Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: How to Treat Mastitis
• Part 2 of 3: How to Diagnose Mastitis
• Part 3 of 3: How to prevent future mastitis
• Tips
• Warnings

Mastitis is an inflammation of the udder that often occurs due to poor hygiene or a wound in the skin of a goat. Mastitis can cause a viral, bacterial, or fungal infection, but more often mastitis is caused by a bacterial infection. As soon as you suspect mastitis, take your goat to the vet and take precautions to prevent future mastitis by keeping your farm hygienic.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: How to Treat Mastitis

1. 1 Isolate a sick goat. If one or more goats develop mastitis, separate them from the rest of the herd. Some farmers even slaughter sick animals to prevent mastitis outbreaks. Having sick goats in the herd puts other animals at risk and increases the likelihood of accidental milk collection in a goat with mastitis.
2. 2 Dry the nipple. If your goat has mastitis, the first step is to drain the nipple. Draining the nipple involves stopping milk production while the infection is being treated and breast tissue restored.
   • Ideally, the goat should stop milk production about two weeks before the scheduled drying, but because the mastitis is so sudden, drying can be started right away.
   • Gradually start reducing the calorie content of your diet and replace it with foods high in fiber. The goat's body will realize that it is now consuming less nutrients and milk production will drop.
   • Try reducing the amount of grain and substituting grass hay for alfalfa. Goats, which typically produce a lot of milk, will have to eat a low-calorie diet and only water and hay, although grass hay should usually be sufficient.
   • Do not reduce the amount of water or food. When livestock lacks food or water, they begin to seek out other food sources, and this can lead to the fact that they begin to eat poisonous plants or fight for food.
3. 3 Keep the teat clean. Goat teats should be cleaned with an antiseptic to kill any external pathogens present on the udder. The most effective and most common remedies are products with iodine or chlorhexidine.
   • If you decide to buy a chlorhexidine product, make sure the chlorhexidine concentration is 2%.
   • For best results, apply the antiseptic twice, 24 hours apart.
4. 4 Identify the pathogen that caused the mastitis. Your veterinarian will likely do goat milk and / or blood tests to identify the specific pathogen that caused the mastitis. The pathogen your goat has contracted will determine the medication that the doctor prescribes (if any). The doctor's decision regarding the recovery period will also depend on him.
   • Coagulase-negative staphylococci are one of the most common causes of mastitis.
   • Staphylococcus aureus infections are rare. However, it should be noted that they are rather difficult and do not respond well to treatment.
   • Infections with group B streptococci are very rare and generally uncommon to cause mastitis in goats.
   • Mycoplasma infections can cause serious problems in goats and can also lead to more serious health problems such as sepsis, polyarthritis, pneumonia, or encephalitis.
5. 5 Give the right medicines. Depending on the results of sowing milk, a veterinarian may prescribe a course of certain drugs for the treatment of mastitis. Antibiotics are usually prescribed by veterinarians, but once the infection has cleared, they should be stopped for the animal. The milk should then be tested to make sure there are no more antibiotics in it before milking again.
   • Antibiotics such as benzylpenicillin, cloxacillin, amoxicillin, cephalonium, cefoperazone, erythromycin, tilmicosin, kanamycin, penicillin, ampicillin, or tetracycline may be prescribed to treat mastitis.
   • To relieve swelling, glucocorticoids, such as dectometasone, may be prescribed.
   • An antibiotic intramammary ointment may also be prescribed to treat nipples. You will need to keep an eye on the goat so that the skin does not become irritated.

Part 2 of 3: How to Diagnose Mastitis

1. 1 Pay attention to the clinical symptoms of mastitis. Mastitis usually manifests itself in a systemic or chronic form. The systemic form of the disease develops very quickly and is manifested by a high temperature (above 40.5 ° C) and a rapid heartbeat. Chronic mastitis usually develops into a persistent and often incurable infection.
   • Acute mastitis presents with hard, swollen mammary glands and yellowish, watery, milky discharge (due to the presence of white blood cells).
   • Chronic mastitis usually presents with hard lumps on the udder, which may be accompanied by an inability to pass milk.
2. 2 Perform analyzes. Veterinarians usually order a microbiological culture of milk, a somatic cell count (SSC), a test to determine subclinical mastitis (OCM), or an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA test). Most often, PSC and OCM are prescribed for the diagnosis of mastitis.
   • A negative result on bacterial cultures does not always mean the absence of bacterial mastitis. Many types of bacteria are shed cyclically and therefore may not appear in the milk sample.
3. 3 Draw a conclusion based on the behavior and history of the herd. If mastitis is found in one or more goats in the herd, it is likely that other animals may have become ill as well. Once you identify and isolate sick goats, you should begin to conduct regular udder, milk and body temperature checks throughout the herd to determine whether or not the infection is spreading.

Part 3 of 3: How to prevent future mastitis

1. 1 Improving hygiene before milking. Improving hygiene conditions before and during milking can significantly reduce the spread of mastitis. It includes adequate sanitation and cleanliness in the barn and in the milking area.
   • There should not be too many goats. Each goat should have ample space in the barn and pasture.
   • The road between the milking parlor and the barn or pasture must be clear. The road must be free of puddles, faeces and slurry.
   • Rinse the udder thoroughly with clean drinking water and then dry it dry. Remember to wash your hands before and after milking.
   • Use disinfectant solutions and teat sprays before milking and keep all milking machines clean.
2. 2 Reduce milking time. Some preliminary studies suggest a link between the outbreak of mastitis and how long milking machines are attached to goats. While it cannot be said for certain that this will prevent mastitis, it is still worth considering and reducing the time it takes to connect the goat to the milking machine.
3. 3 Find and isolate or reject sick goats. If multiple goats are affected by mastitis, they should not be kept with the rest of the herd. Most sanitation and mastitis prevention regimens recommend either isolating sick goats from the rest of the herd or slaughtering them to allow further spread of the disease.

Tips

• Check your goats regularly for mastitis. The sooner you recognize the disease, the better the goat's chances of full recovery.

Warnings

• See your veterinarian as soon as you notice that your goat has mastitis. Acute mastitis can be fatal and can easily spread to the rest of the herd.
• Don't drink milk until you are completely sure there is no more mastitis. Throw away all milk from the sick goat and thoroughly clean all milking equipment that was used while milking the sick goat.