# Anyone have experience with Mastitis? *WARNING,GRAPHIC*



## skygirlwmu (Apr 29, 2006)

Sunday morning, Zonya came down with a very fast moving case of mastitis.  Literally, Saturday night, she was fine, bouncing of the walls as usual, and Sunday morning, she could barely stand or walk. Her puppies are 3.5 weeks old thank goodness, so I had already just started weaning them and have been able to wean them quickly.

We spent time at the E-vet on Sunday, and my vet took over Monday morning with IV fluids and antibiotic injection. I have been doing warm compresses to help out, and have been waiting for the infection to come to a head and come through the skin. I already knew that it would rupture.

Well that happened this afternoon. It seems that her breast ruptured in 3 different spots almost simultaneously. Two small holes and one large one that eventually joined with one small one to make an even larger hole.

I am not too familiar with Mastitis, other than what I have seen/read online, and it seems to me that her large hole is quite bad. I called my vet and explained everything I was seeing to him and he said not to worry, let it be, let it drain, and keep it uncovered, but clean, and keep an eye on it. He is a very good vet, with 40yrs experience and I really do trust him. Zonya's breeder also told me the same things, and to make sure she doesn't lick it. (she has an E-Coller on now) 

I am just concerned. I know that if it gets too big they may have to remove the breast. I'm also a bit worried that that small hole is going to open much bigger, as that is what it looks like in the picture (when looking at it with naked eye, that one doesn't seem so bad, so I was surprised to see it on film) and then we will have two large holes to deal with.

Zonya is doing fine, her energy and appetite have returned full force and she is no longer in great discomfort from the massive swelling. She's happy and could care less, while I, medically incompetent, look at it and it just seems so bad.

My real questions are
1. Even though the vet told me to keep it uncovered, won't it have trouble healing in such a warm, moist location (on the inside of her back teat, always rubbing against the other side) 
2. What should I clean it with, and how?
3. Has anyone seen a rupture this big before?
4. If anyone has had a rupture like this before, what else did you use to help it heal besides the antibiotics and keeping it clean?
5. Am I over-reacting?

I have e-mailed the pic to my vet so he can look at it first thing in the morning to see what he recommends at this point. But I thought I would see if anyone on here has some first hand experience or knows someone with experience of this sort.


----------



## Miikkas mom (Dec 21, 2009)

Sorry, I can't help you. I just wanted to say; POOR BABY!!!  I hurt just looking at that picture!


----------



## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Ditto on what Miikka's Mom said. Poor, poor girl.


----------



## Jgk2383 (Aug 5, 2009)

Dear god that looks painful. My Rat terrier came down with mastitis but not this severe. I think she needs to be seen again by the vet  .


----------



## TitonsDad (Nov 9, 2009)

Take a look at this website. It appears that you may be entering the worse form of it. 

Mastitis In Dogs


----------



## sagelfn (Aug 13, 2009)

Hopefully someone with experience with weigh in soon. Poor girl! I'm glad it seems she's in no pain, hope she continues to do well!!


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

TitonsDad said:


> Take a look at this website. It appears that you may be entering the worse form of it.
> 
> Mastitis In Dogs


thats the same link i was gonna post!

Sidenote: i think it might be a good idea to get her in to the vet again. That looks pretty bad.


----------



## DogGone (Nov 28, 2009)

skygirlwmu said:


> Am I over-reacting?


I can't give you an intellectual answer.
However you and your dog have my sympathies. It's not even my dog and I'm having some anxiety.


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Ouch! Did you email Chris? She might have some insight.


----------



## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

TitonsDad said:


> Take a look at this website. It appears that you may be entering the worse form of it.
> 
> Mastitis In Dogs


Interesting that they recommend allowing the puppies to continue to nurse to help clear everything out and help relieve the pressure. Earlier stages though.


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

uhhh...can't mastitis be harmful to the pups?


----------



## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Jax08 said:


> uhhh...can't mastitis be harmful to the pups?


Read the article, it makes sense to help pull out the infection and help with the swelling. But you DO have to pay attention to do it properly.


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I know a friend gave the last of frozen semen from her deceased dog to breed another and they lost all but two out of the litter because the mom got mastitis. She was heartbroken.


----------



## skygirlwmu (Apr 29, 2006)

Yeah, I let the puppies nurse once on it on Sunday, before the milk got bad, but after that, pulled them off. I've been putting probiotics in their food just in case.


----------



## dogsnkiddos (Jul 22, 2008)

I know I am NOT a dog...but I have been a nursing mama. I and a few of my friends experienced this and in addition to the antibiotics key to our treatment was the continued nursing of our offspring. If you are not having the pups nurse are you expressing the milk by hand? 

I hope you are taking her in just to have those open wounds checked. Perhaps your vet can't even visualize the extent to which they are open. I am so sad it got that far- poor mama! I hope your dogie is on the mend soon...


----------



## Phay1018 (Nov 4, 2006)

I've had two foster mom dogs have that happen. One was a lab who had small holes like yours- healed up with antibiotics. The second an emaciated pit mix who may have already had another infection on top of developing mastitis. Her mammaries literally ruptured and the tissue started to die. It got so bad she was ripping her breasts off herself- tissue was dead/painful/hanging off. It was NOT pretty. She got heavy duty antibiotics, keep wounds clean as possible and we had to repair all the wounds/holes when we spayed her about a month after it happened as we wanted to give her time to get rid of the infection first. Most of her mammaries were gone. She recovered/lived and was adopted. 

I'd definately go back to the vet and get her on good antibiotics.


----------



## skygirlwmu (Apr 29, 2006)

She's on Simplicef antibiotics already. Took her to the vet, he said it was too bad they ruptured that exact way, but theres not much to do. He gave me a betadine solution to flush it 2x a day. Told me to keep it uncovered, it has to heal itself from the inside out, which will take a while.

Its amazing how fast this happened, no sign of swelling Sat, to huge hard and purple Sun/Mon to rupture on Tues.

I can't get anything to come out of that nipple. Yesterday I was expressing a whole lot of blood/pus every couple hours. I am putting one puppy on at a time on the other nipples for just a few min at a time, but we are going to try to get her to dry up fairly quickly.


----------



## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

It actually makes alot of sense to have the puppies nurse as much as they can (though it may be too late for your dog). To have the pressure of the swelling from the infection PLUS the pressure from the milk keep building and building unless the puppies get to nurse to help relieve it so it won't reach the bursting point. 

Seems like the suction from the puppies work the best to get the most out the least painfully to help with that.


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Yes, but at 3.5 weeks, you could dry her out if there is no nursing. I have never seen this. poor girl.


----------



## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

Not my dog but I had mastitis after my first child. It came on quick too though no bursting. I pumped while on the antibiotics which hurt like no other but relieved a lot of pressure- can you pump a dog the same way so the puppies aren't drinking tainted milk?


----------



## Taylor (Apr 7, 2009)

aww many prayers coming her way.


----------



## Julie40 (Aug 24, 2020)

skygirlwmu said:


> Sunday morning, Zonya came down with a very fast moving case of mastitis. Literally, Saturday night, she was fine, bouncing of the walls as usual, and Sunday morning, she could barely stand or walk. Her puppies are 3.5 weeks old thank goodness, so I had already just started weaning them and have been able to wean them quickly.
> 
> We spent time at the E-vet on Sunday, and my vet took over Monday morning with IV fluids and antibiotic injection. I have been doing warm compresses to help out, and have been waiting for the infection to come to a head and come through the skin. I already knew that it would rupture.
> 
> ...


Hello I know this is an old post but I'm going through something similar. My dog is on antibiotics but her mastitis is draining. So what was the outcome of your dog and how did you treat her open mastitis thankyku


----------



## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

Had this happen at a kennel where I was working. We flushed the holes with normal saline solution, kept the dog on antibiotics, and it eventually healed up just fine.

I wasn't around for the dog's next pregnancy, so I don't know if she was still able to nurse from that teat.


----------



## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Julie40 said:


> Hello I know this is an old post but I'm going through something similar. My dog is on antibiotics but her mastitis is draining. So what was the outcome of your dog and how did you treat her open mastitis thankyku


more so than the date of the thread..... if you hover over a members name it shows their last log in. this person has not been active in 10yrs.


----------



## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Julie40 said:


> Hello I know this is an old post but I'm going through something similar. My dog is on antibiotics but her mastitis is draining. So what was the outcome of your dog and how did you treat her open mastitis thankyku


You can start a new thread and get answers.


----------

