Lump in udder getting bigger...

[MamaDee]

I've been watching/feeling a lump in my Kinder doe's udder for a couple of weeks now.

She freshened in February and has been milked regularly since a week after birth. She has never had a congested udder, no problems with pulgged ducts, no hard areas at all. She is 8 years old. She seems otherwise healthy and her milk production hasn't dropped. The rest of the udder seems unaffected.

The lump is on the back side of her udder right in the middle. It's about half way up from the teats toward the tail--right in the middle. It's just under the skin. It started out feeling like a marble--about that size and hard. It is now about walnut size and still hard. It doesn't seem to hurt her to touch or massage it.

The only things I know of are a plugged milk duct, in which case wouldn't the rest of the udder feel hard or warm? Or wouldn't her milk production drop? Also it's right in the middle--not on one side of the udder.

The other thing is CL. But wouldn't that lump feel softer?

I'm worried b/c of her age that it might be something like a cyst or tumor? What other things might cause a lump like this?

Dee

[starcids6]

have you had her tested for mastitis?

[nubiansinny]

try some pepermint udderrub.I could be the start of something. Take her temp too. If it's just conjestion or a blocked duct the rub might get it out before an infection starts. As for cl i have no idea, thankfuly I've never seem it. do you have a strip cup? Look closely for any flakes or small clumps.They can be hard to see.

[MamaDee]

have you had her tested for mastitis?>>>

No, not yet. I figured she'd have other symptoms?



try some pepermint udderrub.I could be the start of something>>>

I don't have peppermint. I have some udder cream, though. Her temp is fine.

<<<do you have a strip cup? Look closely for any flakes or small clumps.They can be hard to see>>>>

I have seen nothing out of the ordinary in the strip cup.
Could she really have mastitis with no symptoms? Other than the obvious, of course.

Dee

[nubiansinny]

I think it's called sub-clinical mastitis where they have none or only very mild symtoms. You could try warm compresses on the lump to see if it helps. If it's a duct it should help just like in people. could she have injured it or got stung or a splinter? hopfully someone with a little more experience will chime in here You could try dairygoatinfo.com they are very good over there and have lots of info posted too

[steff bugielski]

I knew a guy who had a lot of goats and they all had lumps in their udders. He tried to give a few to me but I would not take that chance. It could very well be CL and if it bursts in the udder the milk will carry the infection to who or what ever drinks it.

[MamaDee]

Steff,

What does a CL lump in the udder feel like? And how on earth would you go about testing a lump there?

What would you do with her? I'm not about to put down a great milker on the tiny chance of something like that. You can't go around culling every doe that gets a lump in her udder. If she were yours, what would you do?

......I just read that paragraph and it sounds a bit defensive....I don't mean to. It's my frustration at the situation showing, not a response to your answer. I really want to know what you would do in my place. Thanks!

Dee

[Mrs. Jo]

Don't jump to conclussions that it is CL. They have a set of lymph nodes up on the backside of the udder, it is somewhat kidney shaped. Could this be it?

How large is the lump? , Is it on the skin or in the flesh of the udder?

have you ever had Cl testing done? Or staph testing? Had a vet look at it?

[KimM]

I had a doe that after I weaned her kids, looked like she was drying up normally. After her udder was small, I found a walnut-size lump in one side. I have my vet check her and said he was sure it wasn't CL but a low grade mastitis. You could feel a very subtle difference in the mammary tissue surrounding the lump. The lump never got bigger and maybe got ever-so-slightly smaller over the next year. I check my does twice a day (at every feeding) when I wean and she never got very hard or hot so I figured all was going well. Anyway, the vet said it (infected milk duct) likely walled itself off and shouldn't cause problems but just keep a close eye on her in the future. I've heard some peple using the Tomorrow routinely when they wean kids.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

The problem with all this is that a clear mastitis test on both sides is meaningless if it is walled off staph. And no infusion is going to touch walled off staph in a milk cyst.

It is a place that could be CL, but it will burst eventually, and is usually fast growing and yes hard....CL is deep seated feeling into the lymph gland, you can't grasp a CL abscess until it is ripe and going to burst.

Honestly if you aren't going to test for CL via blood, or perhaps go into a vet and have this aspirated and tested, just leave her be. Just milk her, it will either go away on it's own, since she is older it could be a calcium deposit, they are usually small marble like lumps that are usually only felt deep in the udder after milking. If it bursts collect the material and have it tested, pack it with sugar and let it dry out really well. If she gets more lumps than it can be acidomides, in which case she needs to be off your property. There is a vaccination for this.

We could sit and guess all day. Vicki

[steff bugielski]

Dee, not offended.
If it were mine I would have the vet out to take blood at the very least.

[susanne]

i tried to find "acidomides" nothing comes up with google. is this a different name for the virus disease lumpy skin?

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Actinomyces Pyogenes thought it was spelled like it was said. vicki