Hello Everyone! I am searching for some answers after having a long night last night and a visit to the vet today. Ok, so first of all yesterday while bathing my mini doxi, I noticed this SUPER hard long area (about the size of two whole fingers) next to one of her teets. I was assuming this was some sort of infected mammary gland. A few hours later I checked the area again and noticed something that looked like a bug bite on it (I think this was an abscess). Then again only a few hours later it was soooo much bigger. She went in to feed her 7 pups and one of them must have sucked on this thinking it was a nip. UCKO!! I looked and there was just a hole with puss and blood coming out. So, the puppy ingested this. Is this bad?

SO then... all night I kept getting up to check them all beause there was one that was crying all night. Finally early this morning I could tell that one of the pups eyes was very swollen (They are only 9 days old) and they are not open yet. Also, there was a puss coming out.

Ok, so very early this morning I was on the way to the vets with everybody. I guess the reason Im so confused is Im not sure that some of the things the vet said are right?? Ive been reading online every thing I can find about this sort of thing. One thing they did was try and force the puppies eye open. They said he could loose his eye if not??? They did not succeed and instructed me to keep trying until their recheck visit. I was given a ointment anti. to try and get in the corner of the eye. She does seem much better as if she is not in much pain. I cant even tell which one it was now. YAY! Now Im also wondering if this is from moms teet problems???

Another thing they said I question is not using or draining the teet at all. Will the infection get worse if we just dont use it at all? They also instructed cold packs instead of hot like Ive read everywhere. Is the milk bad for the pups? It looks the same as all the other nipples. No color change or anything.

I think the most important thing is that we have no antibiodics which Ive read is super important. I cant afford to go to another vet for a second opinion. Anyone have a similar exp? THANKS so much for any help!!

Oh my!! There is another bite looking thing all of the sudden!!! EEEEKKK. I know it was not there a few hours ago! HEEELLLPPPP! :)

Firstly change the bedding in her box, the only thing I personally know to cause that type of reaction is a horsefly bite.  But it could be an abscess and she has been biting at it.  But if it is weeping then that could be signs of an infection getting hold.  You need to keep the wound clean and normally would say let the air get to it but if the pups are making it worse then you may need to put a dressing on it while the pups feed and then take it back off.  For this I would recommend a pair of tights and some melonin dressing pad.  Just cut the tights at the point that fits her best.  Then you need to check the each nipple to see if they feel normal and are flowing and that the milk coming out looks normal and not thick or yellow/green.  If there is anything wrong with the milk coming out you are going to need to hand feed the pups until you get back to the vet.

I have never known a vet to try and force a pups eyes open at such a young age, that seems silly to me.  It could have been an infection or could be just a harmless bang.  Until the eye opens you wont know.  I would have expected the vet to give you antibiotics for mum and these would then be passed on to the pup that eat the puss (yuck) and the one with the swollen eye.  I dont think you should wait until the check up as things can often seem as if they are going OK for things to suddenly go down hill very quickly and in such small dogs and pups this type of thing can wipe out a litter.  It sounds to me that the vet you got has never breed a dog before and hasn't worked with breeders before.  I would take your bitch to a different vet who has experience of dog breeding and all its problems.

Hope everything is OK, but let me know how you get on.

Emma

Edited for the many typos I made.  I am sure I have missed one.

Oh My Goodness! THANK YOU! Im going to try the panty hose thing now!! I was just going to run up to our CVS and get some gauze since that second thing just bursted. This time the pup didnt suck it all out. :) But I tried to get as much stuff out that would come out. I THINK that the hardness is getting smaller as these things pop??? Im almost sure its not an insect bite but maybe fluid trying to escape or something.

I REALLY thought the forcing the eye open was wrong! I didnt want to try any more until I got some more info on it. ERRRR!!

If there are more abscesses forming, the bitch needs to be on antibiotics -is she? The thing is, that sort of problem CAN turn nasty. I know a bitch who died from it. It's a good thing when they burst, the trouble is if they do not and the infection stays inside. When one of mine had one that burst the vet gave me a special ointment that I had to squirt into the actual hole every day. It looked awful (I even took photos) but the pups still suckled from the teat and they were fine. The teat eventually healed up fine and the mother had another litter after it without any problems.

The pus in the eyes -have had that in kittens- It usually goes if the pup is given antibiotics itself, but if not, if they are a week old or more I'd definitely get a *tiny corner* open of the eye so it can drain out. Again the eye CAN get damaged otherwise -I have a cat here blind in one eye for that very reason.

So all in all I'd say the main thing is mum needs to be put onto antibiotics, she will then also of course pass it on in her milk so it will help the pups too.

Discovered the tights thing after a c section and the pups kept pulling on the stitches, glad I dont own a bigger dog otherwise the tights wouldnt fit.  It was funny at one point as we had several bits of tights with nipple holes in all hanging inside to dry.  :)  But whatever works it times like this.
At least the hardness is going down, step in the right direction.  Just demand the antibiotics at the vets tomorrow and you should be fine.

Emma

when my pups were about 10 days old one of them had a swollen eye and pus coming out i took her to the vet and they gave me antibiotics for her and eye ointment for when the eye opened and they also squeezed the eye to get the puss out i had to continue with this at home squeezing as often as needed, her eye was fine and no further infections and her sight is ok too.

as for the mastits my bitch also had this but not until the pups were 6 weeks she had a hard lump i took her to the vets and they again squeezed the lump and teat squeezed puss out until nothing more came out of her teat gave her antibiotics and i was told not to let the pups feed off this teat and also to continue to squeezed the pus out, she  never developed any abscess and the mastitis cleared up fine,

i would think you need to go back and have both the bitch and pup on antibiotics and also be squeezing any puss out.

hope your bitch and pup are well again soon

When my bitch had Mastitis when her pups were 10 days old it was vital that I milked the infection out of the gland several times a day. 

The pups fed fine but would not touch the gland with the infected milk as obviously it tasted foul. 

They thrived even though the poor bitch was a bit more subdued than normal, but she was on strong antibiotics for two weeks.

There was a post here on this not so long back, Tooolz helped the breeder through, search 'Mastitis' and have a good read, I expect tooolz will be here at some point, but the advice was excellent and sorted things.

I just wanted to drop in to thankyou all for your advise. My baby girl is much much better. The antibodics really seemed to help! Im so happy all is well again!

Thats great to hear.  Glad she is better.

Emma

Glad she is on the mend