My mare is 7 months pregnant [var: some other duration before 300 days] and her udder has developed and I saw milk dripping from her teats today. Is this a cause for concern?
Yes!!! You should have your vet out to evaluate the mare immediately!!! Inappropriate lactation any time before about 300 days of pregnancy is usually an indication of impending abortion. That abortion may be due to a variety of causes, some of which you can do nothing about at this stage (twinning for example), but others may respond favourably to suitable treatment – one such problem could be placentitis. An experienced reproductive veterinarian will perform a rectal palpation (to determine if there is fetal movement or not – if the foal is already dead, then attempting to retain a pregnancy is not desirable), and an ultrasound. The ultrasound will be used to evaluate CTUP, which stands for “combined thickness of the uterus and placenta”. At various durational points of pregnancy this thickness should be no more than a certain thickness. If the CTUP is thicker than it should be, that indicates that there is inflammation of the placenta (which is what placentitis is). Treatment for pl
