Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Oxytocin promotes placental expulsion


Retention of the fetal membranes is a common post-foaling complication. It is of particular concern in heavy draft breeds, which seem especially likely to develop laminitis if expulsion of the membranes is delayed.

A Japanese study, led by Dr Mitsuo Ishii, found that hourly injections of oxytocin after foaling was an effective way of inducing placental expulsion.

"I recommend that for heavy draft mares, 50iu of oxytocin should be administered from one
hour after foaling and continued at one hour intervals until expulsion of the placenta" Dr Ishii says. " We usually don't remove the placenta manually until 8 hours after foaling."

See more details at equinescienceupdate.co.uk

1 comment:

Fran Jurga said...

Thanks for bringing this research to a wider audience. I'm sure it is meant as reproductive advice, but certainly qualifies under laminitis prevention as well. I will send some laminitis people here to read this.

Love the new format, and, as I have since Day One, love Equine Science Update!

Fran Jurga (The Hoof Blog and The Jurga Report Blog)