# Clogged milk ducts?



## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

One of our does has two small hard lumps (very little) along her midline udder, between the halves...you can only feel them after milking. Compress/massage/milking 4x day didn't do a thing. Think I read that they might be calcium deposits..?? Had them checked at vet...they weren't worried about them as they were not hot/tender and didn't spread...

HOWEVER...

As of last night's milking, one half of her foreudder got FIRM, not squishy...you can actually put your fingers between it and her belly, does not loosen after milking. Called the vet last night (thank goodness I'm on decent enough terms w/the university goat vets to have their personal cell numbers!), they aren't terribly worried, but want her to come in so they can ultrasound her udder tomorrow "just in case". No heat or tenderness in it, she has no temperature, excellent appetite, behaving normal. CMT clean, as normal. Had her milk cultured last month, it was clean on 48 hour and 10 tests and no mycoplasma.

Am I being paranoid? Could this be a clogged milk duct, or does this lean towards true mastitis or something far worse? Should say, she's UTD on everything, neg for everything testable too. I'm not super clear on what a clogged duct feels like...can someone explain in simple terms? There isn't a lump, it's like the whole front edge got solid.

She is a FF, 3 or 4 months fresh...was treated w/Domperidone since she didn't have an udder...I hope that didn't mess her up....


----------



## skeeter (Aug 11, 2010)

I don't have an anawer, just going to bump this back up because I'm curious.


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

From a calcium deposit, to a reaction to the drug, to a staph filled cyst walled off, until something actually breaks loose into the milk you will continue to have no results from milk samples. Is she tender from all the messing with her, or from the actual mass? An ultasound with the amount of tissue a doe has in her udder is likely not going to answer many questions either, just like in women with large breasts. Then you can go down the aspiration road, which will end the end destroy her udder with the invasive procedure. 

Sometimes it's better to go the route of waiting and watching. Seeing if her immunity (which you can boost with bo-se) is going to continue to keep whatever is happening at bay or if she will finally show you with fever in the udder, and putrid milk or blood, what the offending bacteria is. Keep her milked out, give her vitamin C (crumbles from jeffers/Horse health) or just crush up people chewables and put over her milk stand grain. Banamine for the inflammed area. Vicki


----------



## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

Boy Vicki...you pretty much said word for word what the vets said! LOL

They did do an ultrasound, more to check for enlarged lymph nodes (none) and to look for anything "abnormal" (nothing). Said wait and see, report any enlargement to them. Said since Domperidone is extra label in goats, it *might* have caused this, and if things get more swollen (since they can't find a cause), they would just recommend drying her up and letting her udder straighten out with next years kidding naturally.

They agreed that the new hardened area feels like new, developing tissue, but that she possibly has an encysted (sp?) staph on the back. Midline is calcium lumps. Boy, I'm making this doe sound like a mess!

No tenderness at all...the only thing we got was some pinkish milk for a day after some aggressive massaging.

I left milk samples for culturing (again). Though no one expects anything from that, at least until the potential staph ruptures...that is WILL it eventually rupture? Or can it reabsorb? Are the calcium bumps permanent? Didn't think to ask those....


Wow Vicki....you could have saved me $50!

On a side note...Auburn University LOVES to see milk goats...and it's SUPER affordable! Way more affordable than taking a horse to them!


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Yes the calcium deposits can absorb, yes they can stay forever in the doe and they also can work themselves down and then block the teat  If the does immunity continues to wall off the staph there is every reason to believe that she will absorb it, but it also can blow out the side of the udder...the bacteria wants out to infect more animals and it's why it's so important that our does have the best immunity they can. Vaccination, as few mineral defficencies (selenium/copper/calcium) as we can help, keeping the PH in the doe nuetral, so less grain is better and not giving them acidosis. You will note that those who have problems with cocci, mastitis, pnemonia and worms, all things that show lack of immunity improve after being on the forum awhile with my crazy over the top prevention posts


----------



## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

The suspected Staph lump is getting smaller, with no change in the CMT's, so guess that's good. The foreudder is still nearly flat-egg shaped and very firm, but no pain/soreness. I wonder if she was low on some mineral or other...she wasn't thin when I bought her in March, but her hair coat was wiry, red in spots (she's black) and greasy feeling. We body clipped her, copper bolused/wormed blah blah blah...she looks MUCH better now, but now she's a tad bit on the hefty side. Now I need "goat diet" ideas....LOL


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

My buck I got was greasy feeling also....I have brokered thousands of goats and I have never felt a goat like him...nice to hear you have had one also. He is beautiful now, or should I say was, living with a 2 and 7 year old, he isn't greasy he's rutty yellow peey  Diets are easy, less grain...and it also shows a poor milker, likely because her udder is ill right now. So to many calories not enough milk output. Vicki


----------



## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

In what way a poor milker? She's on par with my other FF as far as production...just fat, well, the others aren't supermodels either! (see my other post on feeding)

I hadn't ever seen a greasy goat either...not even the one doe we rescued from a BBQ goat pen. Any idea what causes it?


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

No matter how fat you get a doe during the dry period, a doe who is a good milker, who converts calories to fat is going to strip that fat and convert the grain she eats, into milk. A dairy goats who can convert calories into more fat while she is milking in the first half of lactation is not milking well. You can't always get a fat goat to normal weight during one lactation unless you also starve her of calories, but she certainly can't gain weight if she is milking well.

I have no idea what the greazy feel to his fur was, it certainly wasn't from the cold he came down from or stress, because I have seen goats in all sorts of conditions and weather...it was way to cold when he got here to shave him and he still has not been shaved for the summer...so whatever it was went away on it's own with the management here.

Sorry I don't really snap sometimes that the same person is having two different posts  So I realized I said the same thing to you twice now  Vicki


----------



## Hollybrook (Jul 17, 2009)

We had a doe that had a knot form everythign was negative, it didnt go away until she re freshened I suspect the medication has soemthing to do with ur does and hope it will pass. Amanda milked our goats on short notice while we were out of town shes good people thanks Amanda!


----------

