# Mastitis and herbal salve type suggestions



## abtowell (Nov 6, 2009)

Last year, we only had one bout of mastitis, praise the Lord, but kidding is upon us again and while I have a medicine cabinet, having nursed lots of babies myself, I like to have a rub around in case this strikes one of our does. Anyhow, I have been buying Molly's Herblas mastitis rub, I have also used her miracle salve and Immune ST when I wasn't sure what was wrong and didn't want to resort to drugs without first identifying a condition.

So I guess my question is before I spend $80 on another order, does anyone have suggestions of udder creams or wound salves and the like that they love that may be cheaper or work better?

Thanks


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

I don't use anything topical, but I will give them a good dose of garlic and ACV. Take a bulb (not a clove) of garlic and chop it up, mix some molasses (I use black strap) with it, throw in a couple tablespoons and RAW ACV and put that in their food. Giving it at milking time will keep it from making your milk taste like garlic. It's a great antibiotic. 

I had a doe with a nasty case of dry mastitis when I came home from being out of town last spring, it was a nasty mess. Hot, painful and just chunks. It got better to a degree in a day, but took about a week to totally clear up. The doe did come back with an even udder when she freshened so I was happy! I think I treated her 3 or 4 times a day. 

If you grow your own garlic, when it's green, you can take the whole plant together and chop it all up, leaf and root for them.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Just my opinion here. If a doe has a good diet, isn't full of protein that is causing her acidosis, she is free of mineral or vitamin deficiencies and is vaccinated in case you have ecoli or staph problems on your property, than herbal things (and do you really think anything is penetrating via the skin into the blood stream into the structure of the udder) than if she did get an offending bacteria, her healthy immune system should keep most bacteria at bay that will cause mastitis. And if she does then have a break in immunity and gets mastitis (and most does are never diagnosed with mastitis when treated, it's a very poor guess...we will have many does on the forum in the spring on all sorts of stuff when they are congested or have edema or calcium deposits or injury and never had mastitis yet 'cured' by more stuff) than doesn't it make sense that if she has mastitis and is ill...remember mast is breast and itis is inflammation of...so doesn't she need an antibiotic to get the bacteria that is causing the inflammation brought down to low enough numbers for her immunity to kick in and 'cure' her?

And what is a cure? For me it is an udder that is 100%. What infusions and salves and creams give you, is scar tissue and usually a blind half, that is not a cure for me. Infusions an antibiotics and anti-inflamatories and steroids will give you a cure of 100%. So for my herd when I do get mastitis, and I had a case 7 years ago, it's a milk sample, infusions, antibiotics, steroids and anti-inflamatories, supportive therapies and going over my management that cause this.

I put herbal therapies etc....in the column with prevention.

Another warning, salves, creams and balms that contain petroleum products provide the perfect environment in which staph thrives and grows. Between it and the skin is warm and moist, not a good idea if you live in the south. V


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## rebeccasminis (Aug 24, 2010)

A great all around salve for any ouchies is comfrey, lavender, stellaria and lemon balm. Infuse the herbs in olive oil, grapeseed oil, whatever is your personal choice, add enough beeswax to make it thick ( i use 1 oz beeswax to 1 cup of oil) put in jars and let cool. I use this on burns, exczema on my kids, "booboos" and any other skin ailment. I am not so sure this would be something for mastitis and it has NO petroleum products in it, but it is great for small cuts and such. Washing with witch hazel is also something i do for skin wounds of all sorts.


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## Bernice (Apr 2, 2009)

@ Rebecca: We used to live not too far away from Franklinville, hubs, the 2 legged kids and I were born and raised in western NY until we moved back in '93 to Virginia.


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## abtowell (Nov 6, 2009)

I always give an antibiotic to myself when I have mastits and would never fail to for my doe, but I do think the cream helped alleviate the edema when massaging. I only used non petroleum products. I have human kids who have severe eczema and we don't have any petroleum products in our house at all. I was thinking more prevenative as opposed to treat. I give herbal stuff when I see signs of something and then hope I don't have to go full blown with drugs, but I have never hesitated to do so when it was needed. I just wondered if others did the same and if so what they used. I think it's nice to have something to massage the udder with or put on minor cuts and scrapes after cleaning it that is natural if it's minor. For instance we have a yearling right now who cut her lip. We cleaned it with peroxide and we are putting salve on it daily. It is healing nicely. If she comes in with pus or it;'s more swollen or whatever I will intervene with meds but right now she is fine and she is pregnant, so I prefer to stick with the herbal salve unless it fails to work. 

I fully understand making it clear though that herbal is not the answer in alot of situations, but I think we are getting more clear this year on what is and isn't at our house. Our does are vaccinated for staph after last years Christmas tree fiasco and we have not had another moments trouble with staph since then. The only thing I haven't vaccinated for yet is E. coli. I am still working on getting time to read the instructions to make sure i get it right. I love all the knowledge on this board about the vaccines and other drugs, I just wanted to know what other herbal remedies others had used that worked for them. Hope that clarifies what I was asking a little better.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

As for udder balms (not used for mastitis cure) I also make up my own stuff using comphrey, lavender.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Sondra said:


> As for udder balms (not used for mastitis cure) I also make up my own stuff using comphrey, lavender.


What about peppermint cream? I've heard that's good - I just don't know why. Stimulation maybe?


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## rebeccasminis (Aug 24, 2010)

Bernice! that is awesome, we are from central PA but we moved due to my husbands job. It is a nice area and the people are very nice, but there arent too many goat people around 
Comfrey and lavender are the greatest herbs I know of for the skin although when adding stellaria it helps the eczema even better and the lemon balm is just a nice addition for scent and it aids in calming. I wouldnt put peppermint cream on myself so i wouldnt put it on my does but I imagine it would be in some kind of natural tiger Balm type deal. I will have to look that up.....


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Increasing circulation to the udder that is infected is a good idea which is part of the reason to massage and milk frequently during mastitis and mint is known to do that but the antibacterial effect will mostly be in the skin-not in the internal tissues. The udder balm I use is infused oils with calendula mint tea tree eucalyptus grapefruit seed extract vit e. Exterior treatment to the udder is more for soothing the skin from the abuses of hand milking and to alleviate drying caused by disinfecting prior to milking. I used to see a gal that made a great 'toner' with comfrey in witch hazel. Super good for drying wounds and speeding healing but as Vicki said nothing external is going to affect an internal bacterial population.


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## wheytogosaanens (Oct 26, 2007)

Mullein is great for mastitis - at least in people!

You can drink the tea as well as using the liquid as a hot pack medium (I have used the leaves dipped in the very warm liquid). I wouldn't hesitate to use the same thing for my goats - drench with the tea, hot pack with the liquid/leaves.

And peppermint oil is very effective to help get an udder stimulated and milking out more easily - I would use it in conjunction with the antibiotics.

BTW, a hot ginger bath with sea salt is also a great thing to do for women - drink lots (and I mean like 2 quarts) of the mullein tea and then go to bed. I have recovered from Nasty mastitis in 24 hours this way - antibiotics would have taken even longer. (Of course, we catch the problem faster with people than with goats - by the time we realize there is a problem, it is generally a full-blown case).


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## Fly to the Moon (Sep 11, 2010)

A lot of women use cabbage leaves (put them in bra) to treat mastitis in themselves - I never had mastitis so never tried it. I don't think it does anything to the germs, but it reduces inflammation - which I assume is desirable? Not sure why else you'd give steroids - and also reduces discomfort.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

In being the president of my LaLechee league chapter, most women don't get mastitis, just like goats, they get clogged ducts, edema or engorgement as their milk comes in....even in women nothing applied topically to your breast is going to treat mastitis if it is bacterial....now we did use cabbage leaves when we wanted to dry up....we did use massage with peppermint to improve circulation and took herbs and drank beer to improve our amounts etc. But true illness, you go to the doctor for antibiotics. Lessening symptoms is fine...and with many forms of mastitis in our goats being enviornmental and 'catchy' I think the number one goals should be to get rid of it and to protect the udder so she can still milk.


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## Fly to the Moon (Sep 11, 2010)

Yeah, I don't think cabbage or anything like that is going to kick mastitis, but it might relieve symptoms somewhat, and maybe that would reduce scarring? Not a substitute for abx, but a supplement. And might help prevent mastitis if engorgement or plugged duct is noticed first... that probably applies more to humans, who can pretty much prevent mastitis just by keeping the milk flowing and out. But we don't have breasts underneath, where we're lying on them, on the ground, outside in the dirt, so not so much opportunity to get germs in there. Hmm. 

I should think things through before I comment, not while I'm writing, eh?


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> In being the president of my LaLechee league chapter...
> 
> aaahhh the nipple natzis LOL.....beer for sure increases your milk supply...ask me how I know  I have knocked out mastitis myself with raw garlic, small amounts of echinachea, lots of other supplements too. It was never systemic - no fever...the deal is you have to catch it when it first happens. Agressively taking care of plugged ducts...I did learn this fact recentely, a lot of women are getting mastitis from breast pads! Now they recommend WOOL ones...eeewwww...


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

It's even better to go without a bra...no plugged ducts that way!


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

I would like to take this opportunity to once again stress how important clean bedding is for newly freshened does. They often lay for many hours in the same position recovering from labor and enjoying the end of carrying that weight. But with engorged udder and maybe even slight leakage just from shifting position keeping the teat canal open they are at risk in an unsanitary bedding situation. The best way to make sure this is not a recipe for instant bacterial challenge is to keep clean bedding available. This is why we do a small night time kidding stall for new moms so that we don't have to freshen the bedding so often for those still expecting or not bred. A clean place to lay and a very primed immune system will give you a huge head start on fending off any udder ills.


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## Fly to the Moon (Sep 11, 2010)

Anita Martin said:


> It's even better to go without a bra...no plugged ducts that way!


..Oh. Maybe that's why I never had any problems. :-D


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Anita Martin said:


> It's even better to go without a bra...no plugged ducts that way!


Never! lol


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

It's even better to go without a bra...no plugged ducts that way! 
......................

Yes but without a bra I get my nipples hung up in the zipper of my jeans and have to wear really long shirts


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> It's even better to go without a bra...no plugged ducts that way!
> ......................
> 
> Yes but without a bra I get my nipples hung up in the zipper of my jeans and have to wear really long shirts


Vicki...heck with the 36 B...umm do you have 36 long? LOL...I had an old lady neighbor who I used to take the bank and to the store weekly. One week she asked "ummm hunny are wearing a bra." I don't see anything on the ground do you - heck ya I'm wearin a bra!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I was in 6th grade and a 36 B


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