mastistis in dogs

[braddah]

aloha,

i have a mother dog who just had a litter of puppies. one of her breasts has huge hard cyst. from what i read its called "Mastistis"

Anyone know of any home remedy's till i can get to the vet for some antibiotic?

[missydog1]

The only home treatment I could think of is warm/hot compress to help loosen things up, but I would think it needs to be aspirated or lanced, and that's not something most can do at home.

I took a look online to see if this would be horrible advice, and one site advised not waiting on the antibiotics, as in 12 hours could make it go anaerobic and gangrenous, big trouble. Another site had a less dire viewpoint.

Personally I would get an emergency appointment if she were my pet, like tomorrow, and wouldn't wait out the weekend, unless you don't think it's a real infection.

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/mastitis-in...page1.aspx

The problem with an infected cyst is it can turn into a volcano and rip a hole to get out; it will find a way to erupt. So if you can get it aspirated you can get controlled drainage.

Yucky, I know!
Note: in no way do I claim any expertise in this stuff and my experience such as it is comes from human beings and cats, not dogs.
But in your place, I would do the compress continually (until you run out of energy), like tonight, and I would also get the antibiotics ASAP. Compresses are a wonderful tool for nudging boils and cysts to resolve.

[braddah]

Thank KathyH....

i appreciate you taking the time to give me some pointers.... i put the compresses on it and so far i sqeezed a little "junk" out...
I know not very pleasent stuff[xx(].

Hope Aloha Vet has openings tomorrow....

Wish me luck!!![]

[csgray]

Mastitis is caused by a clogged milk duct, the important thing is to get the milk freely moving through the teat again. You are doing the right thing by trying to express the milk after using a hot compress. If you can get her to let the puppies nurse on that teat it is a more efficient way to get things moving. The body continues to produce milk even if it isn't going anywhere and the teat becomes engorged, that can lead to infections. Ask about long term side effects for the puppies before you go for antibiotics, there is a whole generation of us walking around the planet with really bad teeth because our mother's were given tetracycline for mastitis while breastfeeding during the 60s.

My experience is with humans and dairy animals but the structure of mammary glands (boobs in scientific terms) are pretty similar across species.

Carol

[braddah]

very informative....

thanks for in info Carol...[]

[missydog1]

hope mama is better today.

I certainly agree with Carol about the over-use of antibiotics. Not knowing whether it was a true infection that could become blood born, I was urging you to get it evaluated, because infections can progress so fast, and it can be hard to get professional help on weekends.

The article I read had some concerns with the pups taking in pus with the milk and picking up an infection, but it also advised using the nursing to resolve the problem. I think it said to try to move the puppy's mouth around the teat in a circular fashion, so that suction would get applied evenly to the milk ducts. Rotating periodically, not constantly moving ... []

[braddah]

Hi Kathy,

She seems to be doing ok... just a little tender in the area.

For some reason this one certain pup is always trying to suck on that teat... go figure....lol!

i couldn't get her into the vet today, but kept expressing the wound. looks to be a little smaller.... not quite sure tho.

Thanks for the reply and the concern for my girl... []

[missydog1]

I'm glad to hear she's OK! Maybe that pup is smart ...

btw, by rotating, I didn't mean rotating from one teat to another. I meant rotating the angle the pup is nursing the trouble teat -- supposed to help with the blockage.

It sounds like she didn't/doesn't really have an infection, if it's not red, or hot, or hot area spreading. I saw some photos online that were seriously scary. Could be worse.

[Lucy]

Canine Mastitis

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/112006.htm&word=canine%2cmastitis

The veterinary guidelines.

Lucy

Having another Great day in Paradise, Wherever that Maybe!

[braddah]

Thanks for all the help and advise Lucy and KathyH!!!!

She is doing alot better and is looking alot more alert.

If it wasn't for you both heading me in the right direction, i'm not sure what kind of condition she would have been in.

I can THANK YOU enough!!!![]