# Mastitis? Or something else? Nigerian Dwarf...



## BarnyardBlast (Nov 12, 2016)

One of our goats kidded about two weeks ago. This is her third time kidding and she has always been great. In the past, we let her kids nurse until they weaned. This time, we decided to bottle feed as she had two beautiful little does. We pulled the two kids late yesterday afternoon. When we tried to milk her last night, one side produced a small amount of milk and the other side produced nothing. I noticed that one side seemed to cause her pain (the no-milk side). At the time, I thought her teats were sore and she was holding back milk or the kids had already nursed before we pulled them. 

This morning, I went to milk her and one side went easily and was plentiful. The other side was again, sensitive to touch with no milk. I could see what looked like a chunk of milk that had hardened at the end of the teat, so I used a washcloth and massaged until it came out. I milked the best I could but the teat felt like it had jelly in it at times. There were thick chunks that looked like pus but might have been clumpy milk that were difficult to get out of her teat but after passing would be followed by streams of milk (not bloody or stringy). Her udder feels hard in places, but not hot. It feels like hard knots or lines in the udder. 

I milked until it was a lot better, but I feel like there is still a problem lingering. My current plan is to continue milking and massaging every few hours. Any thoughts on how to treat? (There is no week-end vet where I live although I can get her to one on Monday). We have yearly testing on all of our animals and they are fine.


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## babsbag (Nov 12, 2016)

Take her temperature, that will tell you a lot. It could be mastitis or if could just be a congested udder. Milking every few hours is the best thing you can do for her right now.  See if you can find a CMT kit and test her milk. Also, just in case it is mastitis you want to get a clean sample and put it in your refrigerator in case you need to send a sample into a lab for a culture.  You need to do this before treating with any antibiotics.  Milk out a few squirts and then milk into something sterile, and refrigerate.  I use a red top tube.

You could put a kid back on her and see if she will let her nurse.

I am not saying she has CAE, but has she been tested? A hard udder always makes me want to rule that out.


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## BarnyardBlast (Nov 12, 2016)

I'm going out in an hour to milk again and will temp her. We tested our herd for CAE earlier this year and they were all (including her) negative. We've bought our goats only from one farm and she tests yearly. I think I have some mastitis test strips. I'll double-check. If not, I'll see if Tractor Supply has them.


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## babsbag (Nov 12, 2016)

Glad about the CAE, that takes one thing out of the suspect list. I haven't used the strips, but know someone that has and they got negative readings on a positive doe. I really hope that it is just congested, but the chunks make me a little suspicious. I have milked does with both, but eventually the mastitic doe ended up with blood in her milk.  If you can get some out save it and let it settle, the blood you can't see will often settle to the bottom of the jar.  This is no fun...


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## BarnyardBlast (Nov 12, 2016)

The chunks were quite bad. They were solid white and difficult to get out. I felt quite bad for my little goat. I was trying to be as gentle as possible, but it took some squeezing for them to come out. I'll milk that side into a different jar (I was just milking out onto the ground earlier today since I wasn't sure if it was okay for the little ones to drink). Thanks.


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## Latestarter (Nov 12, 2016)

Hope it's just congestion and not mastitis. Please let us know how it turns out.  for you and your doe.


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## BarnyardBlast (Nov 12, 2016)

No fever. I used the test strip. It's yellow and should turn blue if it's mastitis. It turned green. 

Her udder felt better and there were only a few 'clumps' while milking. The milk smells fine and didn't taste weird. (It accidentally flicked up while milking and I had a face full). She has a fair amount of milk in both udders. 

I'm going to keep checking.... Thank you!


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## Goat Whisperer (Nov 12, 2016)

I'd be worried with it turning green. What brand test strips are these?

I don't like the strips at all. We had a doe with a 106+ temp and disgusting milk… test strips said it was fine. We ended up having to put her down because it was bluebag mastitis, the udder was rotting and the doe was deteriorating. 

I know another lady who went through the same thing. 

You should really consider getting a CMT test kit. This is the best mastitis detector out there and it is well worth the $15.


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## babsbag (Nov 12, 2016)

Both times I dealt with mastitis there was blood in the milk and it smelled disgusting but that it isn't always the case. I had some really congested does last year and they had some small clumps too as did a doe I was drying off. I would just keep milking her frequently and see if it gets better. The CMT kit would be good to have.


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## BarnyardBlast (Nov 13, 2016)

Thanks. When I milked her this morning, her udder felt a lot better and she didn't flinch as much but there were still lots of clumps. (Last nights milking only had one or two clumps, so I was hoping that she would be okay with further intervention). A couple of the clumps had streaks of blood in it. She's acting fine, eating well and moving around. You wouldn't think she was ill unless you tried to milk her. Our vet's office will open tomorrow morning and my husband will contact them to see about bringing her in. I'm assuming mastitis at this point. 

Goat Whisperer, I didn't see your post until after I had returned from milking. When I go back down, I'll check.


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## BarnyardBlast (Nov 15, 2016)

I called the vet yesterday but he wasn't able to see her as he was doing farm checks. He called back this morning and said that it sounded like mastitis and told me to come by and pick up an antibiotic injection for her. I asked about a treatment like ToDay as well and he didn't think it would be effective. (He also freely admits that he doesn't know much about goats, so he may be wrong on this point). 

Her udder is feeling better every day, but we're still pulling out white lumps/strings. Also, it became bloody on Sunday along with some streams of brown liquid rather than milk. Her temp is 102.5. She's eating well and drinking and quite active.

Questions - should I use something like ToDay? With the antibiotic, should I not use the milk from the other side? I'm using that milk to bottle feed the kids. If there is a withholding time, what is it?

Other questions - the kids are two weeks old today. I have them in my backyard with a small three sided structure for shelter. The shelter is tiny, but they both fit in it. (It's a dog crate). I have hay over it and around it, along with inside of it. They sleep snuggled up in there and run around and play the rest of the time. They are shivering during the day and while feeding. Our temps are about 40 at night and 60-ish during the day. There is no rain (we're in a drought), so they're not wet. Should I put sweaters on them? I've never used anything like that, but they don't have their mother to sleep with, just each other. (I thought each other would be enough, but perhaps I'm wrong?)

Thanks again. She's milking a good deal on the good side and I'm so excited about milking her when she's better.


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## babsbag (Nov 15, 2016)

Don't worry about withdrawal time on the milk if you are giving it to the kids. For your consumption you need to look up the antibiotic and withdrawal time on FARAD. 

I would certainly use Today to treat her. Antibiotics given by injection usually don't treat the infection in the udder, it just keeps it from going systemic. But without knowing what the bacteria is it is hard to know which one will work. You can try Today, but there is also Pirsue and Oxymast so hard to know which one she might need. I would start with Today and see how she does. Make sure you are as sterile as possible when you insert the meds, you don't want to introduce something else. Also, you need to keep milking her out so scar tissue doesn't form in the teat.  Does the milk smell at all? 

It is common for kids to shiver when they eat. Are you giving them the milk warm?  I might put sweaters on them at night but 60 during the day is certainly warm enough for them.  You can make sweaters out of old sweatshirts or sweatpants, Google has a lot of ideas if you need any.


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## BarnyardBlast (Nov 15, 2016)

The milk doesn't have a bad smell at all. I've been checking it at each milking to see if it had a smell and there's nothing. 

I'll start with ToDay and see what happens. I'm guessing I would see dramatic improvement by Thursday if it's working?

Yes, the milk is being given warm. Right now, I'm taking it straight from mama to kids. For the mid-day feedings, we're warming in a microwave (carefully) and giving it to them. I've got a few old sweatshirts around here that would probably work for them. I'll put one on tonight and take it off of them during the day. 

Thanks!


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## babsbag (Nov 15, 2016)

I just saw that your kids are nigis so the sweaters would probably be a go at night...little goats compared to my Alpines. 

Glad there is no smell, that is encouraging. The Today should have directions for using it on goats, you don't insert it as far. If there are no directions you can Google that too, you don't want to damage the teat canal by going in too far. It isn't hard if the goat stands nicely for you, I was probably more nervous than she was.


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