female cat engorged with milk

I was pratically given this adult female cat. Anyway she was nuring a lot of kittens and she was seprated abruptly from her kittens who were old enough to be weined but seperating them abruptly is never a good idea..anyhow, now she's engorged with milk. Im not sure what to do. I did take away her food and water for awhile however she is very underweight you can feel her back bones. Im afraid she'll get sick/dehydrated if I take away food/water for too long.
Im making an appointment first thing monday morning with the vet but is there any advice anyone can give me on what to do for her? What can the vet do for her in this situation?

Well I just checked on her and her breasts are not full enough to be hard. Hopefully they don't get any more full then they are. I think she wasn't nursing the kittens very often so hopefully I won't run into a problem with mastitis.

Too bad you didn't have at least one kitten available to help her out! How is she doing today?

Spaying takes care of engorgement because removal of the ovaries stops production of prolactin. In the meantime you can use hot compresses if the mammaries look inflamed.

If the cat does not have mastitis, you can also contact local shelters and rescues to see if any of them have orphaned newborn kittens who could use her services. Since many shelters do not have adequate foster programs for neonates, this would probably save their lives.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

Too bad you didn't have at least one kitten available to help her out! How is she doing today?

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I do have nursing age kittens but being that this cat is new here I have her in isolation to be sure she has no illnesses that can be contracted to my other cats. I don't want to risk putting on of my kittens in with her.

Originally Posted by semiferal

Spaying takes care of engorgement because removal of the ovaries stops production of prolactin. In the meantime you can use hot compresses if the mammaries look inflamed.

If the cat does not have mastitis, you can also contact local shelters and rescues to see if any of them have orphaned newborn kittens who could use her services. Since many shelters do not have adequate foster programs for neonates, this would probably save their lives.

Click to expand...

Hi,
thanks for your suggestion but this is a purebred cat and although she was pratically given to me I do have breeding rights on her. She fits the breed standard very well. I plan on breeding her eventually after I get her weight back up and feel that she is healthy enough to breed. I don't plan on getting her spayed at this time. BTW she's only about a year and a half.
I also don't want to risk putting a shelter kitten in with her. Many shelter cats has contractable illnesses and i'd have to isolate and test the kitten for FIV/FELV before I put them togther. By that time she will have dried up anyway.

I agree with warm compresses. Get a washcloth dipped in warm water and wrung dry. Place this gently on her nipples. Her engorgement should ease in the next couple of days. Certainly don't take her food away. As she is very thin and almost certainly low on all the essential vitamins, feed her on kitten food and either kitten formula (KMR) or kitten glop.

Home-made kitten formula (Kitten Glop)

8 ounces water (boiled then cooled)
1 envelope Knox unflavored gelatin
8 ounces whole evaporated milk (not skim)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (not low fat)
2 tablespoons plain yogurt (not low fat)
1 large or 2 small eggs yolks (raw)
1 teaspoon clear Karo syrup
* 1-3 drops liquid pet vitamins
* 1 capsule acidophilus
* 1 drop Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE)

* Optional, though very beneficial.

Boil the water, add the gelatin and mix well. Add the following ingredients in order, mixing well after each addition:

1/2 of the canned milk
Mayonnaise and Yogurt
Rest of the milk
All other ingredients

You can substitute canned goat's milk for the canned evaporated milk, if you prefer it. This mixture will keep in the fridge for up to four days. It is jello-like in consistency in the fridge so you can just scoop out as much as you need and warm.

Hi,
Thanks for the recipe. She is always hungry but does not like the food that the previous owner said they were feeding her!??! (expensive kitten dry kibble).
I have started feeding her raw to see if she would eat and she loves it and is constantly demanding more. I probably will try the kitten glop too if that will help her to put weight on faster.
Now im even more concerned she got yellowish-greenish discharge coming from her vulva, like the consistency of snot (sorry about the gross description). Just a very tiny amount but worrysome never- the- less. Does anyone know what that might be? Im hoping it's not pyromentra(sp?). She's got an appointment with the vet tomorrow.

It does sound like Pyometria unfortunately, but the vet will be able to tell you for sure.

Pyometra is highly unlikely in a cat who has recently had a litter and would be almost 100% unlikely if she has not had a heat cycle since. However, a retained placenta would be very possible. A vet should easily be able to palpate this.

I would actually strongly consider taking her to the emergency vet. Last year a cat my friend was fostering died from retaining two placentas. She had emergency surgery just three days after her litter was born but her uterus had already ruptured from the infection and even the most aggressive treatment was not enough to save her. I would take any sign of uterine infection very, very seriously.

thanks for your advice guys. I think if it was a retained placenta it would have caused problems by now the kittens are about 11 weeks old.
I took her to the vet today. Everything turned out normal and he took a cytology stain and no bacteria turned up. Unfortunately though the discharge stopped today (murphy's law) so I looked crazy telling them that she did have a discharge up untill today.
He palpitated her abdomen and found nothing unusual. She's already picked up weight too and you can almost not feel her backbone anymore. Is that possible in only 4 days!!???!! She eats like a hog though.
No fever or anything unusual.
I wonder what the discharge was all about? He said it might be from her uterus contracting...could this be the case?