In cats, as in humans, the mammary glands serve to feed offspring. The nipples of these animals are located on the stomach and chest. Their functional work begins shortly before childbirth.
How many nipples does a cat have?
Normal mammary glands in these animals should be 8 pieces (or four pairs). However, in cats, abnormalities associated with the number of nipples are very common. An animal can have 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or even 11 mammary glands.
Many owners of cats with a non-standard number of nipples worry that this may be an indicator of the health of the pet or its inability to have offspring. However, worries are completely in vain. If you calculated how many nipples a cat lives in your house, and their number turned out to be abnormal, you should not worry and run to the veterinarian. Such anomalies usually do not have any effect on the health of the animal and its reproductive functions. Moreover, all nipples in cats, regardless of their number, are most often “workers”. That is, milk is formed in each of them. Therefore, an animal with “excess” mammary glands can feed even very numerous litters without any problems. That for the thoroughbred expensive individuals, of course, very good.
If the cat has less than eight nipples, she may have some problems feeding her offspring. However, in this case, one should not particularly worry. If there are a lot of kittens in the litter and there are not enough nipples at all, the owners just need to follow the babies. If any of them lacks milk, they should be fed from a pipette.
Does the number of nipples depend on the breed?
Cats have been bred by humans for several millennia. There are a lot of breeds. The apartments contain small, large, smooth-haired, furry and other pets. Often the owners of these animals are interested in how many nipples a cat has of one breed or another. The answer to this question is extremely simple. The number of mammary glands in these animals is always eight. Their number does not depend on the breed in any way.
Small cat breeds usually have very small mammary glands. In large varieties, and nipples differ in their respective sizes.
Breast diseases
One of the most common problems associated with nipples in cats is mastitis, which occurs for the following reasons:
- due to excess milk;
- with a weak sucking reflex of kittens;
- due to early weaning babies.
Typically, not all are inflamed in a cat, but only one or a pair of nipples. If the cat’s breast is swollen, and at the same time she experiences severe pain, she should be helped immediately. They treat mastitis by applying cold and then warm compresses to the nipples based on decoctions of herbs (most often sage). In order to normalize the condition of the fluffy mother, usually she is additionally given antibiotics.
A very dangerous disease of the mammary glands of cats are malignant tumors. Such problems occur most often in animals over 6 years old. Moreover, both large and small cat breeds can suffer from tumors. Unfortunately, it often happens that the owners notice a similar problem too late. In most cases, the owners learn that the animal is sick only after the tumor opens and metastases begin to spread throughout the cat's body. To prevent this from happening, you should periodically do a routine examination of the mammary glands of a pet.
Interesting Anatomy Features
Thus, the abnormal number of nipples in cats does not apply to pathologies. With regard to bearing offspring and vitality, nature took care of these animals very well. So, for example, the internal structure of a cat has the following interesting features:
- The front legs of these animals do not have a strong bone connection with the spine, which allows them to jump from great heights without harm to themselves.
- The molars of a cat can remain until its death - more than 20 years
Features of the structure of the mammary glands
How many nipples a cat has, we thus found out. Most often there are four pairs. The actual structure of the mammary glands in these animals is quite unusual. Unlike many other mammals, there are no tanks in the cat’s nipples. The ducts simply open onto the surface of the gland with two holes. Most milk is formed in the nipples located closer to the groin.