# Mastitis



## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

I recently had my first experience with mastitis. 3yo Saanen doe. Freshened late March. Been milking good all along. Something like three weeks ago she was "off". Didn't eat on the stand. Bummed out. She had a little temp, but not bad. This doe has been on the skinny side. I gave her some banamine and LA 200. Probios. B complex. for a few days and she got better, s l o w l y... Milk was down a little during this, but that seemed par for the course. Since I really don't need the milk and she is so skinny, I decided to start drying her up. Wormed her. Started only milking her half out. About this time I noticed one side didn't seem to have as much milk as the other. I blamed that on a doeling stealing off her. A week goes by and she's pretty much her old self. Still a little less pressure in the one quarter. Then last week, "bam" sick as heck. 106 degrees. This is how stupid I am. I figure I used LA 200 last time so go back to that. Two days go by and she is not better. I'm giving banamine twice a day just to keep her going. B1 in case she tries to get polio and probios to keep her gut working. I even drenched with bounce back electros to get fluid and dextrose in her. It kept her alive, but she was not getting better. STill very high temp in between banamines. Now I figure she's going to die if I don't figure something out, so I switch to Nuflor. The next morning she is noticably better. Temp down. Wants some feed. I hadn't milked her since she got sick again because I didn't want to pull anymore fluids out of her and like I said, I was wanting to dry her up. So anyway, I got her on the stand and she's got some milk again so I go to milk her. The milk coming out of her right quarter is a little thick and definitely a strange color. Sort of greenish brown. NOW it finally dawns on me. Man I'm kicking myself. So then I panic and run to the vet and buy some "Today" and infuse both sides. Oops... should have taken a sample. Did I mention this was my first mastitis? I followed up with the "Today" for three days and Nuflor for a total of five days. Then I infused with "Tomorrow". What ever it was it must have been susceptible to Nuflor. I have since read Pen G is the drug of choice, but hey.. 
Here's the deal. That right side still does not fill up with milk like the other side does. The udder was never congested or even felt "hot". The teat always worked fine. No blood or clots. I'm curious what you folk think about the prognosis of this doe's udder next year. Will the effected side be OK?


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## RandomGoats (Sep 14, 2012)

It sounds like there has been some tissue damage in there and as it heals the dead stuff in there kinda comes out and when it pulls off it bleeds a bit, thus the clots. But since there has been tissue damage and the milk production is down I would guess she wont produce as well on that side in the future. My experience with mastitis is to keep the doe in milk to keep flushing any infected milk out for at least a month after the mastitis and then to dry up. When you dry her up I would put a tube of tomorrow in and then leave her until next freshening unless she get a temp again or the udder does start to swell or somthing. 

Good job getting her through it!!


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

With no clots or blood, off milk only. I think that you did good and she will be fine. Even though you got the infection cleared there is a chance she will freshen with mastitis because off drying off. I personally would infuse with Tomorrow every 30 days through her dry period so that she has antibiotic in her udder the whole time until she freshens again. I would also be extra careful to make sure that she is emptied out daily right from the beginning of her next freshening. You might research Lysigin vaccines and see if you feel it would help her. I know several people including myself that use them to good effect on does.


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## Ozark Lady (Sep 13, 2011)

I don't think that anyone can do more than make an educated guess about the future.
I have had goats come up with mastitis and they freshened fine the next year. I have had goats that ripped their udders from top to bottom, and milk just dumped out the side... and amazingly the udder healed and the milk was fine next year with little scarring even.
I should think the odds are in your favor that the goat will milk fine next year. If you are really exacting and weighing the milk, it may be down a few ounces, but in general, she should make a recovery.
However, there is always the chance that more damage was done that you expected...
I have heard of goats losing one whole half the udder to that deadly mastitis, can't think of the name of it, anyhow, the goat lived and milked fine with just half an udder.
The question might be: Do you have her for show, in which case any down could be bad... or do you have her for companion and household milk? If this is her first time to get mastitis, I would just take good care of her in the off season, and hope for the best. If she is a repeat mastitis goat, then I would have her tested for other chronic diseases.
If you don't feed your goats sunflower seeds, I would suggest adding some to their diet. Particularly if you live where copper is depleted from the soil, as I am. And you will be amazed how that small addition to their feed will prevent issues. I only feed about a handful per day in the ration and have seen a big change in my goats demeanor. I know it sounds odd, but you could be amazed at the difference. Why not prevent problems? It isn't a cure-all, end-all, but it is a good thing!


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

goathiker said:


> With no clots or blood, off milk only. I think that you did good and she will be fine. Even though you got the infection cleared there is a chance she will freshen with mastitis because off drying off. I personally would infuse with Tomorrow every 30 days through her dry period so that she has antibiotic in her udder the whole time until she freshens again. I would also be extra careful to make sure that she is emptied out daily right from the beginning of her next freshening. You might research Lysigin vaccines and see if you feel it would help her. I know several people including myself that use them to good effect on does.


 That sounds like good advise, Goathiker. If I infuse her again with Tomorrow 30 days from now, do you try to milk out anything in her udder before you do it? Assuming I get her bred back, when would you vaccinate with the Lysigin?


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