# Staph Mastitis



## Sweetpea8 (Jun 6, 2013)

Hi,

I have two goats who both freshened recently. My older doe, Sweetpea was diagnosed with staph mastitis a few days after Lily freshened, so I have been keeping them separated and trying to keep the germ from spreading, but now Lily's milk is tasting awful from one quarter all of the sudden, so I was thinking i should treat it with antibiotics hoping to keep it from causing the scarring and such that comes with staph mastitis, and to keep it from recurring in her. The culture and sensitivity we had done on the other doe showed that it was sensitive to Today, Penicillin and a few other things I don't remember. The vet gave me 2 tubes of Spectramast and said to use ½ tube two times per day for two days. And because I heard that for staph you need to use something systemic, I also asked for Penicillin to give 6cc IM 2x/day. I haven't given her anything yet. I'm wondering if I'm jumping the gun though, and if this sounds like reasonable treatment. The vet had me give the older doe a shot of LA-200 which helped her greatly, and now she is just nursing her 5 week old twins and I only milk her occasionally to make sure she's doing okay. The plan is to send her and her twins to the butcher in the fall. I don't want to have to butcher my other doe, Lily, too. Lily has a beautiful little doling too, I'm thinking we'll need to give her the vaccination for staph mastitis if we want to breed her someday?
Any help is appreciated. I have been reading as much as I can find online, but am still somewhat confused.
Thanks!


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Do you have CA Mastitis test, or can you send it out for culture as well? If there's no other symptoms I would probably test first, but it's not like the treatment is risky if you'd feel better just giving it.


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## Sweetpea8 (Jun 6, 2013)

I actually would rather not give her the treatment, I was trying to just milk her out more, but I'm afraid that while I'm waiting for a culture to get back, and trying to just milk her out more often she will get worse and will get the walled off pockets of infection that staph causes. I just wasn't sure if I was doing too much or not enough. The vet thought just the Spectramast was okay and the Pennicillin wouldn't do anything if she doesn't have a fever, but from reading online, treating staph takes giving a systemic antibiotic to keep it from becoming systemic as well as an infusion. I'll try the dawn test on it this morning. Even when my other doe was really bad though, had a fever, lumpy udder and everything, she still barely slimed on the CMT. Thanks for the help, I'm feeling really lost!


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

I would start treating immediately. The earlier you catch it the better chance of it healing.

As you are treating, I would also give them both several vitamin Cs a day for a while, including several weeks after all symptoms of mastitis have subsided. Raw garlic is extremely beneficial. Warm peppermint compresses/massages to the udder are also quite helpful. You can also give them a bit of their own milk a day.

When my doe had mastitis, on top of the chemical treatment I gave her a drench three times a day of her own milk, medicinal grade cayenne, crushed garlic cloves, and some molasses to help it down.


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## Sweetpea8 (Jun 6, 2013)

Thanks, I did the dawn test yesterday and the milk reacted slightly on the one side and not on the other so we did start her on the antibiotics yesterday. We have been giving both of them crushed vit C pills and some echinacea/ goldenseal capsules and ACV too. The raw garlic I keep forgetting when I'm at the grocery store, but will try to remember today. The teat infusions are not going well, we're having a rough time getting a whole half of the tube in there, but her milk tasted better last night anyway. The doe with the mild infection I'm planning on giving the staph vaccine to after she finishes the antibiotics just in case it could help. Thanks!


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

Ah one thing, I don't know if I would feed back the milk while having infusions, forgot about that (I fed back the milk when I was treating herbally at first). 

Sorry about the teat infusions, I know they are a massive pain. Lots of vitamin C, fresh garlic, and compresses will help. I would also add tea tree oil to the compress ... that fights staph.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

You want to use a WHOLE tube on each side. Never reinsert the tip, it transmits bacteria.


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## Sweetpea8 (Jun 6, 2013)

Thanks for the tips! I am ordering the Lysigin vaccine today and will give her that when it comes, and her doeling when she turns 6 months old. Hopefully that will keep it at bay in our tiny herd!


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

For everyone who doesn't have it, I'd be giving them (except the boys) 1 vitamin C daily until several weeks after they freshened. Thank God, I started this right away and no one else got the mastitis.


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## Sweetpea8 (Jun 6, 2013)

Thanks! I'll hope it helps. I think the vet thinks they should all be culled, but if all else fails, we'll keep Lily and Makushlah, her little doeling as pets and give up on milking animals.


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## justspry (Feb 5, 2014)

Don't give up on milking animals my first one was a cow she got milk fever then ketosisi then mastisis then ecoli and ending up being put down . But now my goats I haven't had any problems yet and we love them  Taking a break is ok but don't give up on milking animals


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