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  Discussion on Dinoprost etc. - not sure if safe for my mare
Author Message

Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 8:13 am:

Dear Dr O

I took my mare to stud on 2nd May expecting her to be in season 4th to 5th May based on her previous season date which I informed them of - the plan was to then leave her for there for 16 days until she could be scanned.

I rang yesterday (9 May) and was told that they missed her season because she did come in on Sat 5 May but they didn't want to work a Sunday this early in the season so they thought she'd be OK to cover on Monday - and of course, she was out of season by Monday (confirmed by visiting vet).

Vet (not mine, this is quite a way from our area) says she can inject her in a week's time to bring her back into season. I am guessing that the plan is to give her dinoprost/one of its synonyms. My mare has a heart murmur (a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5) and your article says cardiovascular problems are a contraindication. Should I be worried/ask them to just keep her until she comes back into season naturally instead of injecting?

I'd like to have her back sooner rather than later because the stud owner is a little elderly but he says he's put her out to grass with some of his stock so she has company and food alright...

Any guidance much appreciated.

All the best

Imogen

Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 10:09 am:

Boy, sometimes nothing is easy is it. I cannot really answer your question because we do not know the cause of the murmuris and even if we did, there is no work in horses to suggest what may be an acceptable risk under what circumstances. You can find grade 3 out of 5 murmurs in healthy horses and if you your horse has no problems with extended exercise it PROBABLY is ok.

PG 2-a analogues like those used to bring mares back into heat do have some important affects on the heart and have been related to arrythmias and with prolonged exposure hypertrophy of the muscle in other species. I do not know of a horse death due to PG administration to a horse with heart disease. Talk it over with your vet and decide if you are willing to take what I consider to be a small, if your horse displays no other symptoms of heart disease, but not 0 risk.
DrO

Posted on Monday, May 14, 2001 - 3:41 pm:

Thanks, Dr O. I did, of course, also phone my vet - I just like to ask you as well because you are so incredibly well-read on the research side and although my vet would be one of the top three horse vets in Ireland, I suspect he's not too fond of the Internet and all its works...

Anyway, he thinks it will be OK for her type of murmur as well, and that studs like the one I've picked often run out of grass pretty quickly so he says go with the injection and get her back sooner rather than later.

He has previously vetted her sound for up to mild eventing and she has never shown any symptoms of cardiovascular problems despite the murmur. Given how excited she gets hunting or doing cross-country, I have always thought she probably would have DrOpped by now if she was going to!

Fingers crossed...

All the best

Imogen
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