The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: jaykay on November 21, 2012, 07:59:23 am
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Ok, I knew I was tempting fate by saying that I didn't teat dip and hadn't ever had mastitis.
This morning Rowan has got it :-[
Her quarter is a bit hotter than the other one I think, but not hard, and she let me milk her though she wasn't overly happy about it. The milk is very bitty but it isn't discoloured and there's no blood or smell.
I've given her the sheep dose of Tetroxy long acting, intramuscularly, since that's what I had.
I'll ring the vet when they open, but what else can I do for her. Apart from teat dip, which I have done, with a Capriclense solution.
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Oh dear,
my vet gave an anti-inflammatary inj as well.
Would a warm/cool cloth held onto the area help soothe it, hopefully if it's not lumpy you've caught it early before it develops too badly and will clear quickly too.
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Oh no, I'm sorry jaykay :-*
If it's like cattle and sheep, then the more you can strip it out - right out - the better a chance of full recovery you'll have. Twice a day, at least, three or even four times if you can.
Keep it clean, of course - antiseptic after stripping, as you are doing. Vet may give you a/bs that you squirt up into the teat - of course you do this after stripping, and it's important to clean the end of the teat so you don't push nasties back into the teat with the nozzle of the a/b cream.
You'll have caught it really early, so :fc: she'll come right.
Thinking of you both and sending positive vibes :bouquet:
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Haven't experienced it in goats Jaykay but have experienced it personally with our first child (sorry don't mean to be silly) and the advice then was to do as Sally says and keep stripping it out and also to keep something warm there like a hot water bottle (if poss) eases the discomfort.
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I presume it's the same in goats as cows...... Strip it out twice a day and get some penicillin tubes from the vet to squirt in twice a day after its stripped out, she'll be good in a day or two :hug:
You'll probably have to dump the milk while she's being treated and for a day or two after, vet will advise anyway.
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Antibiotics aren't always necessary, if you catch it early enough. We used to (on a commercial dairy farm!) strip out every few hours, even during the night, and massage the quarter. If it didn't clear up within a day or so, we used the stuff to squirt into the teat.
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The vet has given me the squirty tubes and I've come home at lunchtime to strip her out and tube her. Apparently the Tetroxy is the right systemic ab to have given her, so that's one thing right.
It's stopped raining so she's taken herself up the ghyll grazing with Ellie, so it will depend whether or not she comes in when called - what's the betting she susses something is up!
Pleeaaaase let her be OK :fc: :-\
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:-* :hug:
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First strip-out and infusion done. Next one at 6-7pm, then midnight, then 6am when I'd normally milk her.
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I have never actually used the squirty tubes, only a/b, daily for 5 days. twice a day milking out, and I also gave my girl some vitamin C powder and increased doses of Caprivite. If she hasn't got a temperature and you can empty the udder out, it is probably only subclinical. Hopefully she will be ok in a few days.
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She's eating neat Caprivite and is still eating generally, though seems a bit sad. That might be because her 'friend' has turned on her and stuck needles into her. Poor love.
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I don't know about goats, as you know, but with cattle or sheep, the fact that she's running around up the ghyll, eating, and not just lying about moping, would be a very positive sign.
:fc: you caught it quickly enough for it not to cause lasting damage. She couldn't be in better hands, that's for sure! (Even though she may not feel that way right now... :-J)
You are both in my thoughts :-* :hug:
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Good to hear Jaykay, it's always such a stress, especially as you are at work and not able to keep an eye on her all day, sure she'll get her own back with the sharp bits though :D
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Just done the next one. Not too much heat there now and no hardness. Her poor quarter sounds squelchy though, with the antibiotic stuff in :P She is still eating, which is always a bonus with Rowan! :fc: :fc: :fc:
Thanks for all the good wishes :thumbsup:
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Hope all gets better soon..... Hope I didn't jinx you :fc:
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Hope she's better soon. I had a goat who often got mastitis. The first time was because the person I shared her with wouldn't finish milking if she (the goat) started moving around. After that, I had her to myself. I always managed to catch it quickly and used the tubes. Not easy to get them in situ though, so well done on managing it. I usually found that I would get it in then, before I had a chance to squeeze, she would kick it back out. She so hated the injections though, that I had to persevere with tubes.
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:hug: not nice to find.
Only experienced it in dogs and cats ( and myself ) and we strip it out as regularly as possible. It doesnt sound too bad if the area is still soft. check the skin stays pink . The area is friable so use plenty of lube to strip out gently as possible and clean the area then dry it.
This is assuming goats will be treated similarly.
In dogs and cats, because it's a short 6 weeks to weening the owners are advised to hand rear and the mother dried up once settled. With goats I am wondering if it it more like people, once the inflammation is cleared, you can use milk as usual. ( this is my questioning and curiosity JK, you probably know the answer ;) )
Thinking of you working through the night with her, hope it clears quickly :hug:
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I think we're winning (she says, cautiously and quietly, so as not to provoke the jinx again!)
One thing I want to ask the folk who've dealt with it before in goats - is it normal for the milk to dry up?
I know I'm stripping it out much more than my normal once a day, but I'd have said the milk production in that quarter was really down.
MS, the antibiotics have a withdrawal period - 6 days for the tube, the injectable says don't use in animals producing milk for human consumption (marvellous, hadn't read that yesterday morning) so I don't know.
A vet study says about 6 days for milk after LA oxytetracycline in dairy goats.
residues in milk after oxytetracycline use (http://www.farad.org/publications/digests/071997ExtralabelOxytetracycline.pdf)
Might be time to dry her off, get her mated and worry about it next year.
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I would say that it depends on the extent of damage - if it has been spotted early like you did jaykay, the milk would likely go down (infection in the mammary gland does not aid milk production!) but then come up again.
It also depends how long lactation had been so far, though. If she is many months away from her previous kidding, I'd say to expect the milk not to go back to the level it was before the mastitis.
Also re. withdrawal, if the label of your injectable says not to use in milk producing animals it means that it is likely stored in other tissues of the body and released later, with more or less amounts ending in the milk. If you are happy to use it after 6 days it is up to you, I would wait a month (30 days is average default withdrawal for medicines that do not report it on the label, unless recent studies prove otherwise).
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Re withdrawal period - the general advice from the Goat veterinary Association is a 7 day withdrawal for any medicine that is not licensed for use in goats. As there are so few and most sheep medicines have not been tested for milking animals that seems to work for most goatkeepers.
I have found that although the milk doesn't dry up with mastitis it is very diffficult to return to the amounts you had before. Each time I had it in my BT girl the overall milk yield was down a bit, once she recovered. This is even more marked on going into winter. I think all you can do is continue to milk her and see what she gives. I take it her kid(s) is/are weaned now, so it is only you who is taking the milk?
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Yes, just me and she wasn't giving a lot of milk. I'll see how she goes, I'm just a bit worried that if I dry her off I'll never get her going again.
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I would just keep milking her, even if she only gives a pint a day it will go up again in February - unless you think she is fit enough to be put back into kid? I normally run mine through after twins/triplets - and the GG girl is down to 1.7 ltrs by now. (If I wouldn't I would have even more goats.... ;) ).
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Mine always had less milk but it went back up afterwards although, as others have said, not to the same level. It's difficult at this time of year when yield is going down anyway but you may be able to run her through.
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Rowan's giving so little, even before this, that I don't think she'll milk through. It's her first kid/milking. She's also on the thin side (2.5 maybe, I prefer my goats to be 3-3.5 at this time of year) so I think I will keep milking til we get well past this and then dry her off so she can concentrate her resources on growing a kid. please let her only have a single this time.
Ellie, who is as fat as a house, can keep milking til she's a month off kidding, she needs to shed some of the weight she put on last year, eating for three and only producing one! :goat:
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Also re. withdrawal, if the label of your injectable says not to use in milk producing animals it means that it is likely stored in other tissues of the body and released later, with more or less amounts ending in the milk. If you are happy to use it after 6 days it is up to you, I would wait a month (30 days is average default withdrawal for medicines that do not report it on the label, unless recent studies prove otherwise).
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Re withdrawal period - the general advice from the Goat veterinary Association is a 7 day withdrawal for any medicine that is not licensed for use in goats. As there are so few and most sheep medicines have not been tested for milking animals that seems to work for most goatkeepers.
I agree it's a problem that not many sheep medicines have not been tested/licensed in goats, and that's where the vets will use the "cascade" to prescribe stuff that isn't licensed in goats (could be anything, even a human drug if there's no veterinary alternative).
However my point was that a drug that says "not licensed for milk producing animals" IT IS NOT the same as "not licensed for use in milking goats". It is not merely a species difference, it is a purpose, and if such milk was to be sold there would be big issues with law. As it is, i.e. milk for your own consumption, as I said it is up to the individual to decide how long to withdraw the milk. Unfortunately wasting milk is never pleasant but I think unwanted antibiotic residues are even less pleasant. If it was my goat I'd wait 30 days before using that milk again.
P.S. I hope that Rowan is on the mend anyway :) :bouquet:
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She does seem to be thanks, though she's not producing milk from that quarter still.
I've decided go for 10 days, on the basis of that veterinary study I linked to, which found that oxytetracycline residues in goats' milk were well below safety limits by that time.
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:thumbsup:
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Glad she's getting better :thumbsup: shame that her milk is poor :-\
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I'm just worried that if I don't get that quarter working again, it might not, ever. It doesn't matter otherwise, but if she has twins, she'll need it.
Early days yet :fc: I'm glad she seems well :)
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I'm just worried that if I don't get that quarter working again, it might not, ever. It doesn't matter otherwise, but if she has twins, she'll need it.
Early days yet :fc: I'm glad she seems well :)
Most likely that she has just shut up shop for the season so to speak - if that side is soft and no pain when you massage it, she (hopefully?) should be fine next time round? I would keep a very close eye and massage udder cream into it, as long as you are still taking milk from the other side. Nothing else you can do.
To my total surpise I found this autumn a couple of ewes with hard quarters after weaning - there were no external signs and their lambs were not significantly smaller than the others... but of course with sheep you can't go round and check udders every day... :-\ , so milder forms of mastitis can go unnoticed.