# Help!! Mastitis treatment



## Jenna (Jan 7, 2009)

HI! This doe that kidded on wens. I think she has Mastitis. I noticed it tonight when feeding, her udder was hard and hot. She is nursing her kids, and when I took her to the stand and felt her udder better I saw the following:
One side was hotter and harder than the other-- one side expressed milk easily and had plenty of it it seemed-- the other side was hard and the teat had no milk in it and I could barely get any milk out! It felt horrible!! I massaged it with bag balm.
Should I treat her right away? If so should I use the product Today? OR should I test first? If so where do I get a tester?? The doe is more quite than usual tonight too.
Please advise! I am really worried about her! Thanks!


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yes i would treat her -- and continue to massage and milk out that side.


----------



## cdtrum (Aug 25, 2008)

Oh Jenna.....I sorry to hear about your doe......hope she is better soon!
Take care, Denise


----------



## Jenna (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks Denise and Stacy!!! 

We talked to my vet, he told me what injections to give her. I am massaging her udder and milking her as much as possible. The poor thing, I can tell she isn't felling well at all!
Her udder is not as hard as it was when I first noticed it. So I'm hoping she will recover quickly. Her udder is soooooo nice this freshening I was hoping to show her, but now I'm going to dry her off about 2-3 weeks after she recovers fully. I do not want her to see the show ring this freshening, to much stress for my sweet baby! I will update tomorrow about her progress ( hopefully) to recovery!


----------



## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

You may of caught it early enough that you wont have to dry her off. The trick with mastitis is to hit it hard and fast. Get her on pen injections six cc's twice a day for ten days. Get a product called tomorrow. Tomorrow is basically the same thing as today but the antibiotic is higher and stronger. First milk out both sides as much as you can. Heat pack the udder as hot as you and she can stand with hot towels for twenty minutes massaging the udder in between towels. Get as much milk as you can out then inject one tube per side. Heat pack her udder several times in the next twenty four hours but dont milk her out. In twenty four hours milk her out and put two more tubes of tomorrow in there. Repeat a third time twenty four hours later. 
You will probably have to pull her kids if they are nursing. otherwise they are just going to suck the anitbiotic out. If you can get her to eat 2000 mg of vit c a day for the ten days. Those orange flavored chewable tablets work well. If she wont eat them hide them in a marshmellow or something she likes. 
Even if this isnt a bad case of mastitis, left untreated it will get worse. This is the treatment i use and its worked everytime. The harder you hit it now the less problem you will have later.
beth


----------



## Jenna (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks for the help! 
I think she is getting better! 
I am using a product called specramact. I will definitely start the hot compresses. 
Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions and advise, they help a ton!


----------



## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

Jenna, how's your doe? I plan to milk my does next spring and this really scares me.


----------



## Jenna (Jan 7, 2009)

She is about 85% better I'd say. Our vet told us to stop the antibiotics/ teat injections after two weeks, and just do the massages and milk outs, 2 or 3 times a day.
We've been doing that faithfully and she seems to be totally better then she'll go back to being 60% again every half week or so. so i don't really know what to do except the massaging and milking  :?


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

continue antibiotics till you are sure she is 100% better -- if you dont do this soon then she may never respond to that particular antibiotic again due to resistance build up.


----------



## Herebegoats (Dec 30, 2009)

Hi all,

With mastitis I can not stress enough - culture, culture, CULTURE! There are 1000s of bacterias out there that may or may not be sensitive to the antibiotics you are using! so as SOON as you discover a doe has mastitis, clean off the teat end and milk into something clean like a blood tube and take to your vet to send out for a culture. If your vet does not have an office take the sample to any dog or cat vet, they can send it off to the appropriate lab for testing. 

Culture results usually arrive within 24-36 hours and then they can do a sensitivity to determine which antibiotics to use. In the meantime if she is in pain or running a fever I put them on Banamine (prescription) at least once per day. I also prefer to put them on a broad spectrum antibiotic that gets gram + and negative bacteria. My choice is Naxcel or Excenel (also a script) but if I did not have that I would use Tetracycline (LA 200 or Biomycin). My choice of udder infusion is also Pirsue (also a script). Pirsue saved a doe of mine three years ago and she had ZERO scarring. 

Mastitis is not something to be taken lightly. If it is a really bad case the animal can lose their udder due to tissue damage and the infection can potentially spread systemically into the blood system. It can make a doe very sick, very fast.

Kelley Hines


----------



## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

If you do cultures after antibiotics have been given won't that skew the results?


----------



## jdgray716 (Aug 8, 2008)

We would give pen-aqeous for 10 days using warm/hot packs, not to burn though, and massage as well as milking if you can to get it out fast, if she were here at our place.


----------



## Herebegoats (Dec 30, 2009)

Hi,

yes it is important to culture AS SOON as the doe breaks with mastitis before any antibiotics are given. You will need to start them on something in the interim but culture results will tell you exactly what you are dealing with and if the antibiotic you are using is appropriate. 

Kelley


----------

