Animark pregtest

Dynamic8999 · Oct 22, 2005

Hello I wanted to know if anyone has used the Animark Pregtest? It is an external ultrasound machine for minis and small animals. If you have please tell me about your experiences with it both good and bad. Is it easy to use? Thanks in advance for any help!

Mulligans Run · Oct 22, 2005

We bought one this year and have used it twice. It's not difficult to use, just difficult to understand. You see lines on the screen and solid lines from top to bottom mean pregnancy, BUT you have to have the probe in the right area. A full bladder can "supposedly" show a pregnancy that isn't there.

We ultrasounded several of our mares and found them in foal....then had several of them come back into season. Were they pregnant and absorbed??? Or did we read the machine wrong??? There's no telling since we didn't get bloodwork done.

We could have returned the machine, but we waited too long, so we've got one that we don't feel comfortable reading. Oh well....wanna rent it?

lotsofspots · Oct 22, 2005

I have had the PregTest for about 6 years now and have had good results with it....mostly once the mares are over 3 months pregnant--you scan in a different area after the foal has dropped (2 inches in front of the udder on the belly). I have had varying results scanning from 14 days to 3 months (on the flank)...I usually will follow-up with a blood test to confirm my results. The drawback to this machine is that you have to actually look (very quickly) at the screen to see the lights--there is no printer function available to record your results. I made my own "recording" sheets that duplicate the screen so I could write my results down after each scan--actually coloring in the dots I saw. I don't feel 100% confident relying soley on this machine, so that's why I follow-up with blood tests. It is also very messy...you have to slather vegetable oil on the scanning area liberally so the probe will engage the flesh accurately...that's the part I hate! Hope this helps.

SilverRidgeMinis · Oct 22, 2005

I would suggest renting one first. I tried one and we could not get it to work correctly. It said my gelding was pregnant. I sent it back. Others have had much better luck so maybe it was just us. My vet now has an internal ultersound so I would rather pay his fee. You definely need to learn now to use them correctly.

Freida

Joyce · Oct 22, 2005

Basically, you just need lots of practice and the PregTest works fine and is very easy to use. I wouldn't want to be without mine when breeding.

Joyce