Post by daisyhill on Jun 4, 2019 20:06:05 GMT -5
Arabel came in this morning with her left rear quarter pretty hard and tight. At first, I thought nothing of it. The two front quarters were floppy and empty, I just figured the calf had ignored the left rear. Then, as I milked her out, I thought it felt odd--like bad edema right after calving. I milked out all she let down, and the quarter was still hard and tight. It was not hot, but she did not like me to massage it. I felt no lumps, just a tight, hard quarter. I tasted all four quarters, and while I do not want to sound silly, I will say that I am the designated taster around here because I can taste a slightly off flavor in milk before others in my family do. All four quarters tasted perfect. We filtered the milk from this morning, and there was not even a faint shadow on the filter, let alone clumps or or slow straining.
This evening, the quarter is even more swollen. She fussed a little about being milked, but not too much. As long as we didn't massage, she didn't mind the actual milking. It is a little hard to say whether we got a normal amount--the calf is starting to take more milk, and what we get varies. It was certainly in the ball-park, maybe a little low. Again, the milk tastes perfect and strains perfectly. But now the swelling has extended to the front quarter on that side.
It looks super weird, only the bottom half of the udder is swollen, and there is a distinct ridge where the swelling begins,kind of a straight line along the side of the udder, halfway down. In the back, the bag is wrinkly and empty above, just like the other back quarter, but the bottom half is hard and swollen. It looks a little red, and is hot.
It does not look or act like any mastitis I have dealt with in the past. I'm wondering if it could be some kind of serious insect bite, and she is having an allergic reaction? My sister was bit by something last summer that caused her whole leg to swell, with a huge hard knot where the bite was. She was about to go to a doctor for it, when someone recommended that she try frankincense oil, which eased the pain instantly, and brought down the swelling inside an hour or two. Would it be bad to put frankincense oil on an udder?
I will do peppermint at any rate, I know that is safe and will at least increase blood flow. I'm just stuck about what else to try. My inclination is a baking soda poultice, followed by a comfrey poultice (that is what I would put on myself). But that will be tricky to execute.
This evening, the quarter is even more swollen. She fussed a little about being milked, but not too much. As long as we didn't massage, she didn't mind the actual milking. It is a little hard to say whether we got a normal amount--the calf is starting to take more milk, and what we get varies. It was certainly in the ball-park, maybe a little low. Again, the milk tastes perfect and strains perfectly. But now the swelling has extended to the front quarter on that side.
It looks super weird, only the bottom half of the udder is swollen, and there is a distinct ridge where the swelling begins,kind of a straight line along the side of the udder, halfway down. In the back, the bag is wrinkly and empty above, just like the other back quarter, but the bottom half is hard and swollen. It looks a little red, and is hot.
It does not look or act like any mastitis I have dealt with in the past. I'm wondering if it could be some kind of serious insect bite, and she is having an allergic reaction? My sister was bit by something last summer that caused her whole leg to swell, with a huge hard knot where the bite was. She was about to go to a doctor for it, when someone recommended that she try frankincense oil, which eased the pain instantly, and brought down the swelling inside an hour or two. Would it be bad to put frankincense oil on an udder?
I will do peppermint at any rate, I know that is safe and will at least increase blood flow. I'm just stuck about what else to try. My inclination is a baking soda poultice, followed by a comfrey poultice (that is what I would put on myself). But that will be tricky to execute.