Polyhdramnios......fatal outcome

[Sheepshape]

I'm new to the forum, though have kept sheep for a few years. I thought I'd quickly recount this sad story.

2 years ago a lovely 3 year old Blue Faced Leicester ewe ,scanned and having triplets, grew at a quite alarming rate. Towards the end of her pregnancy she was huge, and I SO wished I had consulted the vet.

She was nearing the end of her pregnancy when she suddenly went down and was unable to stand. She died shortly thereafter.

I opened her up (medical background) and found that she had huge amounts of amniotic fluid, 2 normal (dead) lambs, and an anencephalic (headless) lamb a the cause for the polyhydramnios.

I recount this tale to remind myself that what looks to be abnormal girth probably is....and hope that it may prevent someone else from doing the same.

 

[bonbean01]

This is something I had never heard of and looked it up and still it is not clear to me just how to prevent it or what a vet would do? Very clinical reading that is over my head. Any practical information you have would be appreciated.

So sorry this happened to you!

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Thanks!
That is definatly an eyeopener!
Sorry about your ewe and lambs!
I will definatly keep my eye a little further open when my ewes are pregnant this year!

 

[Sheepshape]

The nervous system in higher organisms develops in foetal life as a flat plate which rolls up to form a tube. If this fusion fails to happen in the spinal cord then the cord remains open,spina bifida, or, if this happens in the brain, anencephaly ( roughly Latin for 'absence of brain'). The animal (or baby) will have a face, but an open area where the brain should be, pulling the eyes backwards.

The foetal lambs usually swallow the amniotic fluid which is the cushioning fluid around the lamb. If the brain does not form normally, this swallowing does not happen and the amniotic fluid builds up and up (polyhydramnios).

In this case the amniotic fluid around the abnormal lamb was in huge amounts.

Had I been wise enough to have worked this out, an ultrasound scan would have revealed the problem and a Caesarian may have saved the two normal lambs and the ewe.

This happens occasionally in humans, too, but will be picked up on pregnancy scans. Folic acid supplementation to pregnant women has reduced the incidence of spina bifida and anencephaly, but it still does crop up from time to time. I have no idea how to prevent it in sheep, and would have thought their diets were very high in folic acid due to all the greens.

It seems that it is pretty rare, and farmer friend who keeps several thousand ewes said he had only seen it a couple of times. He is a very experienced shepherd who always says under these circumstances...."If you keep livestock, then you'll have some dead stock"......

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Interesting and something worth learning. HOWEVER I question how many of us in reality would know when/want to pay out the expense of an ultrasound & a caesarian section. I know down here a C-section starts at $300!

Liz

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Wow! So sorry about your loss!

Thank you for sharing. I really appreciate the in depth explanation.

 

[bonbean01]

X 2 !!!!! Thank you for sharing this information!