This morning while milking Starlight, I found she had a lump on her udder in the rear, about half way between the top of the udder and her teats, very near the medial, but to the right. It's about the size of a marble, and there seem to be two much smaller swellings near it. No heat, no redness, and the rest of the udder is soft and nice. The side with the lump is also the side the twins are nursing off of the most. It is staying quite empty.
The milk seems fine, the kids are nursing, and I tested it this morning. Tested fine. I rubbed pepermint udder cream with an extra drop of pepermint oil in it onto her udder this morning.
I asked the vet about it today since I had to talk with him about something else, and he said it could be a broken blood vessel from her lactation starting. Keep an eye on it and keep testing to make sure it tests clear. If not, or it worsens, use Today.
My biggest question is, how does one use today, or any other teat infusion, with kids nursing? Hoping it doesn't come to that, but want to be prepared if it does.
It is complicated by the fact that this doe is on an antibiotic for a sinus infection right now, so that might interfere with the test giving a false negative.
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Thanks, Deborah. I appreciate so much both your advice, and your opinion that it doesn't sound like mastitis. :) I talked with Ann from Hoegger Supply when I was ordering. She talked me into the Bovi-Sera instead of Today, and also said it doesn't sound like mastitis. She said if it was, I should put the Bovi-Sera in the teat and tape it off, then get the kids to nurse on the other side if I could. The kids are pretty much only nursing on the side with the lumps, and not the other side. I am having to milk the one side out, while the twins share the other. Silly kids. :)
I sure hope she steered me in the right direction with the Bovi-Sera, and not the Today if I do end up needing something. Sounds like they have great results with it. She makes it sound like a miracle cure. lol!
I am not entirely sure how you use Today with kids nursing. We have only had four cases of mastitis here (3 goats, 1 sheep), and in every case, there were no babies nursing, so I didn't have to decide what to do. The medicine does come out in the milk for about 3-4 days. You can see it floating in the bucket of milk. It is "just" an antibiotic, so probably would not hurt the kids. The bigger issue is leaving the antibiotic in the udder long enough for it to have some effect. But it sounds like you have time to think about this. I've always said that if it happened to me, I'd call the company that makes it and ask them what they recommend.
Based upon what you've said, it really does not sound like she has mastitis. I would not worry about the antibiotic causing a false negative with the CMT. If she is on an antibiotic, and she has mastitis, it may be treating it, but it would not be causing a false negative reading. If you are really concerned, you could send the milk to a lab for a culture.