Contagious equine metritis
A lot goes into ensuring your Appaloosa is in top shape for breeding season and many factors contribute to a successful mating. If your veterinarian doesn’t confirm a pregnancy, get your Appaloosa checked out; it could be contagious equine metritis. CEM is a transferable equine venereal disease that spreads through breeding practices, and it’s possible for a mare or stallion to transmit the disease.
Diagnosis: It’s difficult to diagnose carriers of the disease because symptoms only occur after the first two weeks following the breeding date; after 14 days the symptoms disappear. Horses can transmit the disease through natural breeding and artificial insemination. Stallions and mares carry the bacteria—which can live for months—on genitalia, though stallions are usually the source.
Symptoms: Stallions show no symptoms and aren’t identified with the disease until a bred mare shows symptoms 10 to 14 days after the breeding takes place. Mares develop a gray or yellowish discharge, a result from uteral inflammation; become temporarily infertile; or—very rarely—abort the fetus. Mares will recover with treatment, but can become carriers. Foals born to infected mares can also be carriers.
Treatment: Your veterinarian will prescribe antibiotics and disinfectant to wash genitalia.
Prevention: Always exercise safe, hygienic practices when sterilizing breeding equipment. Horses can also be swabbed and tested before mating. Diagnostic antibody tests can be performed on mare; however, stallion testing is ineffective
because they don’t have enough antibodies in their bloodstream for a test to be accurate.
Editor’s note: Contact your veterinarian for all horse health concerns. Thank you to the Center for Food Security & Public Health at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary for the use of the article Contagious Equine Metritis.