A case of mastitis in an allomother mongrel bitch nursing a jaguar cub

Abstract

Allonursing is typical in mammals, especially in the polytocous taxa with large litters. One of the immediate benefits of allonursing is milk evacuation of distended mammary glands, especially in females who lost their offspring, predisposing them to mastitis. Mastitis represents the inflammation of the mammary gland and in carnivores it can affect a section of the gland or the entire mammary tissue (13). Therefore, it is considered an emergency (2, 15) since if left untreated mastitis can suffer local and systemic complications like mammary gangrene, septicemia, or neonatal mortality. This case report presents a mastitis episode in an allomothering mongrel bitch after starting to allonurse a one-day-old jaguar cub and her single puppy. Laboratory assays showed the presence of mild leukocytosis, folded milk C-reactive protein (CRP; 5.1 μg/mL) levels, an alkaline milk pH reaction (pH > 7), increased cell counts, phagocytosis, and presence of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis in the cultured milk samples.