My mare has shown decreased progesterone levels with her last foal, and the vet wants to use Regumate.
Previous vet started her on Regumate the day she ovulated. If the mare has clearance issues, doesn't the Regumate close the cervix? Shouldn't the mare be started as closer to day 6 post ovulation to allow as much clearance as possible?
How long does the low progesterone mare need to be on Regumate before the fertilized egg clears the oviduct?
Also, could Regumate make Oxytocin less effective?
Regumate is not normally started until the third day afer ovulation, as commencing treatment prior to that will - as you observe - result in a premature closing of the cervix, thereby possibly trapping post-breeding fluids in the uterus creating an inhospitable environment for the conceptus once it arrives.
The whole issue of the validity of Regumate use to "support" pregnancy in "low progesterone mares" is a highly debated one, with the more knowledgeable researchers and theriogenologists recognising that there is much unnecessary over-use of the product in that regard.
The conceptus descends into the uterus around day 5½, but the cervix is closing by day 3½, so starting the mare on day 3 is fine and will not interfere with fluid clearance through the cervix, which is essentially stopped by then anyway.
The Regumate will probably not interfere with the action of the oxytocin as far as uterine contractions are concerned, but it will certainly reduce clearance abilities if it causes the cervix to close! Another point to consider in regards to Regumate use is that it will be likely to cause a reduction in the mare's own endogenous release of progesterone, so if she is subsequently checked to determine if she needs progestin supplementation, the fact that she has been on Regumate supplementation may cause her to require that further supplementation!
Take a look at the above linked article about Regumate use - it might hold some interesting food for thought for you...
She has been testing around 1.7ng/ml, so I see why the vet wants her on Regumate. She was on Regumate for 10mo with her last foal, and everytime we tried AI last year. Total 3 mo. in 2005. So, to be safe you have to assume she's probably a Regumate 'addict'.
She went foal, open, foal, foal, foal, Regumate foal. The open year they said due to low progesterone. They didn't comment why the fifth foal had Regumate for 10mo when none before. So the two most likely reasons for that are softening cervix (she got a tight one so probably not) or placentitis. What is placentitis?
The previous owners were adamant about starting her on Regumate the day she ovulated, would there be any reason for this?
So if Regumate actually reduces the uterine immune response (neutrophils?). Then any lingering edema is most likely a pathogen. (Which we did find at the end of breeding season, after she tested clean before we started breeding.)
One of the vets that I am thinking of using is wanting to put my mare on regumate for at least the first 15 days of pregnancy - this is from a phone conversation, they have never seen my mare. She is worried because the mare is older.
I tend to think that it is better to let nature work, the mare did not have a problem maintaining her other pregnancy so why would a couple of years suddenly give her problems? This vet also wants to put her on thyroid medicine - based on my comment about the mare being chunky. I hate to start giving my mare something that she may not need based on a knee-jerk reaction. I also don't want to blow lots of money trying to get her bred. My gut tells me to try it without and see if it works before starting to throw all sort of things at her that she may or may not need. But then again, I am not a vet?
Then you know exactly where you are at and there's no guessing. Otherwise, you'll be in the middle of the breeding season using precious cycles to troubleshoot--that gets expensive.
Or worse yet, miss the season entirely and still not know why the mare didn't take. I had a vet who kept saying "I'll save you a few bucks, you don't need a culture." That vet ended up 'saving' me a total of $2,000 and I don't have a foal.
Deep breaths...I need to go find my happy place now. Good luck!
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