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Discussion on Stillborn Foal
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Member: fouch
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Posted on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 11:08 am:
One of my twin embryo transfers was stillborn two days ago. Other than being two weeks early, everything seemed to be going fine. There was no problem during delivery. The foal had a large mass of tissue about the size of a baseball attached to the tongue. I have never seen anything like it. The foal looked normal other than that. Does anyone know what this could be or what could have caused it? The other recipient mare is due to foal any time.
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Member: fouch
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Posted on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 5:26 pm:
Dr. O. Feel free to delete the picture. It is depressing.
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Member: mrose
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Posted on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 6:57 pm:
I have never seen anything like this before either. I'd be very interested in what the cause might be. Did your vet happen to biopsy it? So sorry for your loss. I hope the other foal is o.k.
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Member: rtrotter
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Posted on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 7:21 pm:
So sorry for your loss. It's tough to go through a full term pregnancy and lose it at the end. Just curious how old was the surrogate mare? The only thing I've seen that was similar to this was a still born foal from an older mare(23). In that foals case, the bones in his face did not grow right and its brain popped out of the unformed skull bone right in the center of his forehead. That foal was full term and it had taken 3 years to get the mare in foal. I am not sure why they tried especially given her age. Rachelle
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Moderator: DrO
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Posted on Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 5:55 am:
My condolences Scott, It would appear to be a genetic developmental disorder of the tongue but the appearance does not rule out inflammatory changes like a large granuloma that might form from immune stimulation. I would guess aberrant parasite migration might cause such a mass to form. Histopathic investigation would help with the differentiation. From my very limited knowledge of developmental genetic disorders a list of possible cause might include: 1) Recessive genetic disorder in both parents (very unlikely). 2) Genetic damage to the egg, sperm, or embryo from unknown causes, viral disease, drugs. DrO
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Member: fouch
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Posted on Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 9:15 am:
Does this mean that it is possible that the other foal may have the same problem?
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Moderator: DrO
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Posted on Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 9:35 pm:
Unless this is a recessive inherited defect and the other foal has the same parents, no this is not going to happen to the other foal. DrO
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Member: paul303
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Posted on Friday, May 7, 2010 - 12:46 am:
Scott: I'm wondering if the mare had any trauma or illness during gestation? It's so tough to lose a full term foal ( especially an embryo transfer ). Was the foal actually stillborn, or was it viable for a short time? I, too, would be curious about what a biopsy would show. Was just one embryo implanted? Thanks for posting this...hope you're next foaling goes smoothly.
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