Placenta retention in the cow: Report of three cases

Abstract

Retention of placenta is one of the most common postpartum conditions in farm animals associated with infertility when not treated promptly and adequately. In this report, three different cases of placenta retention recently handled at Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria are described. In the first case, the cow had a normal calving but the placenta was not expelled about 20 hours after calving. This was treated successfully with oxytocin after oestrogen priming of the uterus. The placenta was expelled 6 hours after the oxytocin injection. The second cow had a dystocia with the foetal head stuck and hanging out of vulva for over 12 hours before veterinary consultation. Episiotomy was done to deliver the dead calf and was associated with placenta retention. The case was successfully treated by applying gentle traction on the little stump of the placenta hanging out of the vulva. The third case was observed in a cattle market in which parturition was induced by stress of transporting the cow over a long distance. A pendulous weight was hung on the little placenta stump hanging from the vulva. On the following morning, treatment could not be continued as the cow had been sold off. Conditions capable of causing stress should be avoided in pregnant animal. In conclusion, this report has shown that retention of placenta is a frequent clinical phenomenon in cattle and can be successfully treated with gentle traction and oxytocin administration.

Retained placenta in dairy cows living in an all-day cowshed rearing system

“…dystocia (Mekonnen and Moges, 2016). Dystocia is one of the factors causing retained placenta (Raheem et al, 2016). Increasing age of dairy cows, more than five years old, was followed by a decrease in the reproductive endocrine system (Skovorodin et al, 2019), making it vulnerable to retained placenta (Attupuram et al, 2016).…”

Impact of Retained Fetal Membranes on Concentration of Some Biochemical Parameters and Liver Enzymes in Cattle

“…Retained fetal membrane (RFM) is one of important disorders occurring post-partum in cattle which causing decreased reproductive performance [1], it consider as one of main causes of metritis and post-partum endometritis [2] and resulting in increased the period between calving to first estrus, days open, services per conception and calving interval [3]. Retained fetal membranes occur when the fetal membrane failed to expulse from the uterus within 24 hrs after parturition [4].…”

The effect of inflammatory cytokines on occurrence of retained placenta in cattle

“…Retained placenta is described as the failure of cows to expel fetal membranes within approximately 24 hours following giving birth. This condition is a significant post-partum disorder in cattle and can result in reduced reproductive performance [1]. The closure of the cervix shortly after birth may contribute to the retention of fetal membranes [2].…”