What to Do About Retained Placenta in Sheep? Key Points of Prevention and Treatment Explained

I. Prevention

The main preventive method is to strengthen the feeding and management of pregnant sheep: feed formulation should follow the principle of not making pregnant sheep overweight; a proper amount of exercise must be ensured every day.

II. Treatment

Within 14 hours after birth, one may wait for it to shed on its own. If more than 14 hours have passed, appropriate measures must be taken, because by then the placenta has begun to rot, and if it remains in the uterus it can cause severe inflammation of the uterine mucosa, leading to temporary or permanent infertility, and sometimes even septicemia. Therefore, when more than 14 hours have passed, the following methods should be adopted as early as possible for treatment, and the placenta must never be pulled forcefully, lest it tear and leave part of the placenta inside the uterus.

1. Surgical manual detachment of the placenta

① First wash the vulva and the placenta with a disinfectant solution, then rinse and disinfect the operator's arm with a tannic acid alcohol solution, and apply a disinfectant ointment to avoid introducing pathogens into the uterus. If there are small wounds or abrasions on the hand, iodine tincture must be applied beforehand and adhesive tape applied.

② Hold the placenta with one hand, and with the other hand insert a rubber tube and inject a warm potassium permanganate solution (1:10000) into the uterus.

③ Insert the hand into the uterus and detach the chorion from the maternal cotyledons. When detaching, proceed from near to far. First pinch and squeeze the stalk of the cotyledon with the middle finger and thumb, then try to detach the fetal membrane covering the cotyledon. To make detachment easier, the cotyledon may first be pinched and squeezed with the fingers.

Detachment should be done carefully, because injury to the cotyledons can cause heavy bleeding and open a gateway for microorganisms to enter, easily leading to severe systemic symptoms.

2. Subcutaneous injection of oxytocin

The vulva and vagina of sheep are relatively small, so only a person with small hands can perform manual detachment of the placenta. Forcing the hand into the uterus not only makes detachment difficult but also risks injuring the birth canal. Therefore, when the hand cannot easily be inserted, only subcutaneous injection of oxytocin 2-3 international units (inject 1-3 times, at intervals of 8-12 hours) can be used. If combined with flushing the uterus with warm physiological saline, the effect is better. To drain the fluid from the uterus, the sheep's forelegs can be lifted.

3. Timely treatment of septicemia

If the placenta remains for a long time, severe postpartum septicemia often occurs. Its features are elevated body temperature, loss of appetite, and cessation of rumination. The pulse is thin and rapid, and breathing is fast and shallow; the skin is cold (especially the ears, udder and base of the horns). The sheep prefers to lie down and is very indifferent to its surroundings; a dirty brown, foul-smelling fluid flows from the vulva. When this happens, treatment should be started as early as possible.

① Intramuscular injection of antibiotics: penicillin 400,000 international units, once every 6-8 hours; streptomycin 1 gram, once every 12 hours.

② Intravenous injection of tetracycline. Add tetracycline 500,000 international units to 100 ml of 5% glucose injection and inject, twice daily.

③ Flush the uterus with 1% cold saline, and after draining the saline, inject penicillin 400,000 international units and streptomycin 1 gram into the uterus, once daily, until recovery.

④ 10%-25% glucose injection 300 ml, 40% urotropine 10 ml, intravenous injection, 1-2 times daily, until recovery.

⑤ In light of the clinical manifestations, carry out timely symptomatic treatment, such as giving stomachics, laxatives, cardiotonics, etc.