Post-fixation manual twin reduction

Occasionally veterinarians are faced with the situation where a mare is first diagnosed with twins after embryo fixation has occurred, i.e. after day 16 post-ovulation. Such cases most commonly arise because clients do not present their mare for pregnancy diagnosis at the optimum time after artificial insemination or natural service, i.e. 14–16 days later. In other cases, a pregnancy may have been misdiagnosed as a uterine cyst at an earlier examination, and therefore it is not until an embryo proper (with a heartbeat) is seen that it is confirmed that the mare has twins. The focus of this presentation is to discuss options and approaches for mares diagnosed with twins between days 17 and 65 of gestation. Techniques for managing twins prior to day 17 and after day 65 will be covered elsewhere ...