Second scan empty but positive bloods ? help

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fortheloveofhorses

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Hi, After a good heartbeat scan , a later scan showed empty but cervix still closed tight , they took blood and this showing pregnant....
I understand the chances are its just high hormone levels giving false positive, but vet said there is a very very small chance that it could have been hiding on scan, after all he can only go in as far as his arm allows !
I know i am clutching at straws but i just wondered has anyone else had a scan miss the foal ? we are waiting to do it all again in another 3 weeks but its my fave horse and just got fingers and toes crossed for a little miracle

any advice would be great

from a worried mum!
 
My mare scanned empty at 17 days last summer. Her lovely filly is 3 months old today :D (Based on her behaviour I was cheerfully disagreeing with the vet all through the Autumn and we rescanned in January because she needed to start EHV boosters then if she was in foal)

All I can say is the filly must have been hiding well because, for various reasons, the experienced vet was as keen to find her in foal on the initial scan as I was!

It is more likely to be a false positive on the bloods - but they can be missed.
 
I used to have my two horses at a yard in surrey and a friend of mines mare also scanned empty but blood tests showed positive.... My friend was insistent that her mare was in foal, but the vets just wouldnt have it.... eventually she produced twins !! A healthy filly and a small colt... 9 yrs later all three are still alive and well.... !!! so there is hope.... x
 
yes,

We had a mare last year who scanned empty. Didn't seem in foal so we made the decision to have her PTS. To cut a long story short, she missed her appointment with the knacker, and his wife now owns the mare and we've bought the foal back. I would give it a while longer and don't do anything hasty!
 
There's no such thing as a false positive pregnancy test - she's either pregnant or not (the only exceptions are miscarriage - it would show low levels rather than in the tens of thousands, or a tumour - but this is rare).

I'd get her rescanned in a couple of weeks, preferably by a different vet ;)

Be careful - my friend was in a similar situation as you. Repeatedly scanned negative but had positive bloods. The vet advised her that she had aborted the foal so she jagged the mare to bring her back into season and sent her back to the stud - only for her to abort a 5 month old foal!

Ask the vet what the ECG (not the heart test - gonadotrophin) levels are and base your decision on that. For a horse over 12 weeks pregnant the levels would be well over 10,000.

The best way to see if the mare has aborted is to take a series of 3 samples over a week - if the levels fall with each test she has aborted, if they rise she's still pregnant :)
 
fortheloveofhorses said:
I understand the chances are its just high hormone levels giving false positive, but vet said there is a very very small chance that it could have been hiding on scan, after all he can only go in as far as his arm allows !
I know i am clutching at straws but i just wondered has anyone else had a scan miss the foal ?
Click to expand...

I have a 7 year old mare who was a BOGOF - I bought her well-bred dam as 'empty' fter she was scanned by a very experienced stud vet AND washed out! I hve a further 6 foals outof that original mare and every one of them was 'not there' at either the 14 or 28 day scan! It became a bit of a joke: vet would say - 'I can't see anything' - I'd say: 'Keep looking - this IS Portia!' He would dulykeep lookingand either find the hidden pregnancy or at least find SOMETHING (placenta etc) to indicate there was still a pregnancy there - somewhere!

Oddly enough, I now have 4 daughters of the original mare in my herd -and ALL appear to be following in Mum's footsteps! I now say: 'This is a Portia daughter - keep looking!':D

BUT -depends onwhen the last scan was done -and when the blood tests were done. If a pregnancy is 4 months or so the vet might not be able to SEE a pregnancy - buthe sure as hell should be able to tell the difference between a very pregnant - or empty - uterus!

And timing is everything with blood tests! There are two main tests:

PMSG: This is best performed between 40 and 100 days after breeding. By 120 days, levels will be low and you'll get a false negative. You can also get a false positive result if the mare has been pregnant but slips the foetus. The endometrial cups remain functional, and continue to produce PMSG for a time, even if the foetus dies.

After 100 days, it is more accurate to test for oestrone sulphate. By day 100 of pregnancy, the mare's blood concentrations of oestrone sulphate are consistently at least twice, and generally more than five times, the highest concentrations found in non-pregnant mares.
 
To add further to JanetGeorge my sister in law had a mare here at stud and she tested negative to the PSMG she was owned by a vet boyfirend was a vet she was scanned by different vet not in foal, she then wa tested for oestrone sulphate and owner was told she could not support a pregnancy 2 months later she foaled a big healthy colt.
there would be no point injected her now as you would not be covering now anyway so you have nothing to lose but sit tight good luck
 
my three broodmares were scanned several times last year and I was told that only one was pregnant. Well this year I had 2 colts and a filly need I add that this year I will save my money and wait and see. It is too late to doing anything now anyway.
Good luck:)
 
This has been very interesting to read- I have not had bloods done on my mare, she was scanned in foal at 14 days, but at 30 no heartbeat was found etc. However, as of yesterday she has come into season (I assume a false one) after no activity since originally being covered...I have heard that pregnant mares often have false seasons a few months in. Is it worth a blood test, or is it more likely to just be a phantom season? She hasn't shown any signs of seasons since very early august...
 
GemmaBowles said:
This has been very interesting to read- I have not had bloods done on my mare, she was scanned in foal at 14 days, but at 30 no heartbeat was found etc. However, as of yesterday she has come into season (I assume a false one) after no activity since originally being covered...I have heard that pregnant mares often have false seasons a few months in. Is it worth a blood test, or is it more likely to just be a phantom season? She hasn't shown any signs of seasons since very early august...
Click to expand...

When was she covered and is she near other mares or stallion?
 
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