Mastitis In Dogs
Mastitis is an infection of
the milk ducts. Also called
'mammitis' or 'mastadenitis.
Mastitis during nursing can be caused by a breast (teat) engorgement
(swelling). Mastitis is a blocked milk duct. You may see
cracked or damaged skin or tissue around the nipple. Bacteria gets
inside, either by a crack, or even through the pours, and can come up
suddenly, even if the teat is not engorged. An engorged breast is a mild
form of mastitis. Mastitis, if not treated can lead to gangrene
mastitis. Gangrene mastitis is caused by a bacteria that does not require oxygen to
grow (areobic bacteria). The skin turns black and dies leaving a
huge hole that will drain pussy blood. The dam will have a high
temperature and needs antibiotics. This results in the dam loosing
the teat. If your dam develops mastitis, begin treatment immediately
to avoid it turning into gangrene mastitis.
Teat with mastitis, which is very
common in Mastiff dams. This dam needs to go on antibiotics NOW. this is
a medical emergency, where TIME is very important, it is very
aggressive and fast moving, so the sooner antibiotics are started ,
the better chance of not having a blowout. (blowout)= the
swelling/infection will try to come out the side of the breast, like
a volcano that wants to erupt.
Notice how swollen the infected
teat is, the breast is placed on a hot water bottle. Hot
packs on the area is vital to the dams recovery.
The Dam is on antibiotics, and I am adding Pro-Biotics to the
puppies food. (acidophilus capsules or Yogurt)
Clavamox is an antibiotic and is
given to the dam to help fight the infection
There is mixed advice on
whether or not pups should nurse on the infected teat. Some say yes,
and some say no. The treatment for mastitis in humans consists of
letting the baby nurse on the infected side as much as possible
rotating the baby in a different direction each feeding to clear all
parts of the milk duct.
Some breeders are concerned it
may cause diarrhea, however in this case, the pups were allowed to
nurse and they showed no ill signs from it, none... Allowing them to
nurse greatly helped in the dam's recovery process. Remember, the pus is usually sterile once the
dam's antibiotics have had about 48
hours to work. Pus is just the body's reaction to the infection that creates the
pus. For the first 48 hours (before the antibiotics kick in) you have to watch
WHICH pup nurses and watch for diarrhea and/or tummy upset, after
that, the antibiotics make the pus sterile. If you decide to skip
the first 48 hours while the antibiotics kick in, you may be putting
the dam's health in jeopardy. Hand expressing the teat is not as
effective as allowing a few pups to nurse. I think I caught this in
the nick of time, Waiting 12 hours and starting on antibiotics in
the morning, could have made this much worse.
YOU CANNOT let the pups nurse,
if you cannot monitor which ones did, and closely monitor those
particular puppies. It is also not recommended to only place ONE pup
(the same pup each time) on the infected teat if it can be avoided,
so the pups can take turns nursing and will not solely get their
milk from that teat. Rotate a few pups (the same few each time) on
that teat, keeping track of who nursed and when. In this case: I
have let 4 of the 11 puppies nurse on this boob, and they did not
show any signs of stomach upset. This greatly helped in my dam's
recovery. You do not want your dam to developed
gangrene mastitis! Which would be next if left untreated or not
treated properly.
The bottom line is, it is best
for the dam's health to allow the pups to nurse on the infected
teat. HOWEVER, you have to know what you are doing. The situation
has to be monitored. Many breeders do not know the difference in
their puppies, and they wouldn't know which puppy nursed, and which
one had diarrhea and they don't put the time into it to find out. So
a sick pup, could get sicker. Because of that, a lot of vets will
advise for the average person, to not allow the pups to nurse from
the infected teat, assuming they will not keep a close enough watch
on the situation. If you are an attentive breeder, that KNOWS and
monitors her puppies, you could let them nurse. If you work, and the
pups are in the basement, and tended to once a day... don't let them
nurse from that teat. You will have to duck tape that teat over.
Keep in mind, duck taping the teat and not allowing the pups to
drain the teat is putting the dam's health at risk and on the other
hand, allowing the pups to nurse on the infected teat and not
properly monitoring is putting the pups at risk. The best solution
to this is to be attentive to your puppies. Keep track of which
selected pups nurse from that teat. Rotate them so the same pup does
not nurse from that teat twice in a row. Watch the pups who are
allowed to nurse on that teat poop to ensure they do not developed
diarrhea. If done properly, there will be no ill effects on the pups
and your dam will have a better chance of recovering.
A compress of hot clothes soaked in vinegar can help the infection come to a head, allowing it to be reabsorbed by the body, preventing it from bursting.
The infection is not in the
nipple, but way up high. mostly where my finger is pointing, in the milk
gland. Infections accumulate about 2 inches to 3 inches from the
actual nipple some times it is in between 2 nipples.
Just over 30 hours after onset,
see the normal teat beside the infected one. At this time, we are just
praying the antibiotics were started in time, as the spot, up 2"
would be the blow out spot.
Massaging the breast to help
loosen up the infection and allow the body to fight it more effectively.
It is also good to continue draining the teat by hand to express out the
infected milk and pus. Not only for the pup's sake, but for the dams
sake. Mastitis will heal up quicker if you drain the breast as often as
possible. When expressing, you need to get BEHIND the lump with your
fingers and try to squeeze it out.
30 hours after onset
30 hours after onset
30 hours after onset
30 hours after onset
45 hours
after onset - Continue putting hot packs on the area. Hot packing is
key to success. It helps the infection to come to a head without
doing a lot of damage.
Sassy with her hot water bottle, which is
being used as a heat pad for her mastitis treatment.
Placing a towel over the heat source helps
hold the heat in
Day 6 of Mastitis
Things are clearing up
Day 7 of Mastitis, clearing up. The milk is
coming out white, the swelling is down.
It is just scabs now.
Mastitis after 2 weeks, I BEAT IT... and the
teat still works! All of the extra care put into getting Sassy
better paid off!
Courtesy of MistyTrails Mastiff's
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"When I used my hand vibrator to move the milk down and the hot packs, the points of infection showed up on the other side of the teat. I had 2 points - 1 almost to the anus and another 1/2 down to the nipple, but not near the nipple like yours was. Before it could "burst", I started a very rigorous regimen of hot packs soaked in vinegar/water. My Father used to treat boils with this and even now, when we get an infection, ingrown hair, etc., I will put vinegar/water hot packs and soak a bandaid with vinegar for bedtime. The vinegar brings the infection to a head and allows it to be re-absorbed by the body. My whole house smells like vinegar, but the points of infection didn't burst and they're almost all gone now. The puppies didn't mind the vinegar at all. None of them were swayed by the smell to stay away, and their nursing helped draw the milk down too." - Courtesy of Roedertor GSD
This is SG Roedertor All That Glitters CD and her litter of puppies; Sire is BIM CH Greenwood's Achilles - Courtesy of Roedertor GSD
"Here is a picture I took this morning. The red "bump" is a very soft "bubble-like" thing from where it came to a head and was getting ready to burst (looked as bad or worse as the picture you show where you point out the point it might burst - just before the first picture with a hand massage). The teat this morning is practically normal - very soft, except for an inner small piece of "hard" right behind the bubble. We'll watch it this morning and might end up putting the packs of vinegar back on it again tonight. The puppies are down to nursing 2x/day and antibiotics were started last Friday - all of which I'm sure have helped heal this teat. She got sick last Friday - 106.1 temp going up to 107.8 by the time we got to the vet. She had pancreatitis caused by a weakened immune system (infection when she was inseminated) and an overload of fat (I will never not pay attention to fat content again!!). You'd think I never had a litter before - that's what I get for trying something new! She's a very strong girl or she might not have carried this litter to whelping, but she did and they were all born healthy, but hungry - 9 beautiful puppies! Of course the added food after whelping just contributed to the problem and eventually she couldn't handle it anymore. A sidebar to the pancreatitis was this bout with mastitis and at the time last Friday it was a solid "book" of hard that extended from up near her anus down 1/2 way to the nipple. It took another 4 days or so before I saw the point that it would burst and before the "book" developed into 2 very definite points. It is so much better this morning. I used hot mixed with cold and the massage to get it to the point where it was concentrated instead of almost the entire teat; then started on the vinegar/water hot packs and they really pulled the infection out." - Courtesy of Roedertor GSD
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Although this section is based on a
whelping of an English Mastiff, it also contains good general whelping
information in large breed dogs. You can find more whelping information in the links above. The links below
tell a story about Sassy, an English Mastiff. Sassy has a wonderful temperament.
She loves humans and Adores human children. An all around mild mannered,
wonderful Mastiff. Sassy however is not the best mother towards her puppies, she
is not rejecting them, she will nurse them when a human places them on her to
feed, however she will not clean the pups or pay any attention to them. It is as
if, they are not her puppies. This litter is getting moms milk, with major human
interaction, manually giving each and every pup what they need. In return, the
pups will be super socialized and will make remarkable pets, however the work
involved is astounding. It takes one dedicated breeder to keep this situation
healthy. Thankfully this litter has just that, a dedicated breeder. Read the
links below to get the full story. There is a wealth of info that everyone can
appreciate and benefit from.
C-Section in a Large Breed Dog
Newborn Puppies... What you need
Whelping Mastiff Puppies One to Three Days Old
Things do
not always go as planned (imperforate anus)
Orphaned Litter (not the plan)
10
Days Old Plus ++
3 Week Old Puppies
Puppies 3 Weeks - time to start
potty training
Puppies 4 weeks old
Puppies 5 weeks old
Puppies 6 weeks old
Puppies 7 weeks old
Socializing the Puppies
Mastitis in Dogs
Whelping Large Breed Dogs Main
Whelping, a new
found respect
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