Rough day....Doodle update, page 7

[Roll farms]

CM, sounds great in theory....but in practice it didn't work.

She's been on erythromycin, injected and shot straight in the udder via teat infusions. She's been on about every antibiotic known to man trying to clear it up.

Right after she kidded, the area w/ the 1st lump that caused the whole problem started to swell up again. And now...it has 2 little sister lumps growing. Dr. B. says he's never seen / heard of anything like it.
Almost like the harder we try to kill it, the more rampant it gets...like the infection IN the udder is now trying to come out through the back / side of the udder on the affected half...That's a little to SciFi channel for me.

I think maybe the Lymphatic System around her udder's gone haywire from the added blood flow at freshening...I induced her labor w/ lut (so I could be SURE to be there / catch the kids) so maybe that helped make it worse...I dunno.

I'm waiting for them to get 'ripe' before I do anything to them, b/c if you bust them too soon, they'll just fill back up again....this I know from past experience.

I am still milking out / tossing the milk from the good side, decreasing frequency in an effort to dry her off...which isn't going so well b/c she's a GOOD producer.

NOTHING will come out of the 'bad' side, and if I even act like I'm going to touch it, she goes all "kung fu panda" on me.
That half is slowly shrinking, so maybe it is 'dying' which is what the vet and I hope for. Get the other side to quit being "Best producing half an udder, 2011" and *maybe* we can cut it off and get her healed up before fly season.

She is sooo tired of being cooped up / alone, I try to spend a lot of time w/ her and take her for walks (in the yard, not the pasture) but I feel like I'm being mean to her.

Ad in that I "let" Hillary's post-kidding Barberpole explosion get her this down due to being distracted, and I'm not feeling like a very good goat owner right now.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Im glad to hear some of the issues coming off that full plate! Roll you are NOT a bad goat owner!!

I know how that feels sometimes. One of my cats has a rare eye disease and we've been dealing with it for months..vets and medicines etc. Then a specialist finally diagnosed properly and he is doing good. But I forget the basics..his worming...and he vomited up roundworm sat. And I felt like a bad Momma...As Im running around trying to keep him from going blind...I let him get wormie...

Were human remeber that!!!

Walking her and spending extra time with her...Im sure is helping her alot!! Thats a great goat momma!!!!

Hope things get better for you soon!!!

 

[cmjust0]

CM, sounds great in theory....but in practice it didn't work.

She's been on erythromycin, injected and shot straight in the udder via teat infusions. She's been on about every antibiotic known to man trying to clear it up.

Wow.. Ok then. Wouldn't have expected that to happen, but then again, I guess whoever thought it up before me didn't expect it either.

Was that something you decided to try on your own, or was a vet involved in making that decision?

...I'm not feeling like a very good goat owner right now.

Uhhh, you're talking about *spending* money to amputate an udder instead of making a few bucks by auctioning a goat that can technically still walk.

You're an awesome goat owner.

 

[themrslove]

Uhhh, you're talking about *spending* money to amputate an udder instead of making a few bucks by auctioning a goat that can technically still walk.

You're an awesome goat owner.

*nods*
You are doing the very best you can for her and I am sure that she appreciates it.
You are a fantastic goat owner! Never think any differently!

 

[Roll farms]

You ain't the only researchin' / readin' / tryin' new things fool out there, CM.

I used Today on her 1st at the vet's instruction, then saved the empty infusion tubes, found some info on cow mastitis / treatments and 'made' my own using sesame oil and erythromycin.
After 8 infusions, no improvement. She was getting horribly sore so I quit.

I have literally squirted everything I could think of into that poor goat, including gentle iodine...which oddly enough, seems to have done *something* b/c now the udder half that's affected is shrinking up like we wanted.
(Or maybe I've 'killed' it w/ all my attempts...I dunno, but getting it to stop leaking / start shrinking was the goal.)

Thanks for the support, folks, I appreciate it...maybe if Hillary would stop looking so ready to keel over, I'll feel better.

 

[cmjust0]

You ain't the only researchin' / readin' / tryin' new things fool out there, CM.

Uh, the technical term is "ignorant hillbilly who don't know no better."

I have literally squirted everything I could think of into that poor goat, including gentle iodine...which oddly enough, seems to have done *something* b/c now the udder half that's affected is shrinking up like we wanted.

I squirted 7% iodine into a kid's naval hernia-ish thing (after cutting it open with a pocketknife ) and it dried up pretty good after that.. Vet told me to do that.. Said they squirt big ol' honkin syringes into calves with 'incomplete closure of the umbilical ring' because it works really well at burning out whatever veins may be trying to live where they shouldn't..

Makes sense that it would kill an udder.. I think I've even read about dairy cattle folks intentionally killing recurrent-mastitic quarters with iodine..

Sooo, maybe if it gets to half-shriveled and 'hangs,' you light her up with some 7%?

Not suggesting, per se...just thinking out loud, I reckon..

 

[jodief100]

Uh, the technical term is "ignorant hillbilly who don't know no better."

If you are working in a barn wearing overalls, you are an "ignorant hillbilly". If you are working in a lab wearing a white coat doing the same thing they call it "research scientist".

I think we are getting a bum rap. They get paid more too. But Ill bet we get better benefits.




Roll, how is Hillary doing? I hope much better.

 

[Roll farms]

Hillary is.......alive.

She's weak, shaky, but has never lost her appetite and still w/ me so....

I'm cautiously optimistic she will recover.

 

[poorboys]

Hope both come out okay, as for the little ones their doing great!!! the doe is so dainty and she takes her sweet time on her bottle, we love em!!!! they are in with two of mine that are now about 3 weeks, so they are jumping all over the place.

 

[Roll farms]

OK, I'm not really proud to be posting these pics, but thought I would for 'educational' purposes.

First off...*this* is Doodle's udder last year, the day she freshened.

Doodle standing up today while DH lured her w/ the feed scoop...this side of her udder looks "ok", right? And isn't she just a pretty doe?

Ugh...now then....the lumps on the back of the udder.

And this pic shows the affected half, how much smaller / shrunken it is now.

I drained them all today after I took these pics.
Now if only I could get the 'good' side to DRY UP so we could get the entire ugly thing removed. *shudder*

Isn't it a crying shame that such a nice udder got ruined????