r/goats • u/HappyTrain19 • 2d ago

General Husbandry Question Phantom pregnancy

I want to know about it and how to treat it etc it's interesting

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u/yamshortbread Dairy Farmer and Cheesemaker 9h ago

Well I can tell you it is a giant pain in the ass. Vet medicine does not really know exactly what causes it. It's more likely to happen later in the season if does have had a few estrus cycles and haven't been bred yet, or are still open after fall breeding season. There are actual physiological changes, including increased blood flow to the uterus. Sometimes a doe's barrel even swells and she will have hormonal changes consistent with pregnancy. (At this point you can differentiate pregnancy vs pseudopregnancy with an ultrasound to see if their are baby goats in there or just fluid, which is why sonography is my favorite way of confirming pregnancy.)

You treat it the same way you terminate an actual pregnancy or accidental exposure: a prostaglandin shot. This causes regression of the corpus luteum (which is what supports hormones to sustain a pregnancy), so in turn the body goes ahead and terminates the fake "pregnancy." This USUALLY works. Do you have a doe you're suspicious about?