[ScotsGirl]

i have a dairy goat going to a pet home next week as she developed mastitis and I don't want to breed from her again. My question is whether to leave the udder alone now of continue to treat in some way. The vet was a bit vague.


I was on top of it until I ended up in hospital. Anyway long story short, good side dry and bad side not hot but feels hard. I notice a couple of spots on the glands which have scabbed so presume some sort of abscess which has dried up? I squeezed out all the 'cottage cheese' and continued to empty over several days until as clear as I could get. Gave alamycin and massaged with udder mint.


If I massage I can squeeze more gunk out but don't know if I should just leave it now. She is happy in herself.  Also I have another girl who has always had a lopsided udder and the big side still has a full teat though udder dry. Should I empty that or just leave?

[Anke]

If she has still gunk in the affected half she will still be at risk - is she likely to come into milk without kidding next spring? Mammary tube may be a way forward, but if this is a long-standing problem and renders the goat a non-breeder I -personally, please don't be offended -would have her pts.

Does the new owner have experience wrt to treating with AB's and knows s/he is taking on a possible vet-regular goat?

The other goat - depends on how the "full" side feels - if soft and not hard/sore I would leave and monitor. If more milk produced easing her out a few more times may be necessary. Also cutting out concentrates will help of course.

[ScotsGirl]

I do not expect this goat to come back into milk. I've never known milk dry up so quick! I did explain why I was re-homing otherwise like you say the freezer was beckoning. My Togg has always had a strange udder and mastitis in the past but I thought last year it dried right up. This year I emptied the teat but it filled. Very soft and no heat or looking sinister. I did wonder if one of the kids from other doe was maybe trying to drink and she seemed to adopt one of the kids.


I can keep on massaging and draining but didn't want to encourage production of more infected milk. It's more like runny condensed milk now.

[Anke]

If she won't come into milk without kidding again then you maybe want to look into tubes to squirt a long-acting AB directly into affected quarter. Maybe also worth discussing this with an experienced vet - I have no idea what the chances are of mastitis (re)developing in a dry udder or if any infection is "sealed" in-situ...

I am just discussing this with my vet as I have one of my BT's (a few weeks in-kid) still being milked atm, but down with mastitis and very little milk - so I am cutting down her concentrates (slowly), milk her out twice a day until milk is clear (it wasn't gunk in her udder, just thick and slightly non-white) and she has finished her AB's, then reduce milking as per usual until I think that's the last milking and then get vet to insert mammary tubes... well that's the plan.

Difficult situation all round....