# coliform mastitis



## firecattx (Nov 18, 2010)

We received labs back that show our doe has mastitis (coliform type). The lab said that some people do not choose to treat this as it either kills the goat very quickly or seems to go away on its own. How have others treated this type of mastitis?


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## doodles (Nov 1, 2007)

I can't imagine not treating a doe with any kind of mastitis...speaking as a woman who has nursed 5 and had mastitis


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

You need to consult a vet, with even a protocol to get rid of this type of mastitis. It is usually found in dairies, where a pretty large percentage of their girls carry types of mastitis that they just wait until it kills the udder or they have time to cull and replace them, nasty as that sounds. *****As a dairy is running does through an auction locally today, and gals from the forum are actually looking at buying them, hopefully they buy juniors, hopefully they quarantine until after a milk tests or two or three*****Does from working dairies when sold should go to other working dairies not pet farms.

Cathy agree 100% with the information you got, she would have to be a bloodline I couldn't live without for me to keep her, if you aren't going to get rid of her, than dry her up, test her next year, use her to glean kids out of, milk her last, she simply can not drip or spray milk anywhere in your barn, it is highly contagious.


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## firecattx (Nov 18, 2010)

Vicky, is this goat a "lost cause"? She isn't a fantastic bloodline, a decent milker but nothing fantastic etc. She only showed coliform on one side of her udder - that side is producing no milk at this point. The other udder is fine. If it is really hard and expensive to clear this up, it might be better to dry her up and sell her as a brush goat (she is a nubian)?
Wonder why the lab told me that a lot of people don't treat for this type of mastitis? I agree with doodles, I can't imagine not treating mastitis! The other doe that we sent samples in for did not show coliform so hopefully it hasn't spread to any of the other does. How is it spread?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Because there is no treatment that works. It will either blind the half or go systemic and kill her or she will get over it with her own immunity.

All mastitis is spread from our hands, inflations (why you want to dip inflations between does and wash your hands between does, better is to wipe down your gloves between does). It is also environmental in the case of ecoli....but at not time can a doe get mastitis if her orifices are tight and don't leak, if she is not overuddered so she is spraying or dripping milk. Mastitis is one of the things we cause in our goats. A kid nursing a doe can spread mastitis in it's mouth as it nurses other does. Vicki


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

From what I have read, it is not terribly contagious from animal to animal but more from bedding and stuff like that.
You could decide to treat it once and see how it responds. My first dairy goat had mastitis and a couple more does had cases after that. Now, I will treat (after a culture/sensitivity) and if they don't respond, I am done. I like to give them a chance, but I can't afford (financially and emotionally) to sink more into a doe than that. I would put her down before selling her as brush goat though. If the infection recurred, she could end up getting really sick, and around here, brush goats don't get much care.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

That is animal to animal Michelle. She leaks in the bedding and another doe lays down with an overfull udder. A doe is spraying milk at a show, your doe is walking in the sprayed milk, she then goes to her pen and lays down with an overfull udder with her feet right by her teats. You get the does milk on your hands when you are milking, you go right on and milk the next does teats with her orifice open. Gloves the same way. Inflations have milk from the previous doe in them and you put them right onto the next doe. A kid nurses, then nurses another doe. Then of course is environmental ecoli, a doe lies in a wet sloppy pen with an overfull udder....or gets ecoli bacteria on her feet at the mud around a leaky water trough, she walks this through the barn bedding and overfull does lay down with this near their teats.


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## doodles (Nov 1, 2007)

I found this
http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-herd/features/155973745.html


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

That is encouraging, Angela!


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Did you see the comment to that article, too? It had some interesting info:

_Thats funny weve been treating coliform and klebsiella mastitis for decades with good results all the while listening to the supposed experts. Your cure rate directly depends on the severity of the case and especially how early it is caught. If it goes 24hrs before finding the case you basically trying to save the cows life or quarter. In those bad cases we do the intramammary infusions along with 1000ml saline with 60cc terimycin in the vein. The chances of saving a cow also depends on how big of a producer that cow is the more milk she gives the harder it is to turn a cow around._

Also, the med mentioned in this article, Ceftiofur Hydrochloride can be found in Naxcel. Also in Excenel, but that was not the drug used in the study below. Here's some info out of another article about intramammary use of Naxcel (UC Davis study) (sorry this is long, but I thought it would be easier if you could read it here than having to go to all these links):

_Ceftiofur is an antibiotic approved for treatment of respiratory disease, metritis and foot
rot in beef and dairy cows. The product approved for use in dairy cattle is marketed by
Pfizer under the trade name Naxcel. This product is approved for IM or SQ
administration only. When used according to label instructions, the drug concentration in
milk will not exceed the FDA tolerance or legal limit. This antibiotic has a zero day
withdrawal time for both meat and milk. Another ceftiofur formulation has been
approved for use in swine and its use in dairy cattle would be extra-label.
Under the direction and label of a veterinarian, ceftiofur is occasionally used for
treatment of mastitis and given by intramammary infusion. Needless to say, this is an
extra-label use of this antibiotic as it is an off-label treatment. FARAD (Food Animal
Residue Avoidance Databank) reports that the use of ceftiofur by intramammary infusion
will results in levels in the milk that exceed the tolerance limits and may result in a milk
residue violation.
A recent study1 reported the results of a trial in which 5 mature Holstein cows producing
between 40-60 lbs of milk per day were infused with ceftiofur into the mammary gland.
At the time of intramammary infusion, the cows were showing signs of clinical mastitis.
Each cow was given 300 mg (6 ml) of ceftiofur in two quarters by intramammary
infusion. This was repeated again 12 hours later at the next milking. Milk samples were
collected from all four quarters at 12 hour intervals for 10 days after the second
treatment.
During the 10 day sampling period, no ceftiofur was found in the milk from the untreated
quarters. Milk from the treated quarters had ceftiofur concentrations above the tolerance
limit for up to 7 days following the last infusion. Higher producing cows in the study
clear the antibiotic somewhat faster compared to the lower producing cows. This may
indicated that cows with mastitis that results in low milk flow may require even longer
periods of time to clean the antibiotic following intramammary infusion.
Be sure to keep in mind that intramammary infusion of ceftiofur can only permitted under
the direction of a veterinarian following the regulations for extra-label antibiotic use. It is
the responsibility of the veterinarian to provide an appropriate milk withdrawal time for
this extra-label use. Failure to consider the extended presence of ceftiofur in the milk of
low producing cows or those being treated with mastitis, may produce an milk residue
violation. It seem reasonable to test the milk from low producing cows (less than 30 lbs
per day) at the end of the suggested 7 day withdrawal period to insure that a milk residue
violation will not occur.
1Smith FW, Gehring R, Riviere J, et al. Elimination kinetics of ceftiofur hydrochloride after intramammary
administration in lactating dairy cows. JAVMA 224: 1827-1830, 2004._

Marion


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

This was in Hoards magazine also. Please read it carefully, your doe has stopped milking on one side, so she is already in the group that although you could get numbers down with systemic injections of Naxcel and using it also as an infusion (easiest to just inject some into tomorrow or today like we do for staph with Gentemycin) but those cows were never cured. And they don't talk about cure, they talk about keeping numbers of bacteria in their bulk tanks down, so no cow is then not tested positive like your doe is unless she spontaneously does it on her own (and they state that a percentage do).

And in treating with naxcel, as an infusion, note they did not come back and say it treated the coliform, it was about milk withdrawal. It's been long known that does who were poor milkers, had longer milk withdrawals than good milkers. Their whole metabolism is slower, not just because they have mastitis, in which the inflammation stops the flow of blood in the udder.

Nearly two bottles of naxcel later, make sure you milk test, tell us your results. I would bet there are those on the forum with dairies, who would help you pay for this little study, as long as you publilsh the original lab tests and the new lab tests after treatment. With the long milk withdrawal and her showing symptoms, not sure if this is a viable case anyway.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

To be honest: I have a dairy, and I would not be that interested in the study, because indeed, who can afford sticking that much meds in a doe with the current milk and feed prices resulting in an extremely skinny margin. Every already doe will need to milk very well to earn her keep and fact is: these E-coli does do not milk well, cost extra money AND are a risk to the rest of the herd, so culling is probably the best choice in most cases. I see treatment as much more likely to happen for people who have the doe as a pet or family milker.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Mastitis is always a failure of immune function. You must know every individual well enough to note their needs that exceed those of the rest of the herd and decide if opting for extra support is worth the payback. The organisms are always available to infect your animals.
The animal must be in good enough health to resist the effects of infection which is highly individual. Look to your mineral mix and the salt content which may be too high for proper intake for optimum immunity. Consider increasing your zinc levels herd wide with Zinpro or some other specific chelated source of zinc.


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## LisaDiane (Jan 21, 2018)

NubianSoaps.com said:


> Because there is no treatment that works. It will either blind the half or go systemic and kill her or she will get over it with her own immunity.
> 
> All mastitis is spread from our hands, inflations (why you want to dip inflations between does and wash your hands between does, better is to wipe down your gloves between does). It is also environmental in the case of ecoli....but at not time can a doe get mastitis if her orifices are tight and don't leak, if she is not overuddered so she is spraying or dripping milk. Mastitis is one of the things we cause in our goats. A kid nursing a doe can spread mastitis in it's mouth as it nurses other does. Vicki


I have to disagree with this statement that "ALL mastitis is spread from our hands".. as we have two cases right now in does who have never been milked in their entire lives.


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## LisaDiane (Jan 21, 2018)

buckrun said:


> Mastitis is always a failure of immune function. You must know every individual well enough to note their needs that exceed those of the rest of the herd and decide if opting for extra support is worth the payback. The organisms are always available to infect your animals.
> The animal must be in good enough health to resist the effects of infection which is highly individual. Look to your mineral mix and the salt content which may be too high for proper intake for optimum immunity. Consider increasing your zinc levels herd wide with Zinpro or some other specific chelated source of zinc.


I have also recently read where copper deficiency can lead to mastitis.


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