# Sore on side of teat leaking milk, what to do?



## Junkscouts (Jul 18, 2010)

Hi All,

I have a doe with a scabbed up sore on one of her teat. I’ve been milking her carefully and it has been slowly healing, but yesterday it started leaking milk from under the scab. The only thing I found in the archive (see below) says to use super glue but that was talking about a cut not a sore. Should I try it on her or do you think it will heal on it’s own? Do I remove the scab and clean it up and try the super glue? I’m not sure I will be able to dry it off enough for the glue to stick. I have hardly gotten any milk out of her yesterday and today. At first I thought she was drying up but now I think the milk is just running out through the sore all day long. There are no signs of mastitis or infection yet. Any advice is greatly appreciated. There is more info below. 

She is a first freshener La Mancha that gave us a single buck kid on June 21st. Her kid is nursing on just the one side and the other teat bagged up for the first 2 or 3 days before I got around to milking it (I’m taking the blame here, I should have started milking right away). Unfortunately I didn’t notice that the full teat was chaffing on her leg and developed a good sized sore/scab which then would get irritated every time I milked. I had her on antibiotics for the first week or so for a separate problem. The sore has mostly healed and there is only a dime sized spot left. I’ve been milking once a day instead of twice to cut down on the irritation, and I have been putting a bag balm on it liberally after I dip the teat. She is a non-papered doe and we only want her for milk production so there is no concern about being able to show her, we just want her healthy and functional, scars or ugly teats aren’t a real concern on this one. Thank you.

Regards,
Sven

Kaye White Wrote:

“I know you said wild...but, you're going to have to pen her to be able to give shots (antibiotic). You can use super glue to glue the cut back together. It needs to be clean and then dried. Scrape the edges of the cut to make them show live tissue, place them together as well as you can and spread super glue on the outside. The edges touching is the key to getting a good seal and the tissue healing proper. Reason lots of udders are not stitched....milk tends to leak through the stitch holes.”


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

The best thing to try is to clean it well with chlorhexideen and then dry it, a blow dryer on low will work really well. Can you pinch the clean skin edges together to super glue them? You aren't trying to superglue the hole itself, but the clean skin over it, into each other. The best thing for this is to cauterize it, I know that sounds gruesome but you can get species Ok that isn't right...septic well something like that...sticks from the vet. They have some sort of power on them that burns on contact. You roll the qtip that has it on it, over, don't stab at it, but hold the teat flat in your hand, hold the qtip to it's side and roll it over the sore. This will cauterise it and let it heal, you can to clog that hole you made with new tissue. Then superblue a round of gauze over the whole teat. See if you vet has some cannula to use to take the milk out of the udder, without the physical act of milking, you push it in gently through the orifice, into the teat, it opens the spinchter....geeze I hope spell check knows these words  and milk floods out, do this once or twice a day to keep her empty while you let this heal for 2 or 3 days...then go back to milking, trying to keep pressure off this side but you have to keep her empty or dry her up. Either way it will take milking. Good luck with this. Vicki


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## danielsumner (Jul 21, 2009)

The cauterizing that Vicki is talking about is Silver Nitrate. It is has something else adding too, I think it is Potassium Nitrate. It comes on the end of what looks like a long matchstick. I've had it used in my sinuses to stop a bleeding problem. It's no big deal to use. Below is a link so you can see what it looks like. You can get a couple of sticks from the vet, or even your people doctor if they are willing. Some drugs stores might carry it to. No RX needed. I think you just dip it in water and apply. But look it up first.

http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Nitrate-Applicators-Tube-100/dp/B0008G1Y92


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## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

I had two does lacerate a teat this year. Their udders get so full of milk that the smallest stick or wire will lay open a teat with a nasty gaping wound. I try to never let the uddered up does out of their pens to browse before they are milked, but occasionally, they will tear their teat/udder on something. 

Rather than milking only once a day, I make sure I milk them out COMPLETELY twice a day. The teat with the laceration must be emptied all the way. You can't think that it is better to not dislodge the scab on the teat. The wound may open up as you empty the udder over and over as the days go by but you have to get the milk out. Just be very clean and throw out the questionable milk.

I use a drying spray "Scarlet" or something like that. I just keep the laceration sprayed and dried. Eventually, it heals and a big scab will finally come off with the wound healed.

So milk it out, spray it and repeat twice a day.


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## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

Oh, also, do not use bag balm as you want the udder dry.


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

I have had some pretty severe teat lacerations, the milk streamed out, literally. The vet refused to stitch it up. He said it would trap infection? Do what, a gaping hole is a gaping hole!

I used penicillin in the teat itself, to keep down any infection, put a clean white sock over the teat after each "milking" and put an udder support on her. I highlight milking, because only the lower part had milk, the top part was a gaping hole, you just lifted the bottom to empty it out.

I thought that udder was history and maybe the doe too. But, she was always in the milking line, treated morning and night, and the none injured side had to be milked as usual too. Amazingly, it healed from the inside out, and we just kept after it, and when she dried up, I was surprised we never had a sick goat or infection, I thought she would sicken and die, it was bad! But it never smelled bad, nor discolored at all, just milk running out the top! Shows how raw milk heals? 

She freshened the next year with a good udder, with just a weird looking scar on it. It milked as usual, but you could feel the scar tissue inside. I still don't know how she did it, but goats are lively and get hurt.


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## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

Oh, and I always milked the injured doe last in the milk line so I would not cross contaminate the goats and equipment. And was equally careful not to contaminate the wound.


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## Junkscouts (Jul 18, 2010)

Hi All,

Thank you so much for all the replies, sorry I haven’t written back sooner. I abraded the edges of the hole and I’ve been trying the super glue but it just doesn’t hold. Not because of the pressure but because as soon as the edge of the glue separated from the teat a little it catches on her leg and pulls it loose.

Infection hasn’t been a problem yet (knock on wood), I think the constant flow of milk is keeping it clean. I will try the spray and keeping her milked out more often, but really there is never much milk in the teat as it all leaks out the hole. 

The scab has come off and the outside of the teat is healed up now. There is just a little bit of scabbing around the edge of the hole. Would it be bad to try and leave a cannula in the orifice so it drains out there instead of the wound? I’m thinking of getting the vet out to look at it but I suspect he won’t be able to do much. 

Should I dry her off? This may be a stupid question but is there any way to dry just one of the teats off? Also how do you dry off a doe that constantly leaks milk out a wound? 

Thanks again for all the help.

Sven


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

We dried the good side off the usual way, by just not milking her, except enough to relieve her. We still checked her twice a day, but we didn't stimulate her by milking the good side. And we lowered her grains, to the point she was just on pasture. The bad side continued to drip, but it gradually just dried up on its own, and it was healing from the inside out, so it gradually quit leaking. 
Also, back then, I kept an adult buck with the girls, so she was bred, and that kind of stopped her milking too.


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