More Mastitis questions, kid and bottle, and. ..

deineria · #1 03/16/10, 01:54 AM

Okay, so. . .we've treated Claire with Today infusions 4 times now.
She seems to feel okay - eating, drinking, chewing her cud, walking around fine. . .
But her udder - at least one side (I can't be sure if one side it just a lot worse or if it is only in one side because the right side is so hard and swollen - the left side seems soft compared to that) is just as hard and lumpy and hot as ever.

My vet said he didn't recommend OTC antibiotics and thought she might not end up needing a prescription of EXCENEL RTU after us using the Today for 48 hours.
I hope for a lot of improvement come morning, but if not, would you all recommend just using penicillin or Oxytetracycline?

That is what I read everywhere. The other is $70 I don't have to spend unless the Oxytetracycline or Penicillin will not help. . .

Secondly, can ANYONE think of something I can do for her tail? The vet thinks it is just from a rough kidding and it is related to pelvic damage and neurological.
He said he would expect it to remain 4 weeks after kidding and to watch it and if it doesn't improve in another week, let him know. In the meantime, can anyone brainstorm something I can do to keep out of the way of her peeing? It is just staying soaking wet. . .and it is gross, as you can imagine.

Also, her top line looks terrible. Her weight looked under when he brought her down with the mastitis (we now have her on our porch) Sunday morning, but I honestly think she looks poorer now. All the others look a bit on the plump side, if anything. She was wormed post kidding with Cydectin. I think it is possible I under estimated her weight, so maybe she needs rewormed. I wouldn't think a heavy worm load would be likely in the super cold weather we have had, but maybe I am totally off there. She was getting about 3 cups of grain mix a day plus hay:
150 # whole oats
100 # wheat
150 # rolled barley
100 # beet pulp
50 # linseed pellets
50 # alfalfa pellets
50 # black oil sunflower seeds
50 # wet molasses
5 # goat mineral mix
(per 1000 lbs mixed)
But she is getting free choice now plus extra alfalfa in soaked cubes.
Is it the kids making her look so poor?

Lastly, the kids are taking whole cow's milk from the bottle really easily, but tonight, they had fairly runny poop. I gave given probios since the whole milk change was abrupt, but is that probably the cause?

deineria · #2 03/16/10, 10:12 AM

anyone?

madness · #3 03/16/10, 11:17 AM

I'm no expert, but here goes.

Last year we dealt with our first case of mastitis. The first treatment (vet Rx Pursue) did not clear it up. I was told here that the best time to treat mastitis is when you dry them off. She was 9 months into lactation so that wasn't an issue for us. So my experience is obviously going to be different.

That said, the vet told us that penicillin is not a good antibiotic for this (we had staph mastitis). I think she said most antibiotics given to the system (i.e. an injection) aren't going to do much for the mammary system and it really needs to be something in the teats. There was another antibiotic recommended by someone on here but I don't recall the name. My vet didn't have it and we just went with a Tomorrow treatment.

I assume from the tail question that she doesn't have control over it? And she is 4 weeks post kidding? I haven't heard of that. Perhaps you can clip the hair really close on the tail - basically shave it. At least you won't have wet hair then.

She is on free choice grain? I've never done that - is she gorging herself or eating 'sensibly'? I have no experience there. Nursing kids can take a lot out of a goat and that could be adding to the fact that she is rangy. I've heard lots of people say that mastitis causes goats to go off feed (ours didn't) so she also just might not be eating enough.

I bet the quick change to cow's milk did the scouring. I was just recommended a product called Scour Ease. When my mom went to the feed store to get it, the good ol' boy said you don't need that - just give them pepto. Ours cleared up of it's own accord though....

Good luck and let us know how things are going!

deineria · #4 03/16/10, 12:35 PM

We called Ohio State Unv. at our vet's recommendation, and the vet there who is their "small ruminant" expert.
As soon as I described what is going on with her tail (and also urination) - he said he was due to pelvic damage. Nothing could really help, especially if she hadn't healed on her own in 4 weeks. He said it was unlikely it ever would. She certainly will never be able to be bred again. He said it could end up causing her kidney issues and bladder issues because once she isn't squatting to urinate. . .so the bladder might not be emptying right. We will just have to wait and see. If it comes down to that, she will have to be put down.

I am going to give the kids pepto. I just didn't want to disguise an issue, but it probably is just the change to cow's milk.

I'm going to post about this seperate, but I do want to know if the best think to do is just stop milking her and give Tylan or LA200 with the mastitis issue.

madness · #5 03/16/10, 01:27 PM

Pelvic damage. So did she have a hard labor? The only threads I could find on this started weeks after she kidded and I didn't real anything about the actual kidding, but I might be missing one. So she doesn't squat when she pees? How very odd. At least you spoke with someone with some knowledge on the subject!

How much milk is Claire producing right now? If it isn't much, drying her off might just be the best bet. Especially with all the other things going on with her. I think you should use the dry cow treatment Tomorrow if you go that route. Did you ever have her milk tested? Knowing what kind of mastitis could change the treatment.

deineria · #6 03/16/10, 02:21 PM

The issue with the tail and such came a few days after the birth. . .my husband helped deliver the second kid, and although I am not sure if he should have, the issues came after we had to give lute to help her expell the afterbirth. She kept trying to expell is for 24 hours after the birth. . .

We haven't tested the milk because neither Southern States or TSC have the strips.
She isn't producing much at all. . .maybe two pints MAX? The mastitis side is giving almost nothing.

She is having so many issues. . .I am not sure what to do.