# mastitis



## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

Does anyone have any experience of mastitis please? My Queen has this and I'm getting conflicting advice about whether to allow the kittens to feed from her are not. 

The Queen was poorly with a high temperature so spent 48 hours in the vets but her kittens were at home being hand fed. As a result her breasts look very bruised. The Queen is on antibiotics. 

The kittens are now back with her and she is willingly feeding them from all nipples but I've been told by a friend that this will kill the kittens


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Rubbish! Best thing for mum is to let kittens feed, or at least, that's the advice I've been given. One of my girls had it really severely and it worked for her like a charm. In between feedings, I used hot compresses over the affected nipples, and encouraged milk let down in between to keep her really empty. Of course, this increases milk production, but it takes a few days for the levels to increase, and by that time, the mastitis had well and truly gone and kittens appreciated the increased milk bar!

The only thing that I can think might be dangerous is if there is active infection/pus at the nipple sites themselves, but if there was, I'd also assume it would be too painful for mum to let kittens feed.


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

My girls have had it a few times, so long as the milk is still flowing freely and the usual colour I was told to keep bubs on mum.

Also assuming your AB's are safe for nursing mums? If she's willing to feed i'd leave her to it


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

Thank you both @carly87 & @spotty cats . Mum is sore on the bruised areas, but fortunately only one gland is affected the others are all ok. I am keeping the area clean and will try the hot compresses. The AB's are 'kitten safe' ones which is a relief, but I am topping them up to ensure they are getting enough.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

I wouldn't top up in between to be honest. Mastitis will clear up quicker if mum is drained of milk as often as possible.


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

Your post reminded me that one girl had 2 teats worse than the others, the kittens just naturally avoided those until they got better. I wouldn't top them up either, so long as they're not crying and hungry obviously.
Cabbage leaves from the fridge, as with human mastitis helps. 

Hope mum is feeling better soon.


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

I have to top up as the Queen no longer has much milk. Sadly she has abscessed and it is now sloughing off. Just awful. I 15 years I've never had mastitis in any of my cats. How long does it normally take to go through the process and heal up?


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

Sorry to hear that, I've not have one get that advanced. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to heal.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Really sorry to hear it's got so bad. Like SC, I've never had one who's advanced to that stage, so will be no help here I'm afraid. I'd also be tempted to disallow kittens to feed now that there's an active absess. Not good for them if they're ingesting infections stuff, and if she hasn't got much milk anyway, engorgement doesn't look like a problem for her. Kittens will still be Ok feeding from unaffected areas, but I'd be supervising feeds and body suiting her in between so you can be sure where they're feeding from.


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

How is your queen now, hope shes ok, my queen had a C-section, then she had mastitis, I had to keep an eye on it, then it ruptured , the vets decided to leave it open, and told me to let the kittens feed on the other teats, but it got quite bad, so they stitched it up, she then got peritonitis , had to be opened up and flushed out and have a drain in, it was awful, touch and go for afew weeks.


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

colliemerles said:


> How is your queen now


I don't mind telling you its been horrendous! After the thing started to come away all seemed to be going well. I was washing the area as advised by the vet, and the kittens were able to still suckle by careful use of a babygrow, so the bad areas were protected. However just as I thought we'd turned the corner she took a sudden turn for the worse resulting in a race back to the vets. She spent another two days with them, on a drip with powerful pain relief and a third antibiotic being pumped through her little body. I feared that she had septicaemia, and the mastitis seemed to be spreading to previously unaffected glands.

She rallied again and returned home, but this time she was not able to take her kittens back, so I am handfeeding them. They are only two weeks old so I am already exhausted! If only they'd been a week or two older I could have started to try weaning them, but it is what it is. The wounds are showing signs of healing now, but I've never seen holes like this in a living animal, its just awful ... sickening.

The queen is due to go back to the vets for a check up tomorrow. She will have a 'deep clean' and if all looks well, I understand they are intending to close the wounds ... but having read your post @colliemerles I'm now quite worried!!

I will not breed from this girl again. Although I know people have bred from cats that have had mastitis again and not had issues, I couldn't bare it to happen again, I just couldn't put her through it. We don't really know why she ended up with mastitis only 5 days after giving birth, certainly nothing was left behind in the womb (she was scanned to check). Maybe is simply produced too much milk and the kittens couldn't consume it all quickly enough? Certainly she was badly dehydrated despite drinking well ... it's all rather odd.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Afaik Sometimes it starts with scratches from kitten claws. Good luck with the feeding


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

Oh dear, sorry to read this update. 

I have bred from girls who've had it without issues but such an extreme case would really put me off doing that.


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

Yes I had heard that too OS. Not something that's ever happen to me before thank goodness! 

The vet is very pleased with the girls progress today and has decided not to stitch up today. Partly because the Queen isn't yet strong enough for an anesthetic but also because the wounds are showing good signs of healing on their own. So it's just a case of carrying on.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Fingers crossed for her, and I think spaying her is the right thing to do.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

I'd definitely spay in your position too. So sorry to hear it went so badly. If kitten claws are very sharp and the kittens are very forward, I normally take a nail file to them and just blunt off the tips so they can't damage mum or each other. Maybe something to put in the toolkit for next time.


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

so sorry to hear you have had a horrendous time, it was touch and go with my girl, she went down hill quickly, she was on a drip at the vets for a week, I have had her spayed now, could never put her through anything like that again, she was my first queen and my very first litter. here is afew pictures ,not nice and I really thought about giving up breeding before I had really began , six months on and she is fully recovered and putting the weight back on and looking healthy, she dropped below 2 KG,


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

colliemerles said:


> so sorry to hear you have had a horrendous time, it was touch and go with my girl, she went down hill quickly, she was on a drip at the vets for a week, I have had her spayed now, could never put her through anything like that again, she was my first queen and my very first litter. here is afew pictures ,not nice and I really thought about giving up breeding before I had really began , six months on and she is fully recovered and putting the weight back on and looking healthy, she dropped below 2 KG,


Yes my girl looks similar to that. She has two holes, one very large and one small on one gland. Sadly today another small hole has opened up in a second gland. This happened in just hours as there was no sign of it when the vet checked her at 9.30 this morning but by 12.30 it had opened up!

Can I ask what cat litter you used while she had those open wounds? At the moment I'm just using a puppy pad and torn up kitchen towel in her litter tray but my girl is very unhappy about using it and is waiting until she can't hang on any longer, and I really don't think that's good for her. I normally use a grit litter but dare not let her use that because we'd never get it out if any went into the wounds and she'd have peritonitis in no time!


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

she spent a lot of time at the vets, not sure what they used, she wouldn't eat anything so didn't really get up to use our litter tray, but we use biokats micro fresh, it is small grains . my girl opened up in a couple of places along her C-section scar, so they vet opened her up again and flushed her out, it was awful and I didn't know if she would pull through it all, she looked so ill and so weak. Keep your chin up, I have everything crossed for your girl, I do hope she turns a corner and starts to get better, you feel so helpless don't you. here is a picture of Khaleesi when she came back from the vets, she had turned a corner and was allowed home in the evenings, then straight back to the vets in the mornings, back on the drip, then allowed back home again in the evenings. the first pic is her after she turned a corner and was allowed home, the other two pics are of her now, fully recovered after her recent spay.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Peritonitis can only occur if she gets infected inside her tummy wall, but I agree getting litter in her wounds won't help.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

TM, could you body suit her? That way the wounds are completely covered.


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

I have only once had a girl with mastitis, noticed she wasn't eating and the external signs were slight but there. Took her straight to the vet and got a 'see how she goes' response. I know my own cats and next day was back there at 8am pretty damn cross. I know it's right to limit the use of antibiotics these days but even suspected brewing mastitis is something I think warrants them without delay.


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

how are things now Tigermoon ??


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

colliemerles said:


> how are things now Tigermoon ??


Well ten days since my last post!! The vet decided against stitching the wounds, and they are now almost completely healed, just the largest one still has a small area to close up. The girl is still rather sore so is on Tramadol and is also taking Metacam as well. She has come off two of the antibiotics that she was on, just leaving her on Clavaseptin. I am using paper pellet litter for her and that is working well. She did go through a period of eating very little and I began to worry that she was giving up. Fortunately, things have picked up in that direction.

Sadly I was never able to give her back her kittens, meaning I have had to step in and hand rear them, something I have never done long term before. Utterly exhausting, I feel like I've been living in a bubble! We've had major constipation issues with the kittens, despite watering down their milk, it has been a complete nightmare. However we are now starting to wean them and they are going for longer between feeds (thank god!!). The kittens have been doing well, but missing their Mum they all sucked on the fur of their smallest sibling, rendering him completely bald and looking very like Gollum! In the end I had to cobble together a system to keep them separated within their cardboard box. It worked and Gollum's fur is now growing back (I'm afraid the nickname has stuck ).


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

Dear little Gollum, well done with the kittens.
Glad to hear mum is coming along.


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## Cerijoanne (Jun 28, 2015)

Awww I'm soo happy she's getting better. Haha...Gollum...I love it!


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

_We've had major constipation issues with the kittens, despite watering down their milk,_
I hope you never need to know again but it's a common misconception that you water down the milk for constipation - it needs to be richer rather than weaker.

So glad the mum is better.


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

I am glad there is light at the end of the tunnel, so glad mum is on the mend and the kittens are doing well. I do feel sorry for you, I bet you could sleep for a week !!!! I was lucky that mum carried on seeing to the kittens, but I did wean them as soon as I could, that was fun and games and they used to get in a right mess. we had 4 kittens but lost two, one when they did the C-section and one 24 hours later, so we only had two kittens and I think mum was able to cope with them, with alittle help from me. love the name Gollum lol. I can almost picture him.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Tigermoon said:


> <snip>The kittens have been doing well, but missing their Mum they all sucked on the fur of their smallest sibling, rendering him completely bald and looking very like Gollum! In the end I had to cobble together a system to keep them separated within their cardboard box. It worked and Gollum's fur is now growing back (I'm afraid the nickname has stuck ).


Sometimes they suckle on another kitten's penis, or even their own.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Really Havoc? Wasn't aware of that. I've ended up just changing milk brands in the past as the constipation never seemed to get better no matter what. KMR is raved about, but often seems to be too rich for my guys. I normally end up going the Toplife route but am worried as apparently they've stopped doing the kitten milk now, so unsure of where to go should the need arise, and with Persians, it normally does!

Sorry, completely off topic I know.

TM, might be worth trying goat's milk as this really sorted out constipation for me and the kittens grew really fat and thrived on it.


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

It is absolutely the case and very common for people to think otherwise. I can guarantee that if you mix the feed too strong you get a kitten with the runs rather than the other way round - I've seen the results of someone doing it by mistake. Getting the strength just right for a constipated kitten can't be easy as you wouldn't want to overdo it so goats milk would be a great alternative.


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

havoc said:


> I hope you never need to know again but it's a common misconception that you water down the milk for constipation - it needs to be richer rather than weaker.


Goodness who knew!!! I'll note that just in case, heaven forbid, I have to do this again.



OrientalSlave said:


> Sometimes they suckle on another kitten's penis, or even their own.


Yes this is the issue we've been having, hence why I've been separating them unless I am in the room with them. I hope they grow out of the habit!!

I don't know how to upload photos I'm afraid


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

_Goodness who knew!!! I'll note that just in case, heaven forbid, I have to do this again._
Or to pass the information on to someone who needs it  It was someone as old as I am now used to drum this in to us younger breeders and I admit it always seemed counter intuitive. It came to the front of my mind when a breeder rang me in a panic when very young kittens suddenly became very ill and careful questioning revealed she'd mixed formula at twice the strength for topping up.


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