# Udder trouble, Help!*I'm back home



## Horsefly (Mar 29, 2011)

I have a doe who kidded tripplets in December.  We sold two of the kids at 8 weeks and kept the smallest runty kid here on mom.  She is still nursing 1 kid now, I don't milk her (she is a fainting goat) so I just let her udder alone.  Yesterday I noticed one side was small and the other big and that kind of alarmed me because I had a bad experiance with mastitis last year (doe got a respitory problem at the same time as mastitis really bad and died 4 days after kidding).  Other than her udder being really really chapped and dry I felt both sides and one just felt empty and the other felt normal so I just figured baby had just nursed one side down and dismissed it and put some lotion on the udder.  Today her udder is still lopsided so I got someone to hold her and tried to milk both sides.  The right side (big side) has the normal liquid milk in it and it milks out easy.  The left side is really small like it stopped producing and with much difficulty I got some really thick milk out.  It is pudding like consistancy.  That doesn't scream mastisits to me but what else can it be?  Her udder is so chapped right now it feels thicker kind of so I am keeping lots of lotion on it in the evenings and will probably tape her teats to wean the kid tomorrow.  I am leaving tomorrow afternoon and will be gone 3 days so I need to figure out what is wrong with her today.  My family will still be here and can treat her but I am the one who usually does everything with the goats (feeds medicates etc.) so if there is something not to complicated to do for her till the weekend I'm all ears.  I can still run out somewhere tonight or tomorrow morning to get medicines if I need to.  Thanks!


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## Ariel301 (Mar 29, 2011)

Is it possible that the kid is nursing on the side that is full, so she is just drying off the other side because it never gets nursed?


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## BlackSheepOrganics (Mar 29, 2011)

I keep a CMT (California Mastitis Test) on hand to test when in doubt.

Is her udder more hot or cold on the side that is producing the thick substance?  What color is the thicker milk substance?

When she first started producing milk, did you notice if both sides of the udder came into milk or not?


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## Horsefly (Mar 29, 2011)

I would think if the kid was drinking off only one side I would of been able to see a gradual shrinkage of the other and it would still have normal milk in it.  This was totally from full to nothing in a day or two.  Both sides of her udder was milking normally when I sold the two kids because I was milking her out a bit after they left because her udder was getting so full and tight because of the decreased demand.  Both halves of the udder feel the same temperature, the small side might be slightly cooler but it could be that way because the kid hasn't drank on it and she just came in from the rain and was soaking wet.  The thick milk substance looks normal except it is really thick like molassas, it might be alittle more yellow too its hard to tell.  Kind of reminded me of clostrum.
Where can I get a CMT kit?  Are they usually expensive?


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## BlackSheepOrganics (Mar 29, 2011)

I bought my CMT test at a TSC for between $23-$25.


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 29, 2011)

My guess is the kid is drinking on the smaller side and the larger side is no longer being nursed on, It  will take time for it to adjust to not being nursed on.


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## Horsefly (Mar 29, 2011)

The large side isn't tight or anything, it's loose like normal.  The "milk" I got out the other side is really weird, I had a quarter sized spot I milked out and after sitting on the counter for 15 minutes I touched it and it was like a gel almost solid sort of?  It doesn't have any signs of blood in it and it doesn't have a smell to it, I'm stumped.  
I looked up the mastitis test kits and I don't know if I could use it even because the milk is already solid.  It seems the text works by turning the milk into a gel?  The milk is already a gel.  I'm going tape the bad teat now just to 100% rule out the kid just drinking that side.


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## BlackSheepOrganics (Mar 29, 2011)

I was going to suggest using the dawn detergent instead of the CMT test, but if the milk is that thick from the dry side, it wouldn't really work.

If it is that much like gel, I would think mastitis is a real possibility.  I have not seen it that thick before unless it was colostrum and that was only once that I saw that.  The doe's colostrum was so thick we had to water it down to feed it to the kids.

If you're not drinking the milk, I would not think it could hurt to treat her for mastitis as long as what you treat her with won't affect the kid either.


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## Horsefly (Mar 30, 2011)

Do you think it could wait till I get home this weekend?  Should I get TODAY and use that for treatment?  I can get baby off now if I need to, she is old enough.


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## BlackSheepOrganics (Mar 30, 2011)

If it was me, and it was MY goat, I would leave it be for the time being and leave the baby on her till I got back home to keep the other side from starting an issue.  I would have family check her several times a day to check for anything new or different, including her temperature.  I'd also have whatever you treat mastitis with on hand in case she needed it while you were gone, so that family would not have to hunt it down.

If you are comfortable treating her with Today, I would do it.  Show family how to continue it.  Make sure you're only doing half doses and not the full tube, as I have heard some try giving the full tube and hurt the goat.  It might take more than that to complete treatment though.

I put apple cider vinegar in my goats' feed and water when giving it to them if I notice anything off with their milk, lumps in the teats or udder, or anything that signals mastitis might be on the way.

Good luck.  I hope it turns out well for you both!


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## Horsefly (Apr 2, 2011)

I am home at last.  It seems Darcy is drying herself up?  Will they do that and wean the kid herself I have always had to seperate them (even with this goat).  The bigger side still has normal milk in it but is really loose and baggy like it is going dry.  The other side is still all small and I can still get some of the really thick abnormal milk out.  I saw another thread about staph in the udder the other day.  Could that be a possibility?  The milk that comes out is almost pus like but it doesn't smell or anything so it's more like milk.  I would hate to treat for mastitis and it not be that.  Should I start her on penG?  Dosage is 1cc per 15lbs twice a day?  You would think I would remember as much as I have used it in the past year but I am drawing a blank and am to tired to go look it up.  I don't plan on breeding her again at least not for 4 or 5 years and by then she will probably be to old to breed anyway.  If I did nothing and she just dried all the way up and there was a mastitis or other infection in the udder still what would happen?


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## Horsefly (Apr 3, 2011)

I know you might not have anything useful to say so you arent replying but dose anyone know the dosage for penG at least?


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## rebelINny (Apr 3, 2011)

I am not at home so I can't look it up but when I get home I will look up the penG dose and let you know. Good luck.


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## Our7Wonders (Apr 3, 2011)

There were some recent threads in the past day or two about mastitis concerns and from those it sounds as though, unless your sure it's mastitis, it's best NOT to treat with antibiotics.  Do you have access to a CMT?  I think it was suggested to use it, if you get a postive maybe have a vet re-run it to find out the specific strain - that way if you're treating for it you'll be treating it with the correct medication.


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## Horsefly (Apr 3, 2011)

I was going to try and get a CMT kit but the milk is already thick thick thick so I don't think the test would work right.  Both of her teats continue to shrink.


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## BlackSheepOrganics (Apr 3, 2011)

Glad you're back home with her so you can help her now.  

You're right.  It doesn't sound like you can use a CMT with a lot of success at this point, but you can take a sample to the vet to find out if it is indeed mastitis or not.  Furthermore, as suggested, it will allow you to find out which strain you are dealing with so you'll know exactly how to treat it.

The last thing you want to do is pump her full of antibiotics and then find out it wasn't even the right type of antibiotic.  In order to get her some help while you were gone, if Today was what you had access to, I would have done so in your shoes, but now that you're home you can find out exactly what you're dealing with and tackle it appropriately.  

As far as natural remedies go, some strains react well and are corrected with natural remedies and to be blunt, with other strains you won't have a prayer with a natural remedy.  I have a friend who lost a doe because he was determined to treat her with herbals and apple cider vinegar.  She had gangrene mastitis and died.  Poor baby.

Not treating her is certainly an option and she might be fine.  However, with some types of mastitis, you can literally kill her by not treating the mastitis.  It's an infection.  Some infections remedy themselves.  Many do not. 

Do you have the ability to ask your vet to do testing on the "goop" that you can milk out of her?  I think Our7Wonders' idea on that is the best idea.


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