Mastitis in pregnant cat.

[leto86]

I babysit for my neighbors sometimes.

They have a small torti who is now pregnant. I went to pet her last night when the lady told me she was heavily pregnant and on edge. I gently grabbed her and felt her belly. She has mastitis, no doubt about it.
It's all swollen and rock hard.
I told the lady she needed to see a vet, but she said she can't afford it right now.

So I'm going to help her out.

I have a few question... is this something I can try and treat and see?
I am going to give them a few options tonight or in the morning when they come back from work.
1. They give away the male cat to rid of the problem of her getting pregnant, AGAIN.
2. They give me $70 and I'll have the male neutered.
3. They leave things as they are and their children will have to see the death of many kittens.

Anyway.

Last night she was laying on my chest as I was reading, and I was gently rubbing the swollen teats, I didn't know if that would help to get things flowing right or not, but I tried.
Then I thought about a hot compress, but I wasn't sure and didn't want to make things worse. Will this help?

I'm not even sure if she really is pregnant anymore, or if she was at all. She's not big, she looks normal. So either she's given birth to the kittens and they were dead somewhere, and thats why she has the mastitis. Or it was a fake pregnancy.

I'd take her to the vet myself if I could afford it, but with orion just there, and Cappy being neutered soon, there is no way I can do this.

Help is appeciated.

 

[xxtashaxx]

is there not any low cost spay clincs where you are that could maye do it a bit cheeper? and take the female with her so that if she is not pregnant they can spay her aswell , or if she is they can give her a check over and see what needs to be done ?

 

[xxtashaxx]

and are you sure its deffently mastitis? i thought lilly had a problem just before she had her kittens , just under her teats on the mammary glands they was very hard and swollan which worried me. but the vet said it was just because the milk hadnt softened yet? after about a week they went softer and saged a bit , but it was like hard masses.

 

[leto86]

Well it looks like mastitis.. but I've only ever seen one case of it before so i don't know for sure.

$70 is as cheap as it gets. Thats for one neuter and a vaccination. As the vaccination (at least rabies) is manditory.
A spay is closer to $100.

They wouldn't be able to spay her now if she wasn't pregnant anyway.. not without it doubling, if not tripling in price because of her condition.
I will neuter the male when they pay me, and thats all I will be able to afford. They have another female cat, who is not showing any signs of pregnancy. I told them to seperate him from the girls until we can figure something out.

I will be taking Cappy to the spay+neuter clinic in London in a week or two, i might as well take the male in at the same time.

 

[gailc]

I had a cat several yrs ago with mastitis but she already had her kittens. I remember she was on antibiotics and we had to express the milk from her (not a fun task).
The people who "own" IMO should not be pet owners.
Good luck.

 

[xxtashaxx]

may i ask where in london, as i know a few low cost places there that you will get for much cheeper then that.

 

[leto86]

Ontario, not the UK. Sorry, I thought my location would have given that away.

I agree they shouldn't have the cats unless they take better care of them.. but there's nothing I can do about that.

 

[xxtashaxx]

oh my , sorry i didnt even think to look where you were lol. i just saw london.
anyway sorry i cant be much more help , but i do hope everything goes well with your 2 , and hope that she isnt pregnant and that the infection will be treated soon.
good luck with helping her neuter her tom.