Mastitis

Fern woke us up Friday morning at 2am - which isn't unusual as she has to go out several times a night since becoming a mom. When it was time for her to come back in Scott noticed she was acting funny. He woke me up and I noticed she was kind of hunched over and very still. I took a closer look and noticed her front mammary was very swollen and hot to the touch. I immediately figured it was mastitis, which I had read about on the internet.
Mastitis, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is an infection in the mammary glands. I am certain that this occurred because that particular nipple was an "innie." The puppies tore it up these last 5 weeks because she only has 9 nipples.
We called the emergency vet at 2am and he left it up to us whether or not to come in. We thought about our options and decided to wait until morning. We got Fern to the vet first thing in the morning and they confirmed that she had mastitis. They prescribed several antibiotics and instructed us that we were not to let the puppies nurse anymore. So, the puppies are now fully weaned. They are now eating only puppy food. However, we didn't want to separate the puppies and Fern completely because her presence is still important to their development. As you can see we decided to dress her in clothes to prevent the puppies from nursing. It works really well. The only fault is when Fern is outside she pees in the shorts and looks quite ridiculous.
Fern is still sore from her engorged breast but she definitely feels much better today. Hopefully her milk starts to dry up soon so I don't have to continue to share my clothes with her.