Soft lumps on kitten breasts

Antonio65

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Hi all,
This morning, while I was rubbing my Freya's belly, I noticed some lumps under my fingers. At first I thought it was some hair tuft, but then I realized that the lumps were all in a line, two lines actually, and each lump was under each of her nipples. So, each nipple has a soft round shallow lump under it, something that I have never noticed before on her, nor on any other cat I had (and I almost only had female cats at home in my life).
Freya is 8 months old, and hasn't been spayed yet because the vets wanted to investigate further on her neurological issues. She's an indoor cat only, she's only allowed out on leash and harness and is supervised all the time.
She hasn't showed any classic sign of heat so far, she isn't more vocal, she doesn't roll or call or assume mating position. She's as affectionate as always, no loss of appetite, no increased drive to go outside, nothing.
She had an abdominal US scan 17 days ago, the vet didn't see anything in her, all was fine and clear.
She isn't showing any discomfort or pain when I touch or gently squeeze those lumps.

I called the vet and she said there some uncommon cases of female cats who show a slightly swollen breast during the heat and before being pregnant, but I haven't found anything on the web.

What could your thoughts be?
 

posiepurrs

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Is this one of her first heats? It sounds like mammary hyperplasia. I am not a vet, but have dealt with mammary hyperplasia before in my breeding cats. It is caused by a hormonal imbalance, brought on by heats. The remedy is spaying. If it is Mammary hyperplasia keep an eye on her mammary glands. They can swell large enough to ulcerate.
 
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Antonio65

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Is this one of her first heats? It sounds like mammary hyperplasia. I am not a vet, but have dealt with mammary hyperplasia before in my breeding cats. It is caused by a hormonal imbalance, brought on by heats. The remedy is spaying. If it is Mammary hyperplasia keep an eye on her mammary glands. They can swell large enough to ulcerate.
I can't tell if this one of her first heats, because I never noticed any sign of heat (at least as I know them) in her, perfectly silent and normal and quiet.
Just like Giada was last year. Giada was spayed at 13 months (again, due to a series of issues to be cleared before proceeding), but nobody could tell if she had heats.
Of course I will keep an eye on those lumps, and if they get any larger I will rush the kitten to the vets.
 

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The easiest way to know if your cat is in a silent heat is are there tom cats in your yard? If there are, then yes, your cat or the neighbor's, is in heat.
 
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Antonio65

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The easiest way to know if your cat is in a silent heat is are there tom cats in your yard? If there are, then yes, your cat or the neighbor's, is in heat.
There are no tom cats in my neighborhood. I have two semi-ferals in my yard, girl and boy, both fixed.
In the area there are other cats roaming, but they are all females and spayed.

Isn't that weird that both my cats have or had silent heats?
 

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Hello--my cat, Misty, had the same bumps you are describing. I'm still not sure on what it is, but I do know she lost them after I stopped rubbing her belly. I'm no expert, but I think you should just leave it alone and in about a month or so look again? :)
 
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Antonio65

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Well, it's not my habit to rub her belly often. It happened this morning for a few seconds, and I think last time was two or three days ago.
I could leave it alone, but now that I know, I believe I wouldn't like to just forget about it for a month.
 

MistyMorening

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Well, it's not my habit to rub her belly often. It happened this morning for a few seconds, and I think last time was two or three days ago.
I could leave it alone, but now that I know, I believe I wouldn't like to just forget about it for a month.
Okay! I'm just trying to help! idk how to help other than that, but I hope it goes well! I'm not very good at helping, but I hope it was at least an idea. I'm sorry if my message didn't help! I hope you figure out what happened!

--MistyMorening
 
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Antonio65

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Misty Morening, I appreciate your contribution, I am known to be a cat guardian that doesn't let things go without taking care of them right away. That's why I said I wouldn't like to wait.
 

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Isn't that weird that both my cats have or had silent heats?
May not be as weird as you think. I had Feeby, who was 2ish yo when found, for 6 months before she was spayed - no obvious signs of heat. My neighbor and I took care of a stray - who ended up pregnant - but before that had spent months and months in her backyard with no signs of heat. So, I kind of think it might be more 'normal' than one might guess.
 

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Keep an eye out. We discovered our cats were in heat when tom cats arrived. This happened with four separate cats. All absolute silent about it.
 

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Just wanted to share my experience. I got a female kitten just before the pandemic, and she couldn't get spayed for ages due to restrictions. She was very small and didn't start obvious heats until she was about 8-10 months old. Then they were rare, maybe once a month or once every two months. But before that, she had swollen mammary tissue under the nipples. I freaked out and thought it was cancer, but once her heats started coming regularly, the issue went away. For the record, she does not respond to the tom who lives outside and calls sometimes, but she harasses one of our spayed females when in heat. Maybe she's a lesbian? So toms won't provoke a heat in 100% of cats!
 

Kflowers

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Our current girl had no interest in any of the 10+ toms who turned up to court her. She did the little in heat dance near the windows and wouldn't speak to them, thankfully.
 
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Antonio65

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I wonder if toms come when a girl is in heat, or a girl gets in heat when she feels toms are near. I think the former. So the fact that you have had 10+ toms around and she didn't care is becasue she wasn't ready yet.
 

Kflowers

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She was doing the little dance, which I'd seen others do when they were choosing their mates. The toms were hopeful, they stayed about a month.
She was also afraid of outside by then.
 
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Antonio65

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She was doing the little dance, which I'd seen others do when they were choosing their mates. The toms were hopeful, they stayed about a month.
She was also afraid of outside by then.
Alright, but it sounds like she wasn't very much driven by nature's call, which is strange, isn't it?
 

Kflowers

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Perhaps, but she was only 8 months old. The others didn't get interested until 9 months when our boy cats started spraying. There was no need for other toms to apply.

Cats are individuals, mine played where they would arch up and chase each other and wrestle from about 3 months on.

Cats are pretty fussy about who they mate with. I've seen outside cats refuse all the toms who turn up and just wait for the next cycle to pick one.

Personally, I'd never heard that tom's arriving triggered heat.
 
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