Kenya's Mastitis

So I had all these videos and pics I was going to put up for you a few days ago, but two hurdles made it just too difficult.

First, Kenya developed a pretty significant case of mastitis (worse than either of the times Elsie had it is with her litters). Mastitis is a breast infection that can affect one or several teats in a nursing dam. In Kenya, she had one very enlarged, hot, red/dark teat that was very sensitive to touch, and three more where the tissue was thickening in a way that suggested she was developing infections in those. When her temperature jumped to over 103 on Monday and she because reluctant to nurse, we knew she needed meds. BTW, mastitis can be serious; if left untreated, mastitis can progress to gangrene in the affected teat (causing the dam to lose the teat all together), and ultimately can kill the dam.

So we spent a couple of days doing lots of hot compresses and massaging and making sure Kenya was getting her antibiotics. She's fine now.

And the pups are happier. I think her mastitis interfered with her milk flow (at least four teats were affected), so the pups might not have been as content.

They sure are content after nursing now, though... and they'll sleep soundly for two or three hours straight (that's the first with this litter).

What in the world would we do without antibiotics?!

Then, second, I didn't get things posted as quickly as I wanted to because once Kenya started rebounding and I had the time, it seems our Internet connection sagged. For two days our connection speeds were so slow it made uploading photos and videos far too frustrating for me to deal with.

But all is well now again, I think. (I hope).

So here's Kenya, photo taken today. And she's just fine!

And here she is with her pups demonstrating her new preferred method of nursing (the sit method)

Oh... and as far as the rest of the gang... well, we'll update you on them this weekend sometime.

For now, just know all is well with Elsie, Ridge, Tuc, and Pinot, and that Pinot's interest in these pups is unquenchable.

Puppy development update will follow shortly (and more cute pics). So stay tuned!

'Til next time,
Joan