Mastitis Treatment in Goats: Becca’s Story

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Click HERE to read my policies & disclaimers if you're interested. I will only link products I use and personally recommend. Thank you for your support, friends!

First and foremost, all information in this blog post is from my personal experience with my own dairy goat herd and anything done with Rx prescriptions has been done under direction of a veterinarian.  This blog post is in no way medical advice, but rather, a raw experience on my farm with my protocols and how I treated it to help you, the reader, understand gangrenous mastitis and to anticipate what your veterinarian will do and know what to ask for and be more educated on the topic to be confident in treatment and asking for those things.  I believe being educated and knowledgeable helps any livestock owner take better care of their animals and also helps be the advocate for your animals with a veterinarian who does not see your animals every day.  Please use this blog post for informational purposes only and not as medical advice.

I am writing this as I’m in the thick of this.  As I write this paragraph, I have no idea what is going to happen in the next 12 hours.  I am completely blindsided by what I came out to the barn to for this mornings chores and milking.  I am extremely sad and also frustrated.  I try SO DANG HARD to manage my herd holistically, preventatively, and such and I feel like I got shoved down and am now being kicked in the teeth while I’m down.  It’s been one thing after another.  I am discouraged and I am extremely sad.  I feel like I failed Becca, my goat I’ll be talking about with this.

Becca came to me last summer and has been the sweetest addition to my herd with her lovely nature and attitude and she is an amazing producer and so easy to milk.  Being a heavy producer makes her a bit more susceptible to mastitis, and despite all my preventative measures, here we are.  And with the worst kind we could get.  After she kidded with quadruplets, she got a small laceration where her teat attaches to the udder.  

I have been diligently cleaning it and treating to help the area heal.  It didn’t help.  And unfortunately, I am now fighting what is called gangrene mastitis, aka “blue bag,” which, if she survives, will cause the affected side of her udder to essentially dry up, the tissue to die and wall off protecting the other side, and it will eventually slough off requiring a lot of wound care by me and protection from pests, like flies, to help it heal.  Go figure my first instance of mastitis in my herd is also one of the most severe cases of mastitis I could have gotten.  She can potentially produce milk again with one side and that side will pick up the slack from what I read, BUT we’re not even going to go there.  She is so sick right now causing me major concern.  I am going to go day-by-day with this and give raw updates and treatments as I go.

Friday, PM milking

Becca was completely normal.  I stripped her teats out with no flakes or signs of mastitis, both sides milked out perfectly to soft udder as she normally does. (my strip cup here)  I cleaned, disinfected, and then treated the cracked teat.  She ate all her grain on the milk stand and went in to eat alfalfa with the herd when done.  The milk filter on my milk machine showed no signs of flakes or sub-clinical mastitis.  

Saturday, AM milking

Becca is normally waiting for me at the gate to be first, yelling if I’m even 2 seconds late.  I was on time, but she wasn’t at the gate.  That’s weird, I thought.  I got Caycee out and started milking her and noticed Becca off in the corner, head down, gritting her teeth and drooling and struggling to stand.  She did lay down.  Once Caycee was milked out, I went and got Becca and with some encouragement she got up and jumped on the milk stand.  She did not eat her grain.  I cleaned her udder and on assessment her right side was swollen, hot, and red.  When I stripped it, tons of pus flakes came out resembling mashed potatoes (sorry not sorry), so I immediately rubbed her down with my homemade essential oil blend for udder health and instilled mastitis antibiotic treatment, hopeful with my early treatment, and initiated my herbal support protocol for the treatment of mastitis. This case seemed to be quick onset and very, very bad and making her feel very sick that I’m not willing to wait it out for herbal treatment. With how she’s presenting, I am giving antibiotic treatment NOW.

Antibiotics aren’t bad; the misuse of antibiotics are bad.

Supportive holistic protocol I’ve set in place:

• acute dosing oregano essential oil in carrier oil (if you don’t add an oil it can cause mouth lesions or sores)
• Mastoblast
• Dynamint or my homemade udder rub
• free choice hay and electrolytes with glucose to encourage water intake and flush the infection

She also had a fever, but fevers aren’t always bad because they’re the immune system fighting off the bad stuff, so I left that go.  I separated her into her own pen and she laid down immediately, and would not eat or drink.  Her milk production on the unaffected side was drastically down which wasn’t surprising given what’s going on.

Saturday, PM

Becca isn’t moving much.  She got up very begrudgingly to get on the milk stand. I milked out both sides and am tossing all the milk.  You don’t drink milk from sick animals.  The affected side is now brownish-red liquid when I strip it and it smells very unpleasant and there’s blood clots.  The affected side is no longer swollen but feels very cold to the touch.  Actually, both sides are cool feeling, but the mastitis side is abnormally cold.  I have a bad feeling about this because normally cold tissue means dead tissue.  I can’t see a line of demarcation yet like you would see with a gangrene patient because Becca is black and her udder is black.  I look and made my husband look but we couldn’t see any color changes yet, so we just figured maybe the treatment is taking effect but would call the vet again anyway because I’m not very confident this is the case. I gave her another dose of the intramammary antibiotics.  I also gave her supportive oregano essential oil and offered more electrolytes.  She won’t eat, her ears are droopy, and her eyes appear dull and sunken.

Sunday, AM

Becca would barely stand and stumbled onto the milk stand for me to strip the infection out.  She’s very weak.  She has no milk on the healthy side and I stripped more brownish-red liquid out of the affected side.  Her udder still feels ice cold on that side.  She’s not improving and I’m very worried; her clinical signs are pointing to this going systemic – sepsis.  I gave her the last dose of the antibiotic therapy that you insert into the teat canal to instill directly into the udder.  Since the udder is walled off, injected antibiotics don’t normally help for this.

I am not against the use of antibiotics.  I am against the use of antibiotics inappropriately.  Way too many people see any animal act off and just give them a shot of penicillin or LA 200 without looking into or asking what’s going on.  That leads to antibiotic resistance for when you really need it.  It’s my $0.02, but I will never deny one of my animals antibiotics when they genuinely need it and Becca genuinely needs them or she will die. Now is not the time to wait around on holistic medicine.

Sunday, PM

I’m still waiting on a vet.  It will likely be Monday afternoon and I’m very, very worried.  She could barely step up on the stand tonight and the liquid I stripped out of the affected side smelled so bad.  It’s e. coli.  It has to be and I’m very concerned.  With a lot of research, I read about gangrene mastitis which I’ve never heard of but in the back of my head with her affected side of her udder going cold was concerned about that.  Lots of people had accounted for it happening in their herds and had success treating it but it didn’t seem like their does got this sick.  Maybe they just didn’t share it or I’m being dramatic about Becca’s condition, but she seems so so so so sick.  I’m weighing my options here and trying to bring myself to make the hard decisions for when the vet can make it.  Is this treatable or do I need to be merciful for a doe who has given me so much and end her suffering.  She looks very sullen and sunken in.  She’s not gritting her teeth, she’s able to remain sternal and hold her head up, but she just looks extremely sick. 

She’s still not eating or drinking, so I made a drench mixture of electrolytes, warm water, milk, and a couple raw eggs to give her protein and energy.  I used my calf tuber, got her standing, and tubed it to her.  I’m grateful to have this skill since it allows me to get nutrition and fluids in her stomach, quickly.  I believe liquid given parenteral are more readily used and absorbed than IV or SQ fluids.  When I stood her, she did urinate a little and then decided to let me know she has really bad diarrhea now, too.  Alright girl, let’s just do all the things at once.  The raw eggs normally help with diarrhea anyway, so I’m glad I gave them.

The drench I mixed up:

• 1 quart electrolytes in warm water
• 3 cups warm goat milk
• 2 raw eggs, beaten
• 1 ounce or 30cc power punch

I’m also continuing the acute dosing of oregano essential oil, because it can’t hurt.  She is shivering a lot right now, so I did cover her with a thin blanket to help with her comfort.

Monday, AM

I can’t get Becca to stand to milk her.  She also still will not eat or drink willingly, so I tubed her again to keep her hydrated.  She is no longer shivering which tells me her body might be shutting down and I’m preparing myself mentally for the hard stuff.  The vet is supposed to be out sometime today and I’m dreading what they will tell me.  I’m very afraid they’ll say she’s too sick and not to prolong this any further.  I sat with her this morning to see if she seemed like she wanted to fight or she wanted to quit.  Usually by their behavior you can tell pretty quick what they’re going to do.  She’s still holding her head up and maintaining a sternal laying position, so she hasn’t quit just yet.  

Monday, afternoon

The vet came.  I’m guarded but maybe a touch hopeful, dare I say.  They confirmed my suspicions and said it’s gangrene mastitis caused by e. coli.  It likely got in via the cut and once e. coli touches milk it goes nuts, which explains why it was an overnight fine to deathly ill with her.  I feel horrible she had that cut and I couldn’t get it healed up faster.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda’s are in my thoughts and I 100% feel like I failed Becca.  So dang hard.  I don’t know the common mastitis pathogen or the exact type of bacteria that cause mastitis, but I will know soon.  I’ll be doing a lot of research once we’re through this storm to better educate myself past the preventative measures I have in place.  

The vet says she has a 50/50 chance of surviving this.  She’s septic, meaning the infection is in her bloodstream.  They started her on a very high dose of an anti-inflammatory (banamine), nuflor QOD for 3 doses, and B complex injections daily.  They also said to not worry about food and just push push push fluids.  I am always so worried about the rumen shutting down that I want them to eat.  I drench her some more electrolytes after they leave and, dare I say, she seems to want them?  I’m thinking maybe the banamine is kicking in and helping her not feel so horrid.  Becca is bradycardic (low heart rate), a touch hypothermic, and is breathing pretty slowly for a goat.  I got a thicker blanket to cover her up and will push warm fluids.

Monday, evening

I mixed up a batch of her favorite electrolytes in warm water and took them out to her.  SHE DRANK THE WHOLE BUCKET.  I am crying happy tears.  This by no means proves she will make it but it tells me I did the right thing in prolonging and allowing her to try.  She’s not giving up and that’s all I needed to know and I will do everything I can to help her.  I offered her 1 oz of power punch and she didn’t want it, so I drenched it to her with my drenching syringe.  Power Punch is like goat crack in my herd.  They LOVE it.  I got her to stand for about 2 minutes to milk out her udder and didn’t get very much at all.  The unaffected side seems to have completely dried up already which is great and the mastitis side gave me a few quirts of that dreadful brownish-red liquid that smells horrendous.  Once I was done she laid down and didn’t flop which shows me she still has some strength to fight this.

Tuesday, AM

Becca looks TERRIBLE.  The vet said to give her 24 hours or so for the meds to start taking hold and I’m worried.  It has been just over 18 hours-ish and she looks worse.  Her eyes are sunken in and dull, but she did turn her head to me when I walked in the barn.  She’s not totally gone.  I can’t get her to stand to milk her, but she did sip some electrolytes.  Not much, but she drank some.  I gave her more banamine as instructed and vitamin B complex.  I also dosed her with oregano essential oil.

Tuesday, afternoon

I sat with Becca for a bit while the children napped.  She looks scary bad.  I cried and came to peace with what’s going to happen.  If she survives the night, I will have to call the vet.  She’s dull and her eyes are lifeless and so sunken in.  I’ve never seen an animal this sick come back from this and I feel like I’m prolonging the inevitable and asking her to suffer for my fragile human emotions.  I held her head in my lap and rubbed her head where she likes and talked to her.  These animals are an extension of my family and I’ll be darned if they aren’t treated as such.

Tuesday, PM

Becca still won’t eat or drink and can’t stand.  She hasn’t moved in the pen and is just staring.  She did turn her head to me when I walked in the barn and said her name.  I see no improvement.  Saying she is unchanged is probably hopeful, because she’s honestly worse looking.  I don’t know what to do but I’m prepared to call the vet in the morning if she’s still here.  I just don’t think I got things rolling soon enough for her to be able to fight this.

Wednesday, AM

I was afraid to go to the barn because I wasn’t ready for what I would find.  BUT, all the prayers my friends sent up for us were answered.  Becca seems brighter this morning, willingly drank electrolytes and sucked down her power punch like a champ.  Her ears are up now and being held normally and her eyes look brighter and less sunken in.  I am in SHOCK.  And also was sobbing while holding her head.  I’m sure I drive her nuts.  She still can’t stand, so I reposition her to lay on the other side for a while as I have been doing this whole time she wouldn’t stand.  She has soft stool now and not watery diarrhea, too.  I just can’t believe this but I’m still guarded.  It was a teeny improvement I’ve been looking for but I’m not going to hold my breath yet.

Today is the second dose of antibiotic, too. She’s receiving Nuflor as prescribed.

Wednesday, PM

Evenings seems to be better for Becca.  She’s very bright and alert tonight and is actually nibbling some hay and nosing through it acting like her appetite may be resurfacing.  My kids made her a “salad” of all the different hay cuttings and alfalfa we have so she could eat what she wanted.  She really liked that.  I tried to get her to stand but was unsuccessful; I’ll have to wait til my husband gets home because she’s so stinkin’ big.  She drank some water and guzzled the power punch down again.  

My husband got home and we got her stood up and she actually stood on her own for about a minute with minimal help once she was up.  She’s just very obviously weak and needs assistance.  Another positive.

Thursday, AM

Becca is still acknowledging me when I come into the barn.  Her ears are up and her eyes a bright.  She didn’t want any water this morning but it looks like she drank some on her own overnight.  I gave her a hunk of alfalfa which she readily starting nibbling through which is a good sign!  Getting dairy goats, or any goat for that matter, back on hay after being off feed is an uphill battle.  She still can’t stand without assistance but I can help her at least get her back end up to reposition how she is laying.  She has free air (crepitus) on her right side from laying so much.  I don’t like that, but what can you do.

Thursday, PM

Becca is really bright tonight.  I stood her and she stumbled and fell down.  She is so so so weak and that worries me.  She seems to be getting through the storm of the infection and now we’re into the storm of rehabilitation and healing, which can also go either way.  Once an animal is down, it is A TON OF WORK to get them back up.  She’s not really been moving much on her own since Wednesday short of crawling in the pen.  The last time she could stand without me holding her was Tuesday.  She drank a lot of water tonight and is happily munching hay.  I had a really busy day today with other farm things, so it was hard to give her a ton of attention, but she seems okay.  I gave her a dose of injectable pure thiamine just in case her weakness was caused by a deficiency in that too since she was off feed for so long and the rumen produces that.  It won’t hurt, anyway.

Friday, AM

Becca is looking like she feels rough again this morning.  Today was her last dose of Nuflor, so I’ll call the vet later to see what they think.  I also started decreasing the dose of banamine she’s getting because I feel like the massive doses she’s getting might be hindering her recovery.  I’m continuing acute dosing oregano essential oil.  I repositioned her and moved and massaged her legs this morning to promote bloodflow.  The affected side of her udder seems to be oozing the brownish-liquid but I don’t know from where because I can’t get anything out of the teat end.  I’m not sure what that means, but I’ll keep a watch on it.  I didn’t see any open areas, so I moved her in the pen a bit to clean bedding.  She didn’t want any water this morning but was pretty excited about alfalfa and was munching that.  We shall see.

Friday, PM

I talked with the vet and we’re going to switch her to an oral antibiotic in a different class.  They also agreed with decreasing the banamine to once a day and at a smaller dose.  Becca looks bad again tonight.  She looks tired and like she feels terrible.  BUT. Her quadruplets also managed to weasel their way into her pen and probably used her as a trampoline for the evening until I got out there to round them up.  That wouldn’t be the best thing when you feel like literal garbage.  

My husband and I stood her up and she did hold her weight for a couple minutes with me steading her back end, but it completely depleted her.  She laid back down and feel onto her side, breathing heavily.  You could just tell it was so much work for her.  We got her back to sternal and propped her with a hay bale to help her stay upright and gave her some water and power punch for energy.  I tucked her in for the night with a prayer and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.  I’m not going to lie, seeing her on her side and moaning was disheartening and worrisome, but my husband and I discussed it and figured maybe she was just exhausted from the exertion of it all.  She’s not small.  I remember from my ICU nurse days how quickly you lose muscle mass being in bed even one day when you’re extremely sick, so an animal can’t be much different.  I’m frustrated, sad, and also overwhelmed at the amount of work this is going to require of me to rehabilitate Becca.

Saturday, AM

Becca was sternal this morning and when I moved the hay bale she maintained it.  She was bright and turned her head to me when I walked in.  She happily drank some fresh water and a bit of power punch.  I drenched her the new antibiotic, which will be twice a day orally, and gave her her daily dose of banamine for inflammation and slight pain management.  I was able to get her to stand on her back end by myself but she was unable to get up in the front and I couldn’t do it alone, so we did just that, and the repositioned to the other side to lay for a bit.  I gave her a new bit of alfalfa hay which she was excited about and she was also munching on the bale I had used to prop her up last night.  I opened the big door in her pen for fresh air and hopefully some sunshine, but it’s Ohio and it’s cloudy today, so it probably won’t be very nice.  I wish she could take some steps because I’d love for her to get to green grass, but that’s about 10 feet away.  It’s all a waiting game now to see if this new antibiotic helps take hold and she begins healing.  I just don’t know if she has enough strength to get going again and I fear she’s going to start fading on me.  But, as a responsible goat owner, I’ll keep trying for her as long as she tries for me.  If she does survive this, she will be given a really long dry period before I even entertain breeding her, if I ever do.  The sad part is, she’s an amazing, well conformed goat with stellar genetics and a pedigree behind her.  It makes me sad I only got one chance of producing new lines and building upon what she has blessed me with. 

Saturday, PM

Becca isn’t doing good.  She’s still alert but she’s not continuing to improve like earlier this week.  I’m continuing to drench her antibiotic and support with oregano.  I think she’s in a lot of pain; gangrene isn’t the most delightful thing to deal with, so I’m increasing her banamine.  I have a hunch she’s not going to survive this, so I want her to be as comfortable as possible.  I turned her so the pressure is off the right side of her udder and offered water and hay.  She didn’t want anything but a few sips of water.  I have a hunch her rumen is shutting down, which I think I’m just going to let happen.  Why put her through more suffering and torture.  We tried to stand her and she didn’t do well tonight, so I’m going to quit and just keep her comfortable at this point.  I’m considering ceasing treatment if she starts acting miserable.  She doesn’t deserve to suffer, but I would also like her to pass naturally.

I was reading through different studies and accounts of other people’s dealings with gangrene mastitis and it was pretty eye opening and saddening.  Most cases went from 0 to dead in under 1 day.  Some hung on for a month or two until succumbing to the infection… which I don’t want for Becca.  How horrible to make her wither like that for months.  And then some dairy animals, usually younger does that aren’t milking heavily, survive and go on to milk on one side successfully.  

I figure Becca is mid-aged, had just kidded two weeks prior so she’s slightly immunocompromised, and is a heavy milker is not working in her favor with this one.  Whenever e. coli finds milk, it goes nuts, and she has plenty of it.  I’m to the point now that I’m considering my options for her and I really don’t want to have to make the call.  Tonight I’ve noticed some significant differences in the affected side of her udder.  The teat end has closed itsself off and I can’t get any of the liquid out, it’s still ice cold to the touch, but it’s dark black in color and seems to be leaking the brownish-red liquid from the pores or something in her udder.  I’m not sure, honestly.  

Sunday, AM

Becca won’t drink.  I did drench her antibiotic and give her supportive things, but she’s not having it.  She’s alert, but not doing much.  Her eyes appear more sunken this morning and are losing their light.  I’d say we’re at the end of the rope.  I’m pretty certain her rumen has quit working since she has no appetite and I don’t hear any noises.  She’s given a valiant try to fight this off but she just didn’t want to do it anymore, and that’s ok.  I have to be okay with it.  I kissed her nose and made sure she knew she was very loved and I was grateful to have her for the short time I did.  I made sure she was comfy.

Sunday, PM

Becca’s rumen is most certainly not functioning.  It’s only a matter of time til she’s gone.  I’ll call the vet in the morning if she doesn’t pass naturally.  I gave her a hefty dose of pain medicine just in case she was feeling some pain from her udder or the infection, gave her a big hug and told her I loved her.  I’m going to miss this goat so dang much.

Monday, AM

Mercifully, Becca passed overnight.  I’m so thankful she went on her own even though I’m sad.  As I sad on social media, I am so thankful for everyone willing to pray hard for me and my goat, for healing, strength, and confidence in my decisions.  I feel that I heavily failed her even though my vet assured me I was doing everything right.  I still think there’s room to improve and I’ll use this awful experience to improve on things and do better by Becca.  I’m am greatly thankful for her 3 daughters she blessed me with, too, and hope they carry on her beautiful personality and characteristics that made the best goat.

Thoughts

Leave it to me to have my first bout of mastitis in my dairy herd be the most severe mastitis one can get.  Do NOT think a mastitis infection cannot happen in your herd.  Prevention is the best thing you can do, and if you have cuts or lacerations or anything, WORK HARD TO HEAL THEM and keep everything clean.  So clean.  I did the best I could, but in researching, think I can improve a little and will do so in my herd.  Goat mastitis is more rare than cattle, but it can happen.  Keep an eye on your does, watch for any tiny physical changes, flakes on the filter, all the things.  Get your hands on those udders and palpate, know how they feel normally, check for heat, and test for somatic cells counts if you want.  Learn from my experience and do the best you can.

Another thing you can do is to have a good relationship with a vet and have intramammary treatment and other medications available so you can treat things ASAP.  It really wouldn’t have made much difference in my case, but it always pays to be prepared.  I can confidently say I gave Becca the best chance she possibly could have had at beating this and am now even more prepared thanks to my vet and Becca.  Be proactive, not reactive.  In the remainder of this blog post, I will show you things I have on hand, things I am changing, and more to improve upon my experience and the management of my herd.  I will admit, from here on out I will very likely overreact to every little udder change or tiny flake I find on my milk filter because of this experience.  And that’s okay.  I never EVER want to see this happen again and would not wish it on my worst enemy.

Proper Management to Prevent Mastitis

As you’ve probably read above, I have management and protocols in place for the prevention of mastitis and to manage suspected subclinical mastitis in my herd.  They have worked in my favor for years, as I have had no incidence of mastitis, but this year I had things stacked against me in the form of an udder laceration that wouldn’t heal on a massive producing dairy goat.  But, I wanted to share the things I do to promote health and prevent things like this in my herd and the guarantee the safest and best milk quality when consuming raw milk. 

Mastitis Prevention

1. Clean Housing: clean bedding and not laying in a sloppy poopy mud hole with take you far.  It doesn’t have to be eat off the floor clean, but being able to lay on clean bedding means clean udders and teats.  Good management in cleanliness in the barn goes miles when dealing with mastitis problems.
2. Good Milking Technique: be sure and completely empty the udder whether with hand milking, machine milking, or a combination.  If machine milking, be sure and follow strict cleaning protocols to ensure the machine is properly cleaned and disinfected after each milking and between does to prevent cross contamination.  I firmly believe cleaning a milking machine should involve a disinfectant, like bleach, to properly clean all the nooks and crannies in them.
3. Teat Dip: both pre and post-dips.  For pre-dip, I spray the udder down in a mixture I make myself that contains isopropyl alcohol, castille soap, fractionated coconut oil, thieves essential oil, and water.  You can also get a pre-made iodine based pre-dip that works great; I’ve just chosen to make my own since my herd in small and I don’t need a gallon at a time.  I’m reconsidering this now.  Thoroughly spray each teat with the pre-dip of your choice and allow it to sit for 20-30 seconds.  Then, using a clean rag and a twisting motion, wipe the teat from udder attachment down, cleaning the teat orifices as well.  Use a new rag for each doe.  For post-dip, I spray the teat ends with fight bac, a chlorhexidine based disinfectant and let it dry before taking the goat off the stand.
4. Milk Testing: they make home testing kits to test each does milk for somatic cell count, and I recommend you do this if you’re providing milk via herdshares like I do.  This also can give you insight into a significant problem with a does health before they even show symptoms… usually.  You can also test the milk after it runs through your milk machine for both somatic cell count and coliforms to check how effective your machine cleaning protocol is.
5. Udder rub: you can use either uddermint, which you can buy, or make your own.  I actually have both and choose to use my own homemade for daily use and uddermint for suspected mastitis or even just hard spots or congestion in the udder, which my one doe, Rori, is notorious for.  I’ll give the recipe for my homemade udder rub in the next section.
6. Nutrition: providing your does with good nutrition and vitamin and mineral balances will take you strides in your herd health.  If you watch my stuff on social media, you probably know I invested in the goat mineral buffet last year, which is bascially all the vitamins, minerals, and such they need all split up so they can choose what they need vs relying on a mineral mix to hopefully be what they need.  My herd blossomed on it.  My all black does that always had a reddish cast no matter how much copper and zinc I gave them were shiny and dark black and everyone gained weight and even showed stronger parasite resistance!  I’m not saying you need to do this, but I am saying you need to watch for imbalances in nutrition because goats are extremely sensitive to them and major imbalances are a contributing factor to their immunity and animal health.

Mastitis Treatment

These are things you need to work with your veterinarian to either have on hand or have readily available if you need them.  This is, again, NOT medical advice, but me giving you information to start the process of talking with your vet and being prepared and knowing what to anticipate.

1. Intramammary Mastitis Infusion (Rx)
2. Injectable Pain Reliever/Anti-inflammatory (Rx)
3. Injectable (IM or SQ) antibiotics if systemic (Rx)
4. Udder Mint
5. MastoBlast
6. Electrolytes
7. Power Punch
8. Oregano Essential Oil
9. DUMP THE MILK.  Do not drink milk from sick animals, period.  Plus, if you’re treating with meds, there is a milk withhold before consuming.  I’ve read that it’s okay to allow the kids to drink the milk still, but that’s up to you.  I chose to dump it.

Homemade Teat Wash

You will need:

• 32 ounce glass spray bottle
• Thieves essential oil
• Distilled Water
• 91% isopropyl alcohol
• Castille soap

To the glass spray bottle, add in order:

• 3 tablespoons castile soap
• 15 drops thieves essential oil
• 2 tablespoons isopropyl alcohol
• fill with distilled water to the top

Try and use the teat wash within a week, otherwise you really should add a preservative, like grain alcohol that is 120 proof or higher.

Generously spray the teats with this wash and allow it to sit about 20 seconds.  With a cloth with more teat spray on it, wipe the teats with a twisting motion to clean them.  Feel free to repeat the process if they’re dirty with a new rag.  Do not reuse rags between does.  Allow the teats to air dry off before beginning to milk.

Use good milking technique, take your time, and completely empty the udder.

Homemade Prevention Udder Rub

You will need:

• 4 ounce dropper bottle
• fractionated coconut oil
• tea tree essential oil
• lavender essential oil
• peppermint essential oil

To the 4 ounce dropper bottle, add 15 drops tea tree essential oil, 15 drops lavender essential oil, and 7 drops of peppermint essential oil.  Fill up the remainder of the bottle with fractionated coconut oil and add the dropper lid.  Shake to combine.

To apply, take a dropper full and warm it in your hands and massage on the udder.  Depending on how big the udder is, you can use 2 droppers worth, but a little goes a long way!  I massage this on my does daily when they’re early on in their lactation to help with edema and then anytime I think of it or feel they need it.

Prevention is the most effective method of treating mastitis.  

I hope this post helps you see what I went through dealing with the worst kind of mastitis I’ve ever experienced to help you communicate with your vet, better care for your herd, and to be better prepared.  With farming and raising animals comes heartbreak and heartache.  If it doesn’t, you’re not doing it right.  Be prepared and be good stewards to God’s creation.