Well following on from my last post about feeding my bitch who had her pups 9 days ago, I found a smallish lump (large marble'ish size) about 2" from one of her teats last night, this morning it seemed a bit bigger, and also quite hard, I also thought one of her breasts seemed a little firmer than the rest of them, so to be on the safe side, I got my OH to get her to the vet first thing this morning to have her checked out.

The vet is treating her for mastitis, although he did say that mastitis does not normally come up as a lump, but at present he will be treating it as mastitis. He gave her a jab, and from tomorrow to start her on Synolux (sp) 1 tab twice a day. he will also call us to check on progress tomorrow to see how she is.

She managed to eat about 4 chicken breasts yesterday and also some plain white fish with a touch of kibble and a little bit of natural yoghurt. This morning she has had a chicken breast a couple of mouthfuls of kibble, but not seeming too interested in any other food. She is still drinking normally. The vet did say that the mastitis could account for her lack of appetite. In her self she is a little quiet, but generally herself, she is happy to feed and clean the pups. The pups are putting on weight, I am weighing them daily, sometimes not a 10% weight gain, but I make sure these pups have an extra few minutes on the teat compared to the ones which hae put more weight on. I have asked my mentor about their weights for their age, and she says they are OK

We have been advised to keep the pups feeding from mum, and to also keep massaging the breasts. To say I am worried is an understatement. I could just cry at the moment. We'd planned this for several years, and of course we wanted everything to go swimmingly, but I feel a failure and that I've let my girl down. I know my girl and the pups are more important than how I feel, so could anyone please give me any more info on this condition, and anything else I can do?

Sorry for the long post :(

Firstly, please just stop beating yourself up and being upset, mastitis is sooooo..... common and there often is nothing you can do to stop it from happening, the most common reason for mastitis is a blocked milk duct, how are you responsible for that? You do not control the milk flow, pressure or blockages. :-)

Even if it is a bacterial infection that can come via the mouth of a pup and many other sources it is not something you control unless your bitch and pups are living in squalor, which I doubt very much, so you haven't let your girl down in anyway.

So many humans get mastitis, so the chances of bitches getting it too is very common.

Your vet has given you what he can, just continue to massage and put hot flannels on the affected teat to help break up any hard lumps, the pups are fine to feed. Your girl may well be miserable depending on how painful it is, but try not to let her feel you are upset too, keep calm and even toned when speaking to her, try not to worry your girl or be sad around her.

If the teat swells up and gets harder rush to vets asap as it can then turn nasty and eventually burst, so keep a very close eye on it and hopefully it will just be a little swollen and red and eventually go down as most do.

Best of luck, hope she is fully recovered soon and that the small lump is nothing more than a clotting of milk. xx

The lump may be due to one of the claws on the pups giving a slight infection.  My girl got mastitis when the pups were a day short of 7 weeks.  I'd decided to take her away as she was getting a bit fed up and she had lost a lot of weight by this time and I was worried about her.  I had to take her straight back to them the next day as she produced so much milk and had gone so hard. 

Pups are now gone and thankfully in the last week she has started to put on weight and is no longer producing tons of milk!