Hello,
I have a small herd of 3 does and a wether. One doe was born here and the other 2 does and wether were purchased from breeders who health test and had clean herds. About a month ago my wether seemed a little quieter than usual, but was still eating well, passing normal stool and urinating normally. I looked him over and couldn't see anything so decided just to keep a close eye on him. He has seemed pretty normal since, only thing I noticed is that when I go in the barn sometimes I see him lying down, but he gets up immediately when he sees me. Yesterday I was trimming his feet and finally discovered the problem. He had an abscess right under one of his nipples, looked like he had developed half of a tiny udder. I brought him to the vets to have it drained because I was worried about the possibility of it being a contagious abscess. Was full of a smooth, toothpaste consistency pus that was almost a pale lime green in colour. Some of the pus at the end was a bit stringy. About the size of a small orange or tennis ball. We flushed it out really well with saline and then flushed with a chlorahexadene solution. He is now in the garage alone in a big dog crate because I am really scared that it could be CL. The vet was convinced that it was, but has limited experience with goats. I asked that a sample of the pus be sent to the lab for culture so that I will know for sure. Now here is where my tiny hope lies.... He is almost 2 years old and I have had him since he was 10 weeks old. He has only ever come into contact with my does. One doe is his half sister and was purchased at the same time as him, the other doe is from a different breeder but I have had her for 1.5 years now. I have never seen an abscess on any of the others and I am quite certain that I would have noticed. The does have left my property to be bred, but were bred to a buck from another health tested and clean herd. Again, no one had any signs of an abscess and no one was coughing. If one of the does had picked something up, shouldn't they be the ones forming an abscess? But they never have, so how would he have caught it? No neighbours have goats and there have not been any other ruminants on my property for at minimum 20 years. There are some deer around however, but the goats area is fenced with cattle panels.
I guess my question here is what do you guys think? And if he is positive, what are the chances that my does would be infected also? The abscess had not burst. Can CL just be picked up from the environment if there was no abscess to spread it? Could he have contracted CL when he was a young kid and not have shown any signs until now? Sorry, but this has me really upset and worried. Many thanks for any thoughts and advice!
Replies
I am half expecting that he will actually like the yoghurt. I will start giving him some today and will keep it up for a while after the injections are finished.
Many thanks for the knowledge and advice, I will let you know how it turns out.
As you said, it's normal skin bacteria. It's probably on your other goats too, but it's not a problem unless they get a wound. This is why an udder wound can have such terrible consequences. But even then, many goats wind up with scabs on their udder and never get mastitis.
Unless you have some type of long-acting penicillin that I have not heard of, giving a shot ever 48 hours sounds like you're breeding an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Penicillin is usually given every 12 to 24 hours at the longest, depending upon the dosage.
Yes, antibiotics kill good bacteria in the rumen, although most goats bounce back just fine. If you make homemade yogurt, you can give him that using a drenching syringe. I know my homemade yogurt has active cultures in it because it keeps growing when I make a new batch. I don't have that much faith in the stuff they sell on the shelf in the farm stores. There's no need to wait until you've finished giving the antibiotics.
Results came in from the lab today. The culture grew Trueperella pyogenes (Arcanobacterium) so the abscess was not CL. I am hugely relieved to say the least. I will be keeping him isolated until the abscess looks pretty well healed just to be on the safe side. From what I understand so far it looks like this bacteria is a normal flora on their skin that can sometimes be opportunistic if there is a wound. Seems as though it can cause all kinds of issues like mastitis and pneumonia also, which is quite concerning. Then again we are covered in staph, which can do something pretty nasty things too...but generally doesn't.
He has been receiving penicillin injections every 48 hours. Should I be worried about wiping out the bacteria in his rumen? Any suggested probiotics once the treatment is finished?
Thanks!
Sorry I just saw this post. It really frustrates me to hear that a vet is confident that something is CL without sending it to a lab. No one can tell whether it's CL or not unless it goes to a lab. So, I really hope your vet honored your wishes and sent it to a lab.
Goats can have internal abscesses, so yes, your other goats could have given it to him if they had internal abscesses, but this scenario is highly improbable. It's not impossible, but I would not be placing any bets on him being positive for CL.