happier I am, but wear gloves. For me it has cleared up rather es

I have a few with uneven udders but they are from being over filled as first fresheners and having singles that only nursed on one side. I would suspect mastitis in the making but I sure hope I am wrong. If it is be prepared to milk her multiple times a day and massages with peppermint udder balm. There are a few different kinds so no way to know the prognosis at this point. Have you tried milking that side just a little and see if you can get anything out at all? It looks very suspicious.


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## Goatgirl47 (Dec 13, 2017)

@babsbag - I haven't tried milking the uneven side yet, but I may today if it won't do any harm. In the picture it looks tight and full, but it's not at all and is actually very soft. Thanks for the suggestions!


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## babsbag (Dec 13, 2017)

I would try and get a few squirts out at least, enough to see what the milk looks like. I would try both sides as perhaps the big side is her normal fill before freshening and it is the small side that is not making milk. You may be looking at this all wrong by assuming the big side is the weird one; I would be thinking that too, but maybe it is not the case.


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## Goatgirl47 (Dec 13, 2017)

Good point. Thanks!


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## Fullhousefarm (Dec 13, 2017)

I agree that the bumps took like Staph. We've had bouts of it here as it lives in the ground and Florida in all it's tropical beauty harbors stuff like that quite well. I use FightBac  (Chlorahexadine udder spray) on it twice a day. I've had a non milker with one or two bumps and they always go away on their own. Try to give them a clean dry place to lay, but goats doesn't always cooperate with where you want them to be. 

I've had several goats get uneven precocious udders or start uddering up before freshening lopsided. Once they got very full right before kidding in went away and they all were able to stay quite even as milkers. Sometimes one side will have the tendency to produce more than the other but if the same amount of milk is removed from both sides regularly small differences will even out in time. Just watch closely the first week to make sure both sides are being nursed from mostly-evenly. If not you can teat tape the favorite side for a part of the day or milk it often. I usually do a combination of the two if a single baby likes one side. It it's twins or more they usually will start nursing from both once they are milked to be even and they are a few days old and are more coordinated (and greedy!) about nursing. For now I'd watch for heat, lumps, and fever and worry about mastitis if that happens.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 13, 2017)

For the staph-Follow up after the chlorhexidine with iodine scrub can work wonders!


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## Goatgirl47 (Dec 14, 2017)

Yesterday I milked a couple squirts out of both of Semi Sweet's teats. It had the normal yellowish colostrum look, no clumps and no bad smell. 
Today is day 150 from when she was first put in with the buck (although the breeder didn't think she went into heat until 6 days after). Her udder still looks the same. 

I'm going to try to treat the staph myself - I researched a little and it seems to fit the bill for what is going on with the two FFs at least. Does anyone know if penicillin would help fight the staph?


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## Southern by choice (Dec 14, 2017)

Personally I would not use the Pen, just do the wash 2x daily. I'm not a vet so if your vet prescribes that then you should do what your vet recommends.


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## Goatgirl47 (Dec 14, 2017)

Okay. I will just do the wash then. 
Is it contagious, should I separate them? (I think so - since at least two of my goats have it - but I'm not sure)


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## babsbag (Dec 14, 2017)

It is contagious, but it also in the soil so hard to prevent. I would separate if you have a way to do so. I have never treated with antibiotics, the wash has always cleared it up for my girls.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 14, 2017)

For the goat due you must set up a pen or stall, thoroughly clean out everything and replace with clean fresh bedding. Because you don't know where the staph came from you want to make sure she doesn't get exposed during delivery and have kids nursing on udder. If staph gets into the teats that is major and is the biggest culprit for bluebag mastitis.


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## rosti (Dec 14, 2017)

Staph is extremely hard to eradicate, but giving the does vitamin c and garlic and treating sores with either FightBac or tea tree oil has worked the best for me, though in the end it was the dry summer weather that cleared it up.


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## rosti (Dec 14, 2017)

I have not had luck with antibiotics on staph, so only use them if it turns into mastitis or the sores cover the whole udder and are big and painful. It still doesn't treat it, but it gets it under control at least, and then I can take over with the above measures.


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## Silky ma (Jan 6, 2018)

Hey guys,
No i do not have goats yet but have had alot if experience with chronic staph skin infections in my German Shepherd!
My vet snd i had to keep doing multiple antibiotics to keep his in check- until i found cannabis!! I now gave my pups on 
CBD oil derived from actual cannanis nothemp- that crap is toxic!
He use to get them monthly! But now has only had 1 breakout in the last yeAr!
CBD oil has just a tad of thc which is one of only 2 parts of the cannabis plant that causes the high. I no longer use antibiotics - last resort.


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## Silky ma (Jan 6, 2018)

I got into cannanis because my keeshond female was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer a month after a tooth extraction.
I have always been holistic and now have joined a group that deals with cannabis for a whole plethora of issues such as cancer seizures infections etc. if you want to start to learn please ho to leafly.com . Its alot to go thru but i am learning so much.
This cannabis wheel shows you medical uses for cannabis. There are over 400 chemicals in cannabis that are being used to treat so many conditions- just 2 chemical components - thca and thc cause the high!


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