Introduction

• Inadequate milk production → puppies fail to gain weight.
• Signs: none to systemic illness in bitch.
• Treatment: encourage bitch to feed, supplementary diet, treatment for mastitis, metritis.
• Prognosis: good.

Pathogenesis

Etiology

• Metritis - systemically sick dam.
• Mastitis Mastitis.
• Failure of milk letdown ; idiopathic prolactin deficiency or psychological inhibition.
• Anatomincal; absent/blind teat or undeveloped mammary glands.

Predisposing factors

• Age.
• Temperament.

Specific

• Nervous, inexperienced bitches, ie psychological/physiological failure of milk let down.
• Physiologic failure of lactogenesis.

Pathophysiology

• Physiology of inhibition of milk let down due to stress (nervous bitches) is poorly understood or failure of milk evacuation by sucking.
• Metritis Acute metritis.
• Mastitis Mastitis → mammary gland malfunction (Absence of normal lactogenesis (the onset of lactation) and lactopoesis (the continuation of lactation)).
• Prematurity.
• Abnormal prolactin metabolism important in agalactia since pharmacological agents that suppress prolactin, eg bromocriptine , also suppress lactation Pseudopregnancy (false pregnancy or pseudocyesis).

Timecourse

• Variable.

Diagnosis

Treatment

Prevention

Outcomes