Anatomy of pets: how many nipples in a cat

In cats, as in humans, the mammary glands serve to feed offspring. Nipples are located in these animals on the stomach and on the chest. Their functional work begins just before delivery.

How many nipples do a cat have at home?

In the norm of mammary glands, these animals should have 8 pieces (or four pairs). However, cats are very often associated with the number of nipples anomalies. The animal can have 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or even 11 mammary glands.

Many owners of cats with non-standard number of nipples worry that this may be an indicator of the ill health of a pet or its inability to have offspring. However, anxiety is completely vain. If you calculated how many nipples a cat has in your house and their number turned out to be different from normal, you should not worry and run to the veterinarian. No such effect on the health of the animal and its genital functions usually do not have such anomalies. Moreover, all nipples in cats, regardless of their number, are often "workers". That is, milk is formed in each of them. Therefore, an animal with "superfluous" mammary glands can feed even very numerous litters without any problems. That for thoroughbred dear individuals, of course, very good.

If the nipple in a cat is less than eight, with feeding offspring, she may have some problems. However, in this case, especially not to worry. If there are a lot of kittens in the litter and there are not enough nipples at all, the owners need just to follow the babies. If any of them do not have enough milk, they should be fed from a pipette.

Does the number of nipples depend on the breed

Bred cats man for several millennia. The breed is very, very much. The apartments contain small, large, smooth-haired, furry and other pets. Often the owners of these animals are interested in how many nipples in a cat of a particular breed. The answer to this question is very simple. The number of mammary glands in these animals is always eight. From the breed, their number does not depend in any way.

Small breeds of cats usually have very small mammary glands. Large varieties and nipples differ in size.

Diseases of the mammary glands

One of the most common problems associated with nipples in cats is mastitis, arising for the following reasons:

• Because of excess milk;
• With a weak sucking reflex of kittens;
• Because of early weaning of babies.

Usually the cat does not inflame everything, but only one or a pair of nipples. If the cat has swollen breasts, and she is experiencing severe pain, help should be given immediately. Treat mastitis, applying to the nipples at first cold, and then warm compresses based on broths from medicinal herbs (most often sage). In order to normalize the condition of a fluffy mom, usually it is additionally given antibiotics.

A very dangerous disease of the mammary glands of cats are malignant tumors. Such problems usually occur in animals older than 6 years. Moreover, both large and small breeds of cats can suffer from tumors. Unfortunately, it often happens that the owners notice such a problem too late. The fact that the animal is sick, the owners in most cases find out only after the tumor has opened, and the metastases spread across the cat's body. To prevent this from happening, you should periodically do a prophylactic examination of the mammary glands of your pet.

Interesting features of anatomy

Thus, the anomalous number of nipples in cats to pathologies does not apply. With regard to bearing offspring and vitality, nature took care of these animals very well. So, for example, the internal structure of the cat is characterized by the following interesting features:

1. The front paws of these animals do not have a strong bone junction with the spine, which allows them to jump from a great height without harm to themselves.
2. Root teeth of a cat can persist until her death - more than 20 years

Features of the structure of the mammary gland

How many nipples in a cat, we, therefore, found out. Most often there are four pairs. Actually, the structure of mammary glands in these animals is quite unusual. Unlike many other mammals, there are no cisterns in the nipples of the cat. The ducts simply open onto the surface of the gland with two apertures. Most milk is formed in the nipples, located closer to the groin.