I always try to lock the dogs up when I go out to do the chores because the dogs like to be in the middle of everything, and Indiana doesn't like them and they don't like her. This morning we had a fairly usual morning, but when David came out he let the dogs out. As I was getting Indiana back to the pen there was a little run in with one of the dogs. It was a face to face and was really short maybe 10 seconds. But this afternoon I thought I noticed in passing something on Indiana's rear udder. This evening when I got a closer look on the milk stand, turns out there was something. It looks a little piece of skin came partially off in the center of the rear udder but was not bleeding, and she didn't seem bothered by me examining. When I started milking the left side I felt something odd and I saw some clots come out in the strip cup and then into the bucket. The right side seemed normal. She only milked about half of what she normally does. She let me milk both sides without any protest, but as I put her back in the pen I noticed the left side seemed to be hanging a little lower than the right...Maybe I just didn't get all the milk from the left? --I gave her some penicillin to prevent infection. While she was on the stand I tried to milk a little more out of the left and she has a lot of little clots coming down with the milk and it is blocking the orifice. It does not seem to be hurting her, but I don't want to injure her further by milking the left.
Any advice?
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Sorry to add it to this one! I searched on the top bar for mastitis as this is what came up. Thank you for the info. Very interesting about holding onto the milk. Elly seems fine apart from looking totally offended that I milked her! I am going to have my lunch today in the goat house so I can keep an eye on her and make sure the kids are feeding.
I hope one day once I have gained more knowledge I will be able to answer someones questions rather than asking so many! ;-)
Since you attached this to a message about blood in milk, I am wondering if you are seeing blood in milk? If so, that could be that the kids did something to damage the udder/teats, and it should clear up fairly soon on its own. If the CMT is not getting thicker, it is probably not mastitis.
If it is only the upper part of the udder that feels somewhat "hard," it could just be that her udder isn't emptying, which is normal. A lot of does that have kids on them can be a challenge to milk. They can hold the milk in the upper part of their udder, so it doesn't get soft when you milk them ... sometimes, most of the time, or all of the time, depending upon the doe. The more you milk them, the better they get an letting down their milk for you. Mastitis is typically on one side or both, and the whole udder, top to bottom, is hard, lumpy, and HOT.
Sorry more to add to this! Have been out and milked her! Not great for Elly, she worked out that feed in the bowl meant getting on the milk stand which was not pretty! I had to lift her up and she was not falling for it a second time. So I have milked her, actually went o.k once I got going, and done the paddle test nothing seemed to go like jelly and it all remained like water. What seems odd is her udder feels hard but also seems to be smaller in size. I think it is actually getting smaller, hope all this makes sense! When I compare her to Eva our FF it really is small. Any thoughts on this.
Quick question on Mastitis! Have just gone out to the goat house and have just noticed that Elly has a swollen udder & teat, it was not like this last night swelling is at the top of the udder. We are not miking her and the kids are still on her. They are coming up for 3 weeks old. I managed to get her up on the milking stand she is 4 years old and has never been milked. I put grain in bucket and had a little go of milking her. I stopped as the udder feels warm and hard in the top section, so by what I am reading I think she has mastitis. Have called the vet to see what I should do, as my goat book does not say how to actually cure it!
Any advice? What should I be giving her? Dosage amounts? Will the drugs effect the kids, and by what I am reading I understand that I need to go and milk her out. What do you do with the milk? As I think it will be an age before the vet gets back to me!
As ever fire away with all your great advice.
P.S Just spoke with a farmer friend and he also mentioned it could be bruising if the kids are bumping up on the udder is this possible too?
I discussed it with the vet this afternoon, and he wants me to continue the injections another 3 days and cut her entirely off from grain. Even though she isn't getting much he thinks that is what is causing it. I will prune the trees since the leaves are coming in and give her that, which she will have to share with Indiana. I am a tad worried about her milk production, and, quite frankly, my trees, if I have to do this long term I am wondering if there is something else I can do...
Is Isabel doing anything other than stargazing? Are you sure it's goat polio? If that's her only symptom, it's probably nothing. Just curious because some goats stargaze ... just because it's what they do. If she seems healthy in every other way, she's probably fine. What you're describing doesn't sound like what I've heard other people describe when their goats had it. Just keep in mind that your vet is only reacting to what you tell him, and many of them over-react because animal can't talk. When I got my first goats, the first three times I called the vet, they told me to give the goat a shot of penicillin -- for something that was completely normal. They were just recommending it because they thought it would make me feel better.
As for the penicillin, I personally don't consume milk from an animal that was treated with any medication for about two weeks. The bottle might say what the milk withdrawal time is. I think it's fairly short -- like five days or something.
alright!! Tomorrow is Indiana's last Penn shot. She has done really well on it and the test today was negative. My question is, how long do you think the Penicillin will stay in her system, and when would you guess it would be safe to drink the milk again?
an update on Isabel: I changed the hay, moved the pen, and knocked her back to two cups of the mix once a day which she shares with the boys. She did not seem to be responding to the vitamin B injections and her stargazing was really quite frequent so I began giving her more frequent injections ( about every 4 hours, as is suggested for goat polio), and finally today (day 3) I saw a marked improvement. If shes still doing it tomorrow I will call the vet to see what the next course of action should be. I am going to start milking her again in the next couple of days once I get the boys into their own pen, at which time she will only get the mix on the milk stand, and only as much as it takes for me to get done milking. her.
otherwise all my goats are their normal selves God willing, we won't have anymore incidents for a while. Also. Funny thing, I ordered one box of Today from Jeffers and they only charged me for one, but they sent me an entire case. LOL I am sending 11 boxes back @ their expense of course. One box comes with 12 syringes which could treat as many as 6 goats at the suggested dose. The box that I got expires march 2014. So yes, it could be worth keeping on hand, to be used right away in the event one gets a positive CMT result.
I recently read a story about a goat who produced a gallon of milk twice a day, and her udder was quite near dragging. They had to use one of those on her.
Once she is over the mastitis, her production should go back to where it was before, provided she doesn't wind up with chronic mastitis. But since the penn seems to be helping, I'd expect her to be in good shape in a couple days.
Adrienne said:
Indiana ( Mastitis) has had 3 consecutive milkings without any clots. As a 4* doe I know she is capable of producing more but I was not very good at milking in the start so all she has is 2lbs Do you think her production will go back up to 2lbs a day or should I let her dry off and try again when she kids in October? Surly the next one will be better now that I have some experience.
Deborah, Dragging, unsupported udders... that's pretty much what everything I could find said... and I've also seen some made to keep kids from nursing, but I can't think of a good search phrase to try and find the photos!!The link I gave was the "best" photo I could find!! How sad is THAT?
Replies
Sorry to add it to this one! I searched on the top bar for mastitis as this is what came up. Thank you for the info. Very interesting about holding onto the milk. Elly seems fine apart from looking totally offended that I milked her! I am going to have my lunch today in the goat house so I can keep an eye on her and make sure the kids are feeding.
I hope one day once I have gained more knowledge I will be able to answer someones questions rather than asking so many! ;-)
Since you attached this to a message about blood in milk, I am wondering if you are seeing blood in milk? If so, that could be that the kids did something to damage the udder/teats, and it should clear up fairly soon on its own. If the CMT is not getting thicker, it is probably not mastitis.
If it is only the upper part of the udder that feels somewhat "hard," it could just be that her udder isn't emptying, which is normal. A lot of does that have kids on them can be a challenge to milk. They can hold the milk in the upper part of their udder, so it doesn't get soft when you milk them ... sometimes, most of the time, or all of the time, depending upon the doe. The more you milk them, the better they get an letting down their milk for you. Mastitis is typically on one side or both, and the whole udder, top to bottom, is hard, lumpy, and HOT.
Sorry more to add to this! Have been out and milked her! Not great for Elly, she worked out that feed in the bowl meant getting on the milk stand which was not pretty! I had to lift her up and she was not falling for it a second time. So I have milked her, actually went o.k once I got going, and done the paddle test nothing seemed to go like jelly and it all remained like water. What seems odd is her udder feels hard but also seems to be smaller in size. I think it is actually getting smaller, hope all this makes sense! When I compare her to Eva our FF it really is small. Any thoughts on this.
Quick question on Mastitis! Have just gone out to the goat house and have just noticed that Elly has a swollen udder & teat, it was not like this last night swelling is at the top of the udder. We are not miking her and the kids are still on her. They are coming up for 3 weeks old. I managed to get her up on the milking stand she is 4 years old and has never been milked. I put grain in bucket and had a little go of milking her. I stopped as the udder feels warm and hard in the top section, so by what I am reading I think she has mastitis. Have called the vet to see what I should do, as my goat book does not say how to actually cure it!
Any advice? What should I be giving her? Dosage amounts? Will the drugs effect the kids, and by what I am reading I understand that I need to go and milk her out. What do you do with the milk? As I think it will be an age before the vet gets back to me!
As ever fire away with all your great advice.
P.S Just spoke with a farmer friend and he also mentioned it could be bruising if the kids are bumping up on the udder is this possible too?
Is Isabel doing anything other than stargazing? Are you sure it's goat polio? If that's her only symptom, it's probably nothing. Just curious because some goats stargaze ... just because it's what they do. If she seems healthy in every other way, she's probably fine. What you're describing doesn't sound like what I've heard other people describe when their goats had it. Just keep in mind that your vet is only reacting to what you tell him, and many of them over-react because animal can't talk. When I got my first goats, the first three times I called the vet, they told me to give the goat a shot of penicillin -- for something that was completely normal. They were just recommending it because they thought it would make me feel better.
As for the penicillin, I personally don't consume milk from an animal that was treated with any medication for about two weeks. The bottle might say what the milk withdrawal time is. I think it's fairly short -- like five days or something.
alright!! Tomorrow is Indiana's last Penn shot. She has done really well on it and the test today was negative. My question is, how long do you think the Penicillin will stay in her system, and when would you guess it would be safe to drink the milk again?
an update on Isabel: I changed the hay, moved the pen, and knocked her back to two cups of the mix once a day which she shares with the boys. She did not seem to be responding to the vitamin B injections and her stargazing was really quite frequent so I began giving her more frequent injections ( about every 4 hours, as is suggested for goat polio), and finally today (day 3) I saw a marked improvement. If shes still doing it tomorrow I will call the vet to see what the next course of action should be. I am going to start milking her again in the next couple of days once I get the boys into their own pen, at which time she will only get the mix on the milk stand, and only as much as it takes for me to get done milking. her.
otherwise all my goats are their normal selves God willing, we won't have anymore incidents for a while. Also. Funny thing, I ordered one box of Today from Jeffers and they only charged me for one, but they sent me an entire case. LOL I am sending 11 boxes back @ their expense of course. One box comes with 12 syringes which could treat as many as 6 goats at the suggested dose. The box that I got expires march 2014. So yes, it could be worth keeping on hand, to be used right away in the event one gets a positive CMT result.
Adrienne said:
Deborah, Dragging, unsupported udders... that's pretty much what everything I could find said... and I've also seen some made to keep kids from nursing, but I can't think of a good search phrase to try and find the photos!!The link I gave was the "best" photo I could find!! How sad is THAT?
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