What does mastitis look ,or feel, like?

[Angie]

I have a doe that kidded 1 week ago. Kids are all healthy and nursing well. She acted strange this morning. She wasn't really interested in her grain. Her udder has a line that feels a little harder than the rest of her udder. It is close to the middle of the udder. Could this be mastitis? I haven't wormed her yet cause the only wormer I have at the house of Safegaurd and someone said not to use that but to use Ivermectrin and I haven't been to the store to get it. Could she maybe need wormed? I have never had a problem with worms or mastitis and my other does are fine.

[hoofinitnorth]

That line, if I am understanding your description, is her medial ligament. You WANT to feel that! From what you wrote, I can't tell you if she has mastitis, though.

[Alice In TX/MO]

If you haven't wormed her, yes, you should. The worms go into a reproductive mode when the doe kids and her system is vulnerable.

When I had mastitis, my breast was hard and hot. You could feel the edges of the infected area as a hard mass, compared to normal breast tissue.

That's all I know.

[AnnaS]

Mastitis can take many forms. Sometimes there are obvious symptoms, like clotted or bloody milk, or a hot painful udder. A doe can also have an udder infection and have no symptoms at all and normal looking milk. Hard areas in the udder can also indicate CAE infection.

If the kids have been doing all the milking, milk her a little yourself and look for clumps, blood, or flakes. Squirt some milk on a dark, smooth surface and tilt the milk so it runs off.

Does she have a temp? If she is refusing grain because she has a systemic infection and feels sick, she'll have a temp.

Not wanting to eat is a problem. A doe has to really feel ill to refuse grain. There are several problems that a fresh doe can have that would cause her to go off feed. Milk fever and ketosis (ketonemia) come to mind.

Ketosis is diagnosed by testing urine with ketosis strips or powder and treated with propylene glycol. I would treat any newly fresh doe who was not very hungry with p.g. and a CMPK drench. Both should be available at a feed store or vet, and neither will do her any harm.

[Angie]

She seems to be doing better now. I have been miliing her. I have kept the milk from her in the fridge and today I went to pour it out and at the bottom it looked like there may have been some blood in it that settled to the bottom of the container. What does this mean and what do you do for mastitis if it is that?