Retained placenta after aborting

[cretahillsgal]

A friend has a mare who aborted yesterday morning and still has not passed the placenta 24 hours later.

The mare is at the vet and has been since she aborted. They have given her oxy which didn't help and are doing a flush this morning.

Has anyone else had one retain this long? And any ideas that I can pass along to her? She is obviously worried for the mare's health now, worrying about laminitis and the mare becoming septic.

 

[Reble]

A friend has a mare who aborted yesterday morning and still has not passed the placenta 24 hours later.

The mare is at the vet and has been since she aborted. They have given her oxy which didn't help and are doing a flush this morning.

Has anyone else had one retain this long? And any ideas that I can pass along to her? She is obviously worried for the mare's health now, worrying about laminitis and the mare becoming septic.

I have had retained placenta and find putting a lunch bag half full of water and tied onto it helps it come out.

Must add did not read about aborting, thought she had delivered OK, so yes would not try this. but found when normal delivery have done this.. sorry for not reading correctly.

 

[valshingle]

I have had retained placenta and find putting a lunch bag half full of water and tied onto it helps it come out.

Gosh, I'm glad I passed my placenta when my daughter was born! Ouch!

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

The problem is that the placenta isn't 'ripe'. What I mean is that it isn't mature and ready to come off on its own. It is adhered stronger than if she would have carried to term.

The Vet will likely pull some, but owners shouldn't pull or tie weights to a placenta. Its better that the placenta be pulled out whole rather than breaking it.

Oxytocin works for just the first 24 hours, after that prostaglandin is a more powerful contractile hormone. Flushing the uterus will also cause contraction to help expel the placenta. Antibiotics or detergents will likely be added to decrease risk of a toxic metritis (it will be infected, but that's unavoidable).

Preventing a toxic metritis is the key, retaining a placenta alone won't lead to a catastrophe. I've had some that wouldn't come out until the placenta rotted away after about a week. Those mares did fine, they weren't toxic.

Unfortunately, the wear and tear on the uterus will likely lead to infertility this year and may continue with sub or infertility in future years.

I bet the Vet is handling this situation correctly, be patient.

Dr Taylor

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Is this the whole placenta or just part of it, that is retained?

Although I agree with Dr Taylor- the Vet is most probably on top of this, to put your mind at rest a little I will tell you that I had an Arab mare retain part (In fact a small piece of) her placenta (the bit immediately around the strongest attachment point) after a normal birth.

The Vet removed it manually, a WEEK later, after I noticed she was running a slight temperature, and got him back to see her. It was the size of a soup plate, but she was 14.2hh.

A flush of anti biotics and she was fine.

I hope your friend's mare is too.

 

[Magic]

I had a mare that had a retained placenta for over 24 hours; the oxtocin the vet was giving her wasn't enough and he ended up having to manaully remove it. It looked terribly painful.

She was flushed and if I remember right, was on antibiotics for 10 days (it was a long time ago). She went on to have other foals with no problem. It's a very worrying thing, but with a good vet helping out there's a great chance it will all turn out fine. Best of luck with your friend's mare!

 

[bevann]

I had a mare about 25 years ago that aborted a terribly deformed foal and retained the placenta.Vet flushed her daily for 7 days until it finally came out in rotten pieces.Lots of antibiotics solved the problem.She went on to have several healthy foals and is still alive at age 34.

 

[Kelsey - Vandy's Farm]

My gypsy mare aborted last year, about 3 month too early. She retained a lot of the placenta. She had to be flushed out for a week and get lot of antibiotics. She recovered 100% and is in foal right now. We are just praying everything goes well with this pregnancy.