While pondering if Annie is pregnant (she is a rescue mare who was ‘probably’ pregnant – but isn’t showing and will not allow her hind quarters to be touched, yet, so no palpation.), it occurred to me that humans have exterior ultrasounds to find out if we are pregnant… why can’t horses?
I figured there must be a big reason like their anatomy or maybe all the hair coat… dunno. But, I decided to GOOGLE it anyway.
And I found one!
I found an external ultrasound pregnancy checking device!
It is called, PREGSCAN. Have you heard of it? The manufacturer is Animark and they make a few different sizes for different farm animals as well as complimentary breeding devices.
Does anyone have one?
If you have one, could you come and check Annie?!
This company manufactures EXTERNAL ultrasound devices to show pregnancy in farm animals, including horses!
Wow! If I was a breeder, this would be a great device. Or, if I was a rescuer and wanted to know if a horse (Annie) was pregnant.
USES… (no affiliation)
OK, well, I could see a breeder wanting this and maybe rescuers – certainly the BLM. Anyone who needs to pregcheck a lot of mares and/or needs to check mares that don’t like to be palpated or are wild and there is no way they are going to be palpated without trauma.
I remember that when I was breeding, we had the vet out all the time to check the size of her egg for ovulation and AI. After AI, we had the vet out to pregcheck. Very exciting! But, if I ran a larger operation or if I had cattle, this would be GREAT. It can indicate pregnancy within 14 days of conception.
For me, if I had one here today, I would use it on Annie and we’d find out – once and for all!
Here is some information from the website.
Here is more information from the website…
THE COST: THEY ARE HAVING AN INTERNET SPECIAL!…
I did… the company said that there were no devices in my area. I then asked them to send
to me a demo for use and that I’d report the results. Am waiting an answer…
Why not contact these two companies and ask if they have information on what veterinarians or vet clinics in your area have purchased these. Manufacturers often keep those kinds of records. I don’t think you need to spend several thousands of dollars to go buy one yourself! Surely there is a veterinarian within a range of an hour or two or a hundred miles or so that has one and can make a farm call.
Do you need a Bucket Fund recipient. For this month? There is a rescue her just outside of Philly that was called in last week to one of the worst neglect cases ever. Several horses could not be saved; others need lots of care. The rescue is Last Chance Ranch; here is a link to an article in yesterday’s newspaper. Thank you and keep up your wonderful work; your blog is inspiring!
http://www.Philly.com/philly/news/20160131_Volunteers_describe_horrific_horse_starvation
In the UK you can buy a pregnancy test for horses the same way as for ladies. It’s called ‘weefoal’.
Can you get close enough to Annie to catch her peeing?
I hope you find out soon.