Healing process for Jubilee

This morning, Jubilee's dead half udder fell off. She has being chewing on that teat for a while, and now the dead tissues came off. Karen took a look and said everything looks normal. Reading online about black Mastitis, it appears to be part of the normal healing process. We have restarted drinking Jubilee's milk, but yesterday night and this morning, I gave it to our dog and our cat, concerned that the dead udder would result in secondary infection. We are spraying her udder with Fight Back, which is a Black Mastitis treatment. Jubilee is acting normal, calling for company every time she sees us, and resting/ruminating, or grazing, at the same time as the other goats. She eats grain during milking, and fights to get off the milking stand once the grain is gone.

Stopping Treatment on Jubilee

I called a vet Friday and Saturday, but the vet was too busy. It looks like a good vet can have a busy career around here. Jubilee is still not flowing on her left udder, and at this time I suspect it is dead. I have been told a dead half udder is fine, she can live with it. I saw her licking the damaged teat. I hope she is not re-infecting herself. So today we stopped the antibiotic treatment, and we'll see how it goes. She received the treatment for 16 days. If Jubilee is still fine a week from now, we will start pasteurizing and drinking her milk. She is producing more than a quart a day on that half udder, which is plenty for us. Being milked on 1 side only will also take a lesser load on her, so I really hope she makes it.
We will still need to see a vet eventually, to know if we should dry her earlier, what precaution should be taken for drying her, and if we should breed her again.
I am now thinking on breeding Dolly, the LaMancha, with Papa, our Nigerian buck, to get mini-Manchas. They are not as noisy as Nubians, and Jubilee, as a Nubian, is VERY noisy. So for folks living in town, a mini-Mancha is more desirable than a mini-Nubian.

Jubilee

Left half udder is still not flowing, after 2 weeks. The teat skin is slowing improving, softening, but there are scar tissues still, and no flow. The right half is now producing about a quart a day. Jubilee is still under antibiotic injections. I am trying to contact a goat specialist to know what to do next. It looks like the teat is improving well, and will eventually flow, but I am worried about the udder itself, being blocked for now 2 weeks. I am also worried about 2 weeks of antibiotic injections. Hopefully we will get through this soon.

Caring for Jubilee

Two days after we got Jubilee, signs of trouble were obvious, serious trouble. The second day, her left half udder was a little bit harder to milk, with some clumps in the milk. The following day, Jubilee was sitting down, and her left teat was swollen, with blood and no milk coming out, the right teat went dry. She had mastitis, likely due to the previous owner not milking her often enough (she told us she was milking once a day). Having lost two goats from poisonning, we decided to try harder to save Jubilee. She looked like she was not going to survive more than 2-3 days, so Saturday morning, we called Pilchuck vet clinic, and the vet saw Jubilee. The first question was is there a baby still in there. The X-rays showed an empty womb. The doctor said that seeing her level of discomfort, there was a good chance she would not make it. He gave us fluid sub-cutaneous injection, to re-hydrate her, and intra-muscular antibiotic injections, to fight the infection. The bill was $450 (Pilchuck is an emergency-only clinic). After just one day, Jubilee was still very sick, but appetite was coming back, she was moaning again, weak, but better. The third day was even better, but the left teat was looking really bad. The right side of the udder started to fill up, but would not flow. On the fourth day, the right teat was flowing again (after long minutes of squeezing it). Jubilee was regaining her voice, and making it known! She was walking a little strange, her front legs cracking, and not looking very assured. I took her outside, and she ate fresh grass from the ground, while I was trying to get that teat to flow. On Thursday, I put her back with the other goats. Sub-cutaneous fluid injections stopped on Friday, but antibiotics continued. On Saturday, I started using bag balm on the udder skin, particularly on the left teat and the scar tissues around it. Her condition slowly improved through the weekend, with more and more milk flowing from the right side, but nothing but blood (less and less of it though) from the left side, with the udder feeling hard. Scar tissues appeared at the base of the left teat, which was no longer swollen, but appeared black. Sunday night, 8 days after seeing the vet, The left teat was still not flowing, so we re-ordered antibiotic injection, since we were out.
She is eating well, acting fine, still walking a little odd, but standing her ground against the other does, head butting at time. I need to get that udder to flow on both sides.
If we save Jubilee, we will have spend more money than the market says she is worth, but for us, it will be our first victory against our animal illnesses, and it would mean a lot.
Mastitis is caused by bacteria, and once it has happened in a farm, it is difficult to get rid off. Be careful when you buy goats. If it happens that our other does are infected, we will stop breeding them, and use them only as bush eater, still caring for them, but without risking their life in breeding them.