Mastitis and Udder loss

[cindyg]

Kind of a long story...ND doe kidded twins in September, nursed them with no problem, I milked her from the time they were two weeks old, twice a day after they left. Lots of milk. I use a hand pump suction milker, noticed decrease from left side, over two or three days, then nothing from that side using the suction pump. Hand milked, found that udder was "pulpy" and with effort I was getting clumps and strings. Right side fine. So, over the next several days I warm massaged and milked out the left side till nothing else came out, udder was shrunk to non milk size. All the time, still milking fine from the right side. Decided to dry her off as I hate milking in the winter anyway, obviously did it too abruptly as a few days after no milking, right udder is still large so I went to milk it down a bit, oh oh, pulpy, squishy, clumps and strings coming out. Smelled very yeasty as well. Back to the warm massage and milking but then came out a few mornings later to find her obviously not feeling well, not eating, not getting up. Ok, called the vet out. Vet milked out bloody stuff, first time for that, yeecchhh! Still smelling yeasty. Five days of antibiotics, pain killer and Newcell and continued massage and emptying. Lots of bloody "milk" On the third day of this, doe is up and around, eating and hollering to get out of the isolation stall. So, a few days after meds were done, I went away for a long weekend, figuring she was good, and husband does a lot but massaging udders not his thing. When I got back a week ago, she seemed good, back to normal. Few days ago, I looked at her and her udder just didn't look right, tried to get a good look but she is having none of it so let it go. Yesterday, looking again, it appears that the udder is detaching itself??!!! What the....? Have a call into the vet, am not going to even try to get at it till he arrives, but what I can see looks cream/yellow colour. Will take some pics later as well. Doe is acting normally. Will be interesting to hear what vet thinks. Any ideas from the goaties here?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I hope that's not what is happening with your goat. There is a great thread on here that goes through the whole process. It posts lots of pictures all the way through and they are graphic, but very informative and educational.

http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/graphic-picture-warning.29193/

 

[Southern by choice]

BlueMoon decided to go through the whole process and I admire her for it! We ended up having Bluebag with a Kiko doe... we have never dealt with any form of mastitis... even with abntibiotics, and fever reducer/painkillers she did not and was not going to do well through it. Her temp would spike right back up after the shot would wear off.
5 days of watching her suffer and try to take care of kids and despite all our efforts she just wasn't going to do well. We euthanized her and had a necrospy. For us 1/2 udder on a kiko that raises twins and trips to healthy wean weights just wasn't going to be an option. We would have just had it removed and made a pet out of her but truly she just wouldn't respond to treatments, fever spiking up and down to 107 agony of constant injections and milking out. It was very sad.

Sounds like your girl is responding and doing better. The udder will slough off.
The link is a great read and so glad @BlueMoonFarms shared it with all of BYH! Very helpful.

I hope all goes well for you.

 

[cindyg]

Wow, just read BlueMoon's thread, and yep, that's what is happening with Patsy. Vet says to leave it to come off on it's own, the weight of it is helping that process and then to just keep it clean till it heals up. It is certainly gross, but no smell thank heavens, that always gets me. Lucky to be happening now, in the cold as no flies to contend with. Could have been an injury, could have been the milker I was using (that I certainly won't be using anymore!), no way to know what started it, but now that I think back I recall her teat and udder being cold, had I only realized. Hopefully, she will produce again on the other side so she can have more babies but I am just happy that it won't kill her. She's my first goat, got her when she was two weeks old. Pics aren't the best but I will be taking more. Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Wow, just read BlueMoon's thread, and yep, that's what is happening with Patsy. Vet says to leave it to come off on it's own, the weight of it is helping that process and then to just keep it clean till it heals up. It is certainly gross, but no smell thank heavens, that always gets me. Lucky to be happening now, in the cold as no flies to contend with. Could have been an injury, could have been the milker I was using (that I certainly won't be using anymore!), no way to know what started it, but now that I think back I recall her teat and udder being cold, had I only realized. Hopefully, she will produce again on the other side so she can have more babies but I am just happy that it won't kill her. She's my first goat, got her when she was two weeks old. Pics aren't the best but I will be taking more. Thanks for the info everyone.
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Yup that's what happened to Anne, just keep an eye on it, she should heal up fine as long as shes eating and drinking which it sounds like she is Feel lucky you cant smell that nasty mess. It wasn't pleasant.
Best of luck with her!

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I agree with the above posts.

I'm curios, what type of milker did you use? Udder wash? Teat dip?

 

[cindyg]

The milker has a hand pump with a pressure gauge, then the "teat cup" was from a large syringe, connected with plastic tubing to the top of the mason jar, so you fit the cup over the teat and just pump. I always wash the udder first with a soap/bleach/warm water solution and again after milking. Vet says I may have pumped too hard, but also it may have started with just a bruise, even the kids bumping too hard. I've milked all my girls with this contraption, and this is the first time we've had any trouble. I will go back to hand milking. I believe I found a piece of her udder in the barnyard today, had company and didn't want to draw their attention to it (my daughter is extremely squeamish about stuff like this) so I will go out tomorrow and examine it more closely. The doe is acting totally normally, doesn't seem to bother her at all now, although she is not easy to get a good look at, she knows that I want to examine her and keeps her distance. Will put her up on the milk stand tomorrow for a good look.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Really sorry you are dealing with this. Looks bad.

 

[cindyg]

A quick update,, she has dropped the udder, just a small wound left, and it is healing up nicely. It happened while we were away over Christmas, so don't know where it ended up, not anywhere obvious that I could see it and get rid of it but the doe is totally back to her normal bossy self. Will be interesting when she kids in the spring to see what happens.

 

[Southern by choice]

Glad she is doing well!