Rarely is a home filled with such tenderness as those in which a cat has given birth to her litter and takes care of her puppies. Breastfeeding and attention from the mother during the first three weeks will be of great importance for the proper development of the kittens and adequate attention to the mother by the owner will be essential to keep the cat in good he alth, through of the necessary care.
After the cat's pregnancy there may be certain he alth problems typical of the postpartum stage and it is important that the owner is warned about them in order to detect any disorder as soon as possible, since timely treatment is of great importance for the cat's recovery.
In this AnimalWised article we talk about the symptoms and treatment of mastitis in cats.
What is mastitis?
Mastitis is defined as an inflammation of the mammary glands, the number of affected glands may vary in each case. Although it is a common postpartum problem, it can appear for other reasons.
The death of a kitten, an abrupt weaning, lack of hygiene or the puppies' own suckling are also factors that can predispose the appearance of mastitis.
Sometimes mastitis goes beyond a simple inflammation and also involves infection, in this case, the bacteria that most commonly affect cats are Escherichia Coli, staphylococci, streptococci and enterococci.
Generally the infection starts in the nipple and ascends to the mammary glands, mastitis can range from a mild inflammation that barely presents symptoms to severe infection with gangrene (death of tissue due to lack of blood supply).
Mastitis symptoms
The symptoms of mastitis in cats are very variable depending on its severity, however, from the mildest cases even the most serious ones include the following signs:
- Litter not gaining proper weight (set at 5% of birth weight per day)
- The cat does not want to nurse her kittens
- Moderate swelling of the glands, which appear hard, painful and sometimes ulcerated
- Abscess formation or gangrene
- Hemorrhagic or purulent mammary discharges
- Milk with increased viscosity
- Anorexy
- Fever
- Vomiting
If we observe any of these symptoms in our cat we should go urgently to the vet, since mastitis can be very serious both for the mother as for the puppies.
Diagnosis of mastitis
To diagnose mastitis, the veterinarian will rely on the symptoms and the patient's complete history, but may also perform several of the following diagnostic tests:
- Cytology (study of cells) of mammary secretion
- Milk bacterial culture
- Blood analysis where you can see an increase in white blood cells in case of infection and an alteration in platelets in case of gangrene
Treatment of mastitis
Properly treating mastitis does not mean interrupting the puppies' lactation, which should have a minimum duration of between 8 and 12 weeks, in fact, weaning is reserved only for those cases where there is abscess formation or gangrenous mastitis.
Continuing breastfeeding will promote drainage from the teats, and although the milk will be poorer and contaminated by antibiotics, this will not pose a danger to the kittens.
The veterinarian will choose a broad-spectrum antibiotic to carry out the treatment, the most common being the following:
- Amoxicillin
- Amoxicillin + Clavulanic Acid
- Cephalexin
- Cefoxitin
The treatment will last approximately 2-3 weeks and can be done at home, except in those cases in which there is a generalized infection or sepsis.
In the case of mastitis with gangrene, surgery can be used to remove the necrotic tissue. The prognosis is good in most cases.
