Mastitis in the lactating mink female (Mustela vison S.) and the development of "greasy kits"

"Greasy kits" is the result ufa multifactorial disease complex with few kno wn definitive aetiological factors. Mastitis has been hypothesized as a tri ggering factor although classical clinical signs of mastitis (rubor, tumor, dolor, calor) are rarely seen in lactating Danish mink Females. In this st udy we sacrificed 2 groups of lactating mink females with a total of 78 mam mary glands at day 19-30 after giving birth. The first group had raised nor mal mink kits while the other group had suffered severe attacks of greasy k its. We found no clinical or histopathological evidence of mastitis but iso lated streptococci and staphylococci from 2 mammary glands in females raisi ng greasy kits. These glands showed no clinical or histological signs of in flammation attributable to bacteria and we conclude that mastitis is not ne cessary for the generation of greasy kits.