Potential Mastitis-Help Needed - Page 1

One of my Golden Ret. bitches just had a litter, June-22-07, she started whelping at 3:00pm, and didn't have any milk from any of her teats. When she finished whelping around mid-night, she did have milk. We took her into the vet first thing yesterday morning, LESS THAN 24 hours after whelping, and my vet cleared her, said she was fine. Then, about 11:00pm June-23, her breasts felt warm, and semi-hard, with the texture of cottage-cheese. They are sensative to the touch, and nothing is flowing, not milk, pus, nothing. We have the pups off of her, and have been hand feeding them since we felt her breasts, but until we can get to the vet, I am wondering the following:

1. Does it sound like Mastitis, or something else?

2. When we go to the vet, and if they prescribe anti-biotics, WITHOUT STERIODS, do you have any specific suggestions?

3. Are we doing the right thing by keeping the pups sperate from her, and hand feeding them?

 

Thanks for any and all help provided. and yes, as soon as we can, she's going to the vet. If you don't want to post publicly you may email me at:

blueskyek9@charter.net

Keep trying to get the pups to nurse, if you don't allow them to try you could cause her to not produce anymore and have alot of work ahead ot you. The vet will give you something that won't affect the pups from drinking, they make get loose stools but will clear up shortly. If their stools continue to be affected a proper dosing of Albon should clear it up.  Kiss your little babies and the momma and get her to the vet.

 

Kari

From my farming relatives, I know the treatment for mastitis in dairy cows is to massage the affected teat, (but of course, it's pronounced 'tit'!) and try to strip out the milk. And that's exactly the treatment I found when I googled mastitits in dogs!

http://www.cupidtownshowdogs.net/mastitis.html

It is recommended you NOT let the pups nurse, as there will be toxins  in the milk that may harm them.

Taking the pups away from mom would not have been my first choice. Keeping the pups from drinking stops the milk flow, thus actually increasing the likelyhood of mastitis. The way to avoid mastitis is to keep the milk flowing and to make sure that all teats get emptied properly. Pups usually avoid teats that are hard to drink from ie if there is a blockage/onset of mastitis or taste off due to a possible infection. So when the pups stay with mom they keep what is in working order in working order and help you detect problem sites easier.   I find it hard to believe that the whole milkbar was hot and felt like cottage cheese. Probably just one or maybe two of her teats felt like this. Usually a blocked milk duct, not yet full blown mastitis. When pups first start nursing its important to check all teats regularly, several times a day, to make sure there are no such blockages and if a teat has not been nursed off properly to milk it off to avoid any problems setting in and see why it has not been nursed properly. If the pups did not drink from all teats, only took to the easiest ones or some teats are not emptied properly blockages can happen quickly. Actual infection does not set in that quickly though and the milk does not spoil that quickly either, so the pups are usually safe when they are allowed to keep nursing. Heat and hardness are signs of an inflammation, infection follows only if things progress for the worse. Within 24 hours of the pups starting to nurse, your reaction to take them off mom IMO was a bit hasty. Should have called the vet for advice before taking this course of action, discuss a battle plan, what you can expect from this, how to handle it and what your options are. Now your options are limited.   Now that you have already removed the pups and everything has come to a screaching halt you need to get the milk flowing again. She will probably appreciate that as she must be in quite a bit of distress by now with no pups relieving her of her load. And it might be painful for her but you have to work through that. Can't be too squeemish now.

To get the milk flowing again you need to milk the affected teats out by hand, since there are no pups nursing at all, I would milk out every teat. Start with one teat that seems the most normal right now. Massage the area surrounding it, working from the belly side towards the nipple. If there are any hardened areas start working from behind them, gently work through the hardened areas and then towards the nipple. Then start a squeezing motion of the whole bag so to speak from the belly towards the nipple in a smooth motion. Hot compresses may help. Don't be too gentle otherwise you get no milk, not too hard to hurt the tissue. Keep at it til you get results, may take several minutes. Milk may not always flow right away at every little touch. The treading of the puppy paws when they nurse is what gets the milk flowing and that may take a while. So if you are checking for milk or trying to milk out a teat you may need to work on it for a while. Even if milk is already flowing elsewhere. If still nothing is coming out then try massaging/milking from a different angle, stay more left instead of right etc. Any hardened areas need special attention, the massaging should loosen up any blockages. You may not get milk but fluid that is more sticky and off colour - cream, tan or even brown or reddish. All that has to come out.   Your vet may give an antibiotics now and then tell you to put the pups back on mom. I would still start milking every teat to know what each teat produces, plus the anticiotics will need some time to get into her system and into the milk. Once the pups are back to nursing keep an eye on them. See if any get diarreah or sick, start to fade. Most likely though they will be fine. Steriods should reduce the inflammation and help keep the milk flowing. If anti inflammatory meds are needed, then give them. Not the time to be choosey. With the next litter you will know wha to look for and how to avoid this from happening again or at least keep under control manually, and then you can avoid the antibiotics and possibly steroids at that time. For now give whatever may be needed to get the situation under control quickly.