# Mastitis



## Sharyl (May 15, 2018)

My Alpine kidded two weeks ago and even before she kidded, one of her udders was larger than the other one. Now it has knots in it and the milk is very chunky. I have been milking that side every evening (the kids have been drinking off of that side during the day) as well as doing a warm compress, peppermint oil massage and giving her vitamin C. The kids seem to be doing well and the knots have gotten a little smaller but I am concerned that it could be a bigger issue than I know of. My husband has agreed that if the knots and swelling don't go down by Thursday, I am going to call the vet out but we are trying to cure her homeopathically, if we can. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you


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## Southern by choice (May 15, 2018)

Have the milk cultured, call the vet, and keep doing what you are.

Not sure where you are located but most state labs will do a culture for a small fee. This is good info to know so you can prevent issues later as well as treat (if any additional treatment is necessary) now.
Is she running a temperature?  She may just have some old milk in there and a lot of congestion. Culturing is best though. 
Welcome to BYH!


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## Sharyl (May 15, 2018)

I did the CMT and it came up as weak mastitis. So I am trying to get ahead of it. I am in California and cannot purchase any antibiotics over the counter so she is going to have to go to the vet if I can't figure this out soon. Some pretty large chunks came out, last night, so I am hoping we are on the road to recovery and not getting worse. I will temp her tonight. I keep forgetting to add the thermometer to my basket of stuff I take out there at milking time. I was using a pump to milk her but I get more chunks if I do it manually so tonight my husband is going to use the pump to milk the other two goats and I am going to hand milk her.


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## Southern by choice (May 15, 2018)

You will need to thoroughly disinfect the inflations or you could spread it to the other goats. 
I would send in a culture to UC Davis. Call them and they will ship you a clean catch vial. My state lab only charges something like $10.
This way if you need antibiotics or something RX you can target exactly what you need.

Found this- a little more expensive (of course it is CA lol) http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/test_fees/index.cfm


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## Sharyl (May 15, 2018)

thank you. They are a different breed so they have smaller teats. I have different inflations for them. 
I will check that link out. Thank you. She is my sweetest goat and of course gives the most milk so it just had to be her that has a problem. She gives me sometimes more than 2 gallons a day when she is healthy. The first week, the kids wouldn't latch on to that side but after milking her daily and the massages, they started drinking from that side. I thought that was a good sign


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## Southern by choice (May 15, 2018)

Is she tested for CAE?


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## Wehner Homestead (May 15, 2018)

Following along out of curiosity. @Southern by choice knows her goats. I’d readily follow her advice.


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## Wehner Homestead (May 15, 2018)

Oh and ! You’ll love it here!!


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## Latestarter (May 15, 2018)

Greetings and welcome. Sorry you're having goat issues and that brought you here. Hope you get it under control and she gets all healed up. Please browse around and make yourself at home. Might be a good idea to add at least your general location to your profile as it can be important info when asking for help. I'll never remember you mentioned it here in this thread. If you're near a border, maybe you can leave your country (state) and buy some antibiotics to help her? Just a thought. Or if you have family somewhere that can get them for you and ship...


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## Sharyl (May 16, 2018)

I don't know if she was tested for CAE... I will have to ask. I bought her from a friend of mine, who got her from the pound, of all places. 
When I milked her, last night, I massaged the knots while I milked her and got soooo many chunks out... a couple of them were bloody and she was so not happy with me but I think we are on the way to getting her better. I am going to call the vet tomorrow... I just feel like even though we are getting somewhere, i don't want her to have any health issues at all. She is my sweetheart


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## Sharyl (May 17, 2018)

I took her temperature last night and it was 105.3. I am calling the vet out. My husband is irritated that I am spending so much on the goats, but I cannot risk her health. I hope whatever the vet gives her doesn't dry up her milk, as that is how I make money off the goats, making my husband happy, but if it does, it does. I am pretty sure I won't be able to use the milk while she is on antibiotics, but I would rather her get better... that and I am not using it while she has mastitis, anyways, so not really any difference.


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## Southern by choice (May 17, 2018)

Yikes.  Good you are having the vet. 
It should not dry up the milk. 
Regardless of what hubby thinks, you own an animal you are responsible for the health and well being of that animal. 
Good for you taking care of her.


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## Wehner Homestead (May 17, 2018)

As someone that has had mastitis, I’m glad you called the vet. I breastfed my three kiddos and had plugged milk ducts but I always managed to get them unplugged. The mastitis was beyond uncomfortable and I began running a fever and having infection symptoms. I had to have an antibiotic to clear it up. 

I really hope this helps and gets her some relief and gives you peace of mind!


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## Sharyl (May 17, 2018)

Ugh. The vet I use is closed until May 22. I called the dogs vet to see if they take goats and they can see her on Saturday. But they asked me if my dairy goat was spayed. Not sure that is a good sign. I am going to call my horse vet on my lunch and see if he can come out. Sure frustrated that you cannot get mastitis meds over the counter, anymore. Ugh


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## Wehner Homestead (May 17, 2018)

Keep trying! Don’t give up!!


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## Sharyl (May 17, 2018)

My Equine vet can't come out, he is on his way out of town. My friend recommended another large animal vet so I left him a message. Hopefully I can get him out tonight or tomorrow. 
Thanks for all your help and support! I feel so bad for her. I am getting more and more clumps out of her when I am milking her and the two lumps are getting smaller but with the fever, last night, I just don't feel right keeping the homeopathic way going. You can tell it hurts her when I am milking her and I don't want to hurt her anymore if I can help it. 
I have been doing warm compresses, peppermint oil massage on her udder, vitamin c tablets and milking her until she freaks out and starts trying to kick me... usually after I start getting a lot of the congealed milk out of her... my husband came out and kept her still so I could get more out of her but I just feel like I am putting her in pain and I hate that. I sat with her head in my hands while she was giving birth, she goes for walks with me, and when I sit in the pen, she comes over and lays her head in my lap. I love her so much. She's my girl and I really hate this.


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## Wehner Homestead (May 17, 2018)

So sorry that it’s so difficult to get her seen!


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## Latestarter (May 18, 2018)

Sorry... I hope you can get it under control.  Sorry also that you live in CA and have to deal with the idiocy.


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## babsbag (May 18, 2018)

Isn't CA just wonderful? It annoys me SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!  Before you start on antibiotics you can take a red top tube and get a clean catch of milk and store it in the refrigerator so you can send it in to the lab if you need to. If you send it in ask for a sensitivity test you can find out what antibiotic to give her. I just went down this road with two goats and I ended up giving them away. They had Staphylococcus Aureus which is likely to come back every time they freshen. Since I have a brand new dairy I couldn't risk keeping them on the milk line. 

 It is important that you continue to milk her so that no scar tissue forms in the streak canal which will prevent you from getting milk out. A few years ago another doe had mastitis and I didn't milk her out long enough and now I can't get milk from that half but it still makes milk and makes her very uncomfortable. 

Good luck and I hope you find someone to help her. Do you have any friends in NV or OR?


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## Sharyl (May 21, 2018)

I got her in to our dog's vet. That was interesting! lol. They weighed her and she is 175 pounds! I did not think she would weigh that much! The vet assistant had me take her outside to the grass to wait for the vet. He came out and was shocked... said he thought I was bringing in a mini goat, not a full sized. He took some milk and went in and tested it and looked under the microscope at it. He said that it was really chunky (I knew that) and had a lot of puss in it. He wanted to know why it took me so long to get her in. I told him that I had called 4 different vets to get her an appointment with one who specialized in goats and cattle but couldn't get her in, called my equine vet, couldn't get her in so finally called him. He gave her a shot of antibiotics and sent home five more to give her once a day. I am milking her twice a day (unfortunately I work so can't do it more than that... my job is a 45 minute drive from my house) and still doing the warm compresses and the peppermint oil massage on her udder. She really likes that part so I am continuing it. This morning's milk didn't have any chunks in it so it feels like we are heading in the right direction. 
My vet gave me an interesting tidbit of information... he said that Federally the laws have changed for antibiotics... that he cannot issue at all without a case by case approval from the USDA. I don't understand that. He is a Doctor, he should be able to prescribe what is needed to keep the animal healthy. I think I am not going to understand the world at all soon. Things are changing and I am not sure for the better.


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## Sharyl (May 21, 2018)

babsbag said:


> Isn't CA just wonderful? It annoys me SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!  Before you start on antibiotics you can take a red top tube and get a clean catch of milk and store it in the refrigerator so you can send it in to the lab if you need to. If you send it in ask for a sensitivity test you can find out what antibiotic to give her. I just went down this road with two goats and I ended up giving them away. They had Staphylococcus Aureus which is likely to come back every time they freshen. Since I have a brand new dairy I couldn't risk keeping them on the milk line.
> 
> It is important that you continue to milk her so that no scar tissue forms in the streak canal which will prevent you from getting milk out. A few years ago another doe had mastitis and I didn't milk her out long enough and now I can't get milk from that half but it still makes milk and makes her very uncomfortable.
> 
> Good luck and I hope you find someone to help her. Do you have any friends in NV or OR?


My in laws live in Happy Valley, Ca! We used to live in Redding! Small world


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## babsbag (May 21, 2018)

One of my best friends here lives in Happy Valley and I "met" her about 9 years ago on Back Yard Chickens. It is indeed a small world.


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## momto6Ls (May 23, 2018)

Sharyl, I'm sorry I missed most of this! I kept hoping someone else had given you help as I read! 

Any time my girls seem a little sick with an infection I offer them cloves of garlic right away! Garlic is a natural antibiotic and they usually crunch it right down if they need it. I offer a few cloves twice a day until the problem is resolved.  The garlic will actually sweeten the milk as well - BONUS . It is not toxic - they can have as much as they want! 

We have 5 does, also try to keep it natural, and sell the milk - so antibiotics are a last option. It sounds like you were on the right track. Treating naturally ALWAYS takes longer to heal. And yes, sometimes it is miserable. We have had occasion to do exactly what you did - compress, peppermint oil massage. You did great! Give yourself a pat on the back.

You might want to add garlic to your list of options. I won't go without it!  If they really need it and won't crunch it down (there is always at least one stubborn girl! Lol) we crush it and give it as a drench. 

I think that would have helped to completely take care of the problem with everything else you were doing. 

I just want to say again, kudos for all you did to take care of her. Don't let the vet give you a hard time - doing all you can before calling is not wrong! And I hope garlic is helpful in the future!


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