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  Discussion on Stillborn Twins
Author Message
Member:
Cjinid

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 13, 2004 - 12:42 am:

My QH mare was ultrasounded on day 20 and the vet said there was only 1 healthy baby. He was showing us the pictures and explaining everything, when my husband asked him about the other black spot on the other side. The vet said his machine did that and it was just a mirrored reflection. We took his word. WRONG!! We never thought about twins again until this morning when we found them in her stall dead. She was 10 1/2 months and in excellent health, she was big, but not big enough to suspect twins. A week ago she started dripping milk, but it stopped Friday and she showed no other signs of birthing. We were admiring the baby moving around yesterday when the mare was laying in the afternoon sun. We were totally shocked to find twins this morning. The 1st one was a buckskin filly, she cleaned that one up, and when we found it, she had buried it under the straw. The last one born was a sorrel colt, she never removed the sack off its head. The vet said they were both fully developed and normal size for 3 weeks early, (not the same vet that ultrasounded). The mare is doing great considering what she just went through. What I don't understand is what happened? How can a vet make such a mistake, and how come twins that are alive in the evening be born dead or die at birth. This was going to be our 13 year old High School Rodeo horse. Down and out in Idaho.
Cathy
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004 - 11:05 pm:

My condolences Cathy. It is more likely the vet was right about the double image (we presume he knows his machine) but wrong about another embryo being elsewhere. Though ultrasound has greatly increased our ability to diagnose pregnancy it is only as good as the operators technique and subject to limitations presented by the exam environment. As tragic as it is, mistakes can happen. We recommed 2 ultrasounds with the second done at day 35 to quard against a missed twin or early embryonic loss.

The death of the foals is likely do to failure of the placenta to be able to nourish the babies. The death of foals resuls in abortions. Again my condolenses Cathy.
DrO
Member:
Cjinid

Posted on Friday, Apr 16, 2004 - 11:42 pm:

Thank you DrO,
Our mare is back in the vets with a infection. The vet is flushing her every 48 hours, he told us she is pretty tore up inside and may never be able to be bred. Losing the foals was bad enough, but now thinking we may not ever get a chance with another one is devastating.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 - 9:53 am:

Did he say specifically what was torn and how badly?
DrO
Member:
Cjinid

Posted on Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 - 12:04 pm:

No, he just said she was torn up pretty badly inside. We brought her home yesterday with a lot of meds; SMZ's and Oxytocin. He also said we could go ahead and breed her but to wait for at lease a month or two, to make sure she is all healed up inside. So I guess time will tell.
Cathy
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