Hey there! Sorry to have taken so long to respond. (Things have been really busy at work lately, so I haven't been able to spend much time on the boards. Working my way back through today.)
Yes, I am a vet, and I do understand that most stuff used in goat medicine is used off label (frequently also known as extra-label). There is still a difference between extra-label and what I call "against-label." Some things are not labeled for use in goats - often just meaning that the company did not deem in worth their while to go through all the testing to get FDA approval for that drug in that species. After all, they have to juggle cost of the process versus likely income from that approval. So we don't have a lot of drugs that are labeled for sheep and goats. For something that is not banned for use in food animals, we can extrapolate from other species and use it "extra-label." Usually we'll give a longer withdrawal time to be safe, so that the owner avoids residue problems with meat or milk.
The difference here is for something that is actually banned for use in food animals. DMSO, gentocin, chloramphenicol, and bute are just a few examples. I can use those drugs freely in horses (though I still write "not for slaughter" when I dispense those drugs to horse owners - basically a CYA), but I am prohibited from using them in a food animal.
So for lumps on a client's food-producing animal, I recommend sticking a needle in it and aspirating to see if there is any pus. If yes, then I lance and drain the abscess, possibly also giving antibiotics if the animal has a fever. If not, then I recommend hotpacking twice daily for 15 minutes if tolerated.
Yep, I know that the DMSO works great, and I know that soem food animal clients get it and use it anyway, but it's illegal in food animals. Not my rule - that's the FDA's rule, because of residues in food going for humans. And I value my license.
Hope that clarifies things a bit.
