My bitch whelped a week ago.
I noticed last night one of her breasts was hard and swollen, and was also
running a fever 103.7F
I knew it was mastitis straight away, I have suffered it myself.
I began massaging the breast, and then expressed all I could out of it. Some
green puss came out, and I put a warm flannel on it.
I then called my vet who told me to keep up what I was doing, and that he
would see her in the morning.
We got to the vet who diagnosed mastitis, he gave her 2 shots, one an
anti-biotic and the other an anti-inflamatory. She also has anti-biotics in
tablets.
He has asked me to start feeding the pups every 3 hours, to take some of the
demand off her.
I have to take her back Monday, but have an emergency number if she gets bad
over the weekend.
My girl may be facing an general anesthetic if an abcsess forms, so the the
affected area can be drained off, but he said that is a last resort as she
wont want to feed the pups after he has done that.
She has 8 nipples and a tiny malformed one. The pups have sucked on it and
made it sore, a little milk was coming but now has stopped. Its now huge.
The vet said only 6 of bitches nipples are working and producing milk as they
should, and that the breast opposite the affected one, looks like it is
going the same way.
Has anyone here been through this? I have heard that once a bitch has had
mastitis, it is best to not breed from her again?
Also the vet told me to keep letting the pups feed from the affected teat, but when I express from it, lots of green puss comes out, (which the vet knows about), won't the bacteria in the pus make the puppies ill?

Please share any experiences with me, I would be most grateful!

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