Doe on the verge of mastitis

[LittleFluffyBunnies]

So, my doe has three kits. They are all being fed well and everything, so no problem there.
The doe, however, has lumps around her nipples. I noticed it almost a week ago. There isn't any redness, heat or swelling, just lumps. I started out doing warm compresses and flipping her to feed the babies on the affected nipples(one in particular, the others off and on). The lumps went down, but they weren't going away, and while one nipple would lose it's lump another would get it. So two days ago I fed her one sprig of mint, and yesterday all of the lumps were nearly gone, so I left her alone. Today, they are back. My only thought is she is producing too much milk, which just keeps causing the problem, maybe?

Is there anything else I should do to help it? Or should I just keep doing what I'm doing? I don't want it to turn into full-blown mastitis, because I really don't want to have to mess with antibiotics.

Or, am I just being paranoid and she is fine? That could be possible, I stress a lot :lol:

 

[shazza]

are the kits weaned? if you just weaned them, leaving one in the cage with her for a couple days and feeding her milk-drying weeds can help avoid mastitis. if she's still on her kits, it's kind of odd that she's bagging up like that, but i guess not unheard of. did she have more kits and some died? most does produce milk according to how many mouths she has to feed, and a sudden death of several kits can sometimes throw her off.

either way i'd keep giving her a little mint every day, maybe not enough to dry her up, but enough to help. and just remember that she's prone to mastitis and plan accordingly next time

 

[SarniaTricia]

If the kits don't need milk anymore... keep with the mint....

If they still need milk... you may have to keep doing

You could also ask to borrow some kits and foster as many as you can on her?

 

[LittleFluffyBunnies]

Thanks for the info.

The kits are only 10 and 11 days old. She gave birth to 6 but 4 were DOA, I gave her the other doe's singleton too. So, I have no more kits to give her.

I do have a mint plant in my garden so I'll try that route. I just didn't want her to dry up since I have no other does lactating if she did. But if it's fine I'll just give her when she gets bad. I think every other day would work, since when I gave it to her once she was good until 2 days later.
And, if she dried up too much, I have plenty of dandelion to reverse it.