what should i do???

[koeffee]

my mare was scanned in foal and no twins were showing, but looking at her she is huge? what are the chances twins were missed?? she is due in febuary but she is ready to burst now? is there any way of finding out if it twins??

 

[luckilotti]

i imagine the only way to find out would be to have her scanned again.
my mare who foaled in june was quite small belly wise then a couple of months before suddenly went huge, she was just carrying the one thankfully. However a liveries partners mum has recently had a mare carrying twins, the mare didnt show any signs that it was twins, wasnt massive etc they were stillborn at 10months.

 

[Zebedee]

I had a mare that scanned as being in foal with a single, but who then aborted twins at about seven months. She wasn't particularly massive, so I don't think that's any indication. The vet said that what would had happened was that the little colt had died about a month previous (due to the lack of space) & as he putrified that led to the filly being poisoned. As it's the live foals who produce the hormones that maintain the pregnancy she aborted them.
I'm not sure that it's possible to scan for twins at this late stage - I guess it will depend on how things are positioned in the uterus as to whether or not it would be possible to see. I've also known vets (equine specialists before anyone asks) to be reluntant to scan later on in the gestation, as they've thought that the rectal invasion could cause the mare the mare to slip the foal.

 

[scotsmare]

How much of it is foal though as opposed to a grass belly and general chubbiness? If she's been on a rich pasture for the last few months she's possibly going to look a bit larger than she would have otherwise.

 

[nikkiportia]

A lot of our mares look huge already, but it's because of the recent flush of grass. The way I know this? Because the barren mares are just as big as those due to pop in Jan/Feb

lol

 

[JanetGeorge]

[ QUOTE ]
my mare was scanned in foal and no twins were showing, but looking at her she is huge? what are the chances twins were missed?? she is due in febuary but she is ready to burst now? is there any way of finding out if it twins??

[/ QUOTE ]

Was she scanned twice? We always scan 14-16 days to look for twins - and pinch one if there IS one found, but ALWAYS check again if in any doubt a few days later. Otherwise, twins can be easily spotted at the 28 day pregnancy (although at that stage you'd probably need to terminate the pregnancy.)

Twins DO get missed - but if I suspected twins every time I had a HUGE mare I'd be having perpetual nervous breakdowns. At this stage, there is bu**er all you can do if it IS twins. And poking around may endanger a perfectly healthy single pregnancy.

The best thing you can do is put her on a diet - the foal needs very little extra from her until the last 6-8 weeks so you won't endanger either of them (rather the opposite!) If she is too fat going into the last trimester then BOTH are at risk!

Keep an eye on her - particularly for any signs of a discharge or being unwell - eiether COULD indicate a twin has died (IF there are twins there.) IF it ever happens to me, then at the first sign I would put mare on broad spectrum anti-biotics and KEEP her on them until foaling - theory being that if you can prevent the decaying dead foal causing an infection then you MIGHT save the remaining one. Don't know if it would work - but I DID test it on a ewe once who had acute pneumonia 4 weeks before lambing. AS she wouldn't eat or drink for nearly a week I expected both lambs to perish - was mainly concerned to save her from the consequences of rotting lambs. When time came for her to lamb she produced a huge healthy lamb - and when I checked for a second I found a mummified corpse. I'm sure the antibiotics saved the one lamb.

But of course you need to KNOW that there are twins in there - I doubt your vet would be particularly keen to put your mare on a couple of months of antibiotics because YOU suspected he had missed twins!

 

[CrazyMare]

Just another thought, mine suddenly started to look huge when I stopped riding her, all the muscles started to loose their tone and she just looked enourmous!

 

[koeffee]

the mare has never been ridden, and only recently(a week) has she been turned out on good grazing.she is one that lives on fresh air.i have another mare who is fat alround but compare the two and abby is all belly very low and very wide, just keep my fingers x.