# Nursing babies and Mastitis................



## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

Question..........I don't know for sure, but it appears that a set of triplets are nursing a doe that isn't their mother. They nurse their mother also, but looks like they have been on the other doe. The doe that isn't their mother has mastitis. If they nurse her, then go nurse their mother, can they make their mother get mastitis??? I can separate the mother and her triplets if that's what needs to be done. I'm going to use the "Today" treatment this evening and again in the morning. There's no clumps or strings, I just notice that some blood settles in the bottom of the jugs after being in the fridge for a day. Also, when milking, she seems to get very impatient when getting almost finished. Particularly on one side. Almost like it hurts her.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Is she a recent freshener? First freshener? 

With no strings, clumps, or weird stuff, I'd not assume mastitis. A goat new to milking may burst small capillaries as her udder expands.

Do a mastitis test before treating.


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

She freshened on Feb. 27, almost 6 weeks ago. She is a 2nd freshener.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I'd take a clean sample, freeze it, mail it to LSU's mastitis clinic on Monday. See instructions on the sticky at the top of the main goat page.


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

She needs Vitamin C 1/2 tsp. twice a day to strengthen capilaries and help immune system. A couple capsules of E once a week. 
Taste each side to see if one is different than the other.
The doe kids can pick up Staph Mastitis from infected does and they can freshen with Staph Mastitis themselves. Lysignin vaccination before they freshen can help prevent this.
Another tip, Tomorrow has 1/3 more antibiotic so with our goats fast metabolism this is a better treatment. Like Alice said she may not have mastitis. She may be congested. Possibly a bruise from bashing by another goat if this came on recently. 
Has she had the blood from the start of freshening?


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## saanengirl (Apr 7, 2009)

To answer your question, IF kids are nursing more than one doe, and IF one doe has mastitis, YES, the mastitis organism can be transmitted via the kids' mouths. I think that people have raised appropriate questions about whether or not your doe has mastitis.


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

She has not had blood since the start of freshening. She freshened on Feb. 27. On March 11,12 & 13, I was out of town and had a farm sitter- which was my neice. Everything was fine before I left and I returned home to pink milk and blood. My husband and I are almost certain that she milked too high up on the udder. Our fault as we forgot to tell her not to. When I returned home, I called a local mentor and told him all about the situation and how she had milked a little over 6#'s the morning of March 11 (right before I left) and then a few days later that amount dropped (almost in half). He suggested I give her the "Today" as the "Tomorrow" will cause them to dry up. She didn't have any lumps or clumps or strings then or now. Then the milk was actually pink. Now, the milk isn't pink but the blood settles in the bottom of jug.


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## saanengirl (Apr 7, 2009)

It sounds like your goat has udder damage, but not mastitis. The udder damage was probably caused by improper milking, as you have noted, and is probably responsible for the drop in production.


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

What do I do for udder damage?


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

It's best not to treat unnecessarily for mastitis. A bad bacteria could be introduced. It does sound like the farm sitter wasn't milking properly since it coincided. 
Dairy Goat Info site recommends Tomorrow, for a bigger punch, for treatment, but ideally a culture is taken and appropriate infusion is used and it may need a veterinarian prescription. Today or Tomorrow may not work. 
Unless the udder gets hot and inflammed, the doe is running a temperature I'd let her heal for awhile and the C works wonders for bleeding like this. 
It's a fallicy that Tomorrow causes an udder to dry up. If an udder dried up it was from not treating it with a bacteria specific infusion. Staph Mastitis can make an udder just quit functioning.
Another thing, your doe may just go backup in production in a few days. My does fluctuate up and down with their heat cycle even though this time of year it is more of a silent type heat.
It may very well be just one side that is bleeding a little, if it is an even drop in production on both sides, it could just be a normal fluctuation. Milk out each side and compare the production.


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

Can you get Vitamin C in liquid form? Or rather to give in shots or just down the throat? I tried giving her some in pill form when I came home from the trip and she took a few but wouldn't take any more. Any suggestions on getting some in her?


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

We've just been milking her once of the morning. Is that a no-no? Should we milk twice a day? Could that be why she has blood in her milk?


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

I use Jello instant pudding as a paste carrier for a lot of things, for my goats. Which makes everything palatable. This is put in a feeding syringe. An 1/8 th of a cup of pudding to 1/2 tsp. C. Add about 4 capsules of E with it for the first dose. Then C again in 12 hours. Of course make sure the C is in powder form before mixing in the pudding. do this every 12 hours. No E after the first dose. Dose E one or two caps in a week. I give E regularly, especially when in heat. 
A doe is better off milking especially if there is possible mastitis, which your doe probably doesn't have. Milking twice a day is the best and will encourage production. 

As a side note, with mastitis, always think flushing, rinsing the udder out to remove toxins from the toxic bacteria. So milking like 4 times a day is recommended to cleanse the udder. Production should be encouraged to do this.


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## bknthesdle (Mar 27, 2011)

What does the Tomorrow do? A vet told us to use in on a cow that wouldn't take her calf. I wondered now that I have a bottle calf if I could milk her out even after giving her Tomorrow over a week ago?


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I once had a doe who gave birth to a "buckling" who was hard on her udder. Just strengthen it with the C & E and she will probably be fine.


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

bknthesdle-The cow needs milked out twice a day like a goat. The Tomorrow is to prevent bacterial infection in a dry cow, left in till she freshens again. It is stronger than Today. It will be ok to use it in a lactating cow. If the cow just had a baby she needs milked to prevent overfilling and the Today or Tomorrow is infused after each milking so a few tubes are needed for about 2 days worth. If the udder is hot and painful then she may have an infection and it may be too painful for the calf to nurse. If the vet didn't see the cow or test for mastitis infection he is guessing. If she has mastitis milking will cleanse the bacteria out, it's a mistake to dry up an udder with mastitis.


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## bknthesdle (Mar 27, 2011)

Wow! We called a vet and they suggested Tomorrow to DRY up her bag. I can't believe they didn't tell us the correct usage of it. So any milk we could still get off of her would be good? Like I said, it was over a week ago that we treated her and turned her out to pasture. Will be letting the hubby know when he gets home. There was a fire in town and he is on the volunteer dept.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Both Today and Tomorrow are antibiotics. The carrier is peanut oil.

Today: Each 10 ml syringe contains 200 mg of cephapirin activity as cephapirin sodium. Cephapirin is bactericidal to susceptible organisms; it is known to be highly active against Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus including strains resistant to penicillin.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/cefa-lak.html

Tomorrow: Each 10 ml syringe contains300 mg Cephapirin activity as cephapirin benzathine. This prolonged activity is due to the low solubility of the cephapirin benzathine and to the slow release gel base. ToMORROW provides a wide range of bactericidal activity against gram-positive and gram-negative organisms.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/tomorrow.html

ALL either med does is deliver an antibiotic to the udder. It is CRITICALLY important to read and follow instructions for their use, or you will introduce MORE bacteria into the udder.


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

You need to get a different vet Bknthesdl. Your vet is incompetant, if not a complete quack. Please do some research on treating mastitis. A sample needs taken before treatment of infusion. I would start milking her, she's probably on her way to drying up but you may be able to turn her around. Like I said she may not even have mastitis. But either way it's best to milk, especially if you need the milk. Only one quarter may be infected, no need to infuse all four quarters and waste money. Really lots of internet studying is needed and a good vet.


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