Is Mastitis Treatable?
I have learned so much about mastitis over the years. There has been some continued education happening here on the farm since our most recent bovine lady freshened (had her calf and began producing milk).
Before I get into the HUGE REVELATION I had this summer in the mastitis department, let’s review the versions of mastitis.
Mastitis comes in 2 basic varieties –
- Strep infection
- Staph infection
STREP INFECTION
If it’s strep you will give your lovely bovine a series of treatments (super simple, you just inject a serum into the teat). It doesn’t hurt the cow and can clear up an infection in days.
STAPH INFECTION
Staph is basically untreatable. 1% of staph mastitis cases are cured.
Did you hear that? 1% of staph mastitis cases are curable.
Once staph moves into that quarter or udder, it pretty much moves in for life. You can treat it and it can get better, but it is always there waiting to flare up on you right when you were going on vacation.
This year we welcomed a precious cow to our homestead. She was healthy and had no history of mastitis.
She delivered a perfect heifer calf (girl) in spring and freshened with a slight case of mastitis.
Only one quarter was affected, but mastitis can be a bear and I did not want another life-sentence in the mastitis department.
Daisy’s one quarter was giving me trouble and we went to the vet the first thing the next day.
In less than 5 minutes our vet easily diagnosed her condition as just a mammary infection.
I asked him if he thought it was staph (the incurable version that no one wants).
He decided he couldn’t say for sure without sending a sample out to be tested. I asked him if we should do that. He considered the request and responded that it was an expensive test and we would know soon enough if it was strep or staph.
If it was strep, it would get better. If it was staph, it wouldn’t.
He gave me a bag of meds to inject into the cow’s sick quarter (more on that in a minute). He said, “Good luck.”
I have had plenty of mastitis experience thanks to the defective cow we purchased in 2011.
I went home determined. One thing about me, I am no quitter. If this mastitis was curable – I was the girl for the job.
The next 10 days or so were spent nursing the cow. I milked several times a day. I massaged. I used heat. I used essential oils.
This is a sample of the gunk coming from her udder
After days of toil, the thin, watery, yellow liquid coming from her sick quarter began to turn whitish.
I continued to squirt hunks of unidentified junk and blood from her udder for about a week.
It wasn’t long before her udder was soft, lovely and flowing with gallons of nutritious milk.
Sometime later I ran into my vet at church.
He asked how Daisy was doing and if the mastitis had cleared up.
I told him that I was overjoyed, she recovered and was producing plenty of milk.
THIS IS WHEN HE REMARKED:
“I figured it was strep. Whenever we see the gunky stuff it is usually strep.”
This would have been GREAT to know 4 months ago. With my staph experience, my brain automatically goes to the worst-case scenario. It was SO WONDERFUL to know that her mastitis was a little bug that was cleared up in a week with meds.
Not life long.
Not incurable.
No permanent damage.
Just a simple, treatable case of mastitis.
God love her.
Yup, my doc thought it was strep all along.
I suppose he keeps these things to himself intentionally. What if he had lifted my hopes and spirits and it ended up being staph after all?
As a friend to humanity, I figured it was my duty to tell the world this information.
If your cow has mastitis and there are foreign objects and gunky matter coming from her udder – it is a good sign. It is probably strep and completely treatable.
For more on Mastitis:
go Here – What Causes Mastitis?
go Here – 9 Reasons to Get a Jersey Cow and 3 Reasons Not to
go Here – Best Practices for Preventing Mastitis
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If you are fighting mastitis, hang in there. It will get better.
XO,
Candi
PS:
If you are a hard-core homesteader with the desire to raise all or some of your food – you should consider joining the Membership Community. Members learn about keeping livestock, growing veggies, prepping for winter eating and even how to make your own healthy bread from whole wheat grains.
