# Question about a breeding problem



## SilverSage (Feb 22, 2008)

I know, this is a packgoat forum, but I know a lot of you have a lot of does as well, so I thought I'd ask anyway.  I have a mixed breed doe that is 2 1/2 and a first freshener. She freshened in March and had a uterine infection that was, I think, my fault. Treated her for that and she seemed fine. She was also treated a few months later for subclinical staph in her udder. That was treated with Naxcel and Penn G both, I think, I'd have to go back and look for sure. In November, we moved. They are in adequate housing, but not what they were used to, it'll have to work for the winter though. The weather has been alternating warmish and then stinking cold. The first cold snap really lowered the milk production.

Ok, that's most of the history, I think, now to the problem. This doe has a history of silent heats. I never did see her in heat last year, but obviously the buck did. So I didn't think much of it when I didn't see anything this year, but in November, the week before we moved, she had a roaring heat cycle. Very goopy, buck obsessed, etc. I used that to guesstimate her cycles, wanting her bred in Dec. Put the buck in with her Dec 16, a little early for her calculated heat. There's been no sign of heat since the Nov cycle, that would have been the week before Nov. 13. Left the buck in with her for 2 weeks. She has another roaring heat cycle on Jan 2 & 3. Ok, so the buck goes back in for 3 days. She has another one 8 days later. Makes the other two obvious heat cycles look like nothing. After this last cycle, there have been no obvious signs, but she has a little discharge on and off. It's whitish looking, but dries to a yellowish. The dried stuff reminds me of pus. No fever, her milk production actually doubled since this last heat and no odor with the discharge that she is currently having.

She gets a couple flakes of alfalfa a day, free choice grass hay and has minerals and baking soda free choice.

Any ideas what is up with her? I would really, really like a doeling out of her before she decides to hang it up altogether, she has the BEST milk and is a good producer. Thanks for any help, and sorry for the looong post, but I know sometimes the history helps.


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

maybe her uterine infection has flared up again after breeding or the heat.

I would have a vet doing a blood analysis to check for infection/inflammation and maybe have a look at the discharge, too.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

She's short cycling which tells you she's having good heat cycles but the infection is preventing her from getting pregnant.


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## SilverSage (Feb 22, 2008)

How would I go about treating this again? Another round of antibiotics? I'd think with two rounds of Naxcel since freshening, another round wouldn't do any good. Is it just something that she'll never get rid of and she'll have to be put down?


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Hello,

if it's a recurring problem I don't think that you should work without a vet to help. Bloodwork should come first to determine IF there's in fact an infection present (no need to give antibiotics without cause) and then analysing the discharge for bacteria. A vet/lab can then run a resistance-test to determine which antibiotics will work and which won't, as well, and give you recommendations.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

You will need to run cultures and bloodwork. If she's worth breeding she's worth getting healthy. Like Sabine says, the only way to know which antibiotics will work is to find out what bugs are causing the infection. What works on one will not necessarily work on another.

If you've only used Naxcel it may not be responsive to that.


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