08/02/2026
I've been quiet recently, dealing with real life, which, for me, means putting social media on the back burner. Sugar, my lovely milking girl, developed acute toxic mastitis 2 weeks ago. I ensure I practice top notch sanitation and hygiene with milking, and unfortunately that isn't always enough. Her being alive right now, I absolutely credit to her strong will to live, and (not to pat myself on the back too much) my micro management to ensure healthy goats prior to her illness. At the beginning of this, she had a clean f***l, no anemia, and perfect CBC. If any of those factors were different, she likely wouldn't be here still. Sugar was off 2 wks ago on a Sunday, a mild fever, no signs of mastitis and even a normal milk test. I gave some banamine and B complex thinking she got a little overheated. By Monday morning, her temp was 107.5° (high end of normal for a goat is 103.5°, so her temp was absolutely critical). I took off work and we brought her to our wonderful country vet, and we both thought she may have silent pneumonia due to no other real symptoms besides fever and lethargy.
Fast forward to Wednesday, she continued to decline despite the antibiotics and NSAIDs from the vet. It was that evening I noticed the left half of her udder swollen, and when milked, it was clearly mastitis. We got to the vet Thursday, got new meds including more antibiotics, different NSAIDs, intramammary antibiotic, fluids with instructions on tubing fluids. At this point she wasn't really eating or drinking on much at all on her own. Since then, it's been a slow road with a lot of daily care, but I can finally say she's making good progress and starting to get back to her old self. I'm still giving daily B complex and probiotics and working extra hard to make sure she's eating and drinking as much as she will.
It was actually beautiful weather this morning, and she was looking for her kids (see video still lol... they're about 5 months old, she was stalled alone but within sight to allow her to rest and me to monitor her food and water intake). I decided to open both their gates, and to my joy, she decided to join the herd for some grazing time. She also refused to leave the herd, so she's comfortable with the herd and her kids tonight.
She absolutely is thin, but that's an easy fix and to be expected after 2 weeks of eating the bare minimum. Now that her appetite is getting back, I'm sure she'll be the fat herd queen she's used to being in no time ❤️
