Mastitis? What would you do? (Edit: PICS ADDED)

[al7neu]

I have a doe with what I think is mastitis. I know she's had it at least a week, but she hasn't had a litter in about a year. The teats aren't the least bit hot or hard, but are dark at the tips and caked a little. Some teats are almost normal, one is quite dark Only the teats seem affected. The rest of the gland (i.e. under the fur) isn't noticeable. The doe seems perfectly healthy on all other counts--active, eating, pooping, lovely coat, etc.

Has anyone had this before? I am reluctant to give penicillin when she's mostly healthy and it can cause problems. What should I do?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I don't think it could be mastitis since she hasn't been lactating. Her teats could just be abraded from the cage floor, or maybe she has fleas or mites, or possibly a fungal or bacterial infection.

Could you post some pictures?

 

[Dood]

Pictures please.

It is normal for teats to have a waxy substance coating them, it acts as an antibiotic and barrier to infection, and it can get dirty or black looking.

 

[al7neu]

Unfortunately, it is definitely infected. I thought mastitis was any infection of the mammary gland, but if not, then I guess some other sort of infection.

Here is the worst one:

And here is average. I think it looks a worse in person. You can see where the yellow caking is (on the left, at the base of the teat), thought it is overblown:

There is one that's basically normal.

Again, nothing is hard or hot, the internal portion of the mammary gland isn't palpable. There is no smell (even on the really bad nipple). Just some swelling (I think?) of the actual teat, definitely dark tissue at the tip and yellow flaking/caking around the base of the teat

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hmm. I'm not sure if that is normal or not- all of my mature does are in production.

The crust does resemble the dander that I found on a buck with a fungal infection. However, with fungal or bacterial infections, I would expect hair loss. :?

Until someone else advises you, you may want to wash her nipples with warm water mixed with a bit of Betadine. Extra-Virgin olive oil has curative properties, and would loosen the crust, so another option would be to just swab her nipples with that.

 

[Dood]

I consider mastitis as an infection of the milk ducts.

They dont look too bad to me, and I wouldn't give injectable antibiotics for this if it was my rabbit but you say they are worse in person. The fact that

The teats aren't the least bit hot or hard,

leads to believe this is superficial. I would clean the teat, apply a topical antibiotic, disinfect the cage and see if it gets worse.

 

[skysthelimit]

I've had full blown mastitis here, hard, caked lumps along the milk ducts. If it's just the nipple, I would not give antibiotics either. It might be the start, so just keep it clean.