What is CL? And is it Dangerous?

CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis) is a contagious bacterial infection in Goats and Sheep. This infection occurs thru open wounds, as well as oral ingestion of the puss from a ruptured abscess on a CL Positive animal.

If you get CL in your herd, it does NOT mean you purchased a CL positive animal. CL can be transferred from something as simple as a fly that has carried it from another herd or nearby animal.

The Goats lymph node system helps to keep the Goat safe by filtering the bacteria and pushing it into an encapsulated puss filled abscess. This abscess can not harm the Goat unless it ruptures.

CL although a disease, and highly contagious, is not that scary when you learn how to handle the disease itself. Contrary to what most people are told, CL is NOT A DEATH SENTENCE! Many Goat owners are able to house CL positive animals without spreading it to other members of the herd with cleanliness and extreme caution on animal handling. However some Goat owners prefer to cull positive animals to maintain less chance of spreading. The choice ultimately is of the Herdsman.

Once a CL abscess ruptures, that animal then becomes HIGHLY CONTAGEOUS. Because of this, most Goat owners opt to separate animals that show any abscess signs until they can have the puss tested for CL.

Not ALL abscesses are CL. however ones that appear at lymph node gland sites are more likely to be.

Abscesses can be caused by MANY things besides CL such as, non harmful tumors and vaccine injection sites to name a couple. But to err on the side of caution, when in doubt, separate and test.

A ruptured CL abscess is virtually unmistakable. The puss is thick with a yellowish tinge and a cheesy consistency. Although blood tests (the more inexpensive tests) can be done, these are NOT 100% accurate. Any animal that has had a CL Vaccine WILL TEST POSITIVE ON A BLOOD TEST. (Read more about CL Blood Tests here)

The only way to test for CL with 100% accuracy is to test the puss from an abscess on a positive animal.

Because the CL abscess encloses the puss into a fibrous capsule, there is no medicine that is able to penetrate the abscess and treat CL. However, there is steps you can take to help stop the CL from spreading.

You can separate the Goat, lance and drain (make sure you COMPLETELY drain) the abscess. House this Goat separately until it is COMPLETELY healed over, then return it to the herd. (I do NOT recommend this personally, due to the fact that unless 100% of that puss from the abscess is caught and properly disposed of, the risk of spreading is still there)

Or, you can inject Formalin (an off label drug) directly into the abscess. This essentially "embalms" the abscess and allows it to fall off in a non contagious scab.

This is the safest way to eliminate the CL abscesses safely and with minimal risk of exposure both to the environment and to other animals. As long as the Formalin is carefully injected only into the abscess, it is unlikely to penetrate thru the thick walls into the body tissue or organs.

CL is an unfortunate but almost absolute part of Goats, if you do not have it now, you WILL have it in the future. Vaccinate for CL and keep some Formalin on hand, sit back and relax. It is scary, but it is also manageable. Together, we got this!