Abstract:
The present study was conducted to diagnose and treat pseudopregnancy in
goats, follow the treated animals as well as to report the prevalence and associated risk
factors of pseudopregnancy in goats in Khartoum State, Sudan. A Cross-sectional study
was carried out from March 2015 to February 2016 on 378 female goats that presented
to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sudan University
of Science and Technology, for routine sonographic pregnancy diagnosis. Ultrasound
scanning was performed using a real-time scanner (Pie Medical, Easote, The
Netherlands) equipped with dual frequency (3.5-5) MHz transabdominal curvilinear
transducer while the animal was in a dorsal docubitus in especial designed table. The
results showed that out of 378 examined goats, 40 were pseudopregnant.
Pseudopregnant goats showed compartmentalized fluid-filled uterus without fetal parts
and placentomes. The overall prevalence of pseudopregnancy in goats in Khartoum
State was 10.6%. Risk factors such as breed (P-value = 0.082), general body condition
(P-value = 0.05), age (P-value = 0.019), type of estrus (P-value = 0.000), milk yield (P-
value = 0.114), previous history of reproductive performance (P-value = 0.020) and type
of feeding (P-value = 0.190) showed significant association (P-value ≤ 0.25) with the
occurrence of pseudopregnancy in the univariate analysis. However, season (P-value =
0.264), locality (P-value = 0.264), parity number (P-value = 0.767) and rearing system
(P-value = 0.451) were not significantly associated with pseudopregnancy. One risk
factor (type of insemination) was not subjected to statistical analysis due to the fact that
all animals in the present study were naturally mated. Results also revealed that breed
(P-value = 0.018) and type of estrus (P-value = 0.019) had statistical significant
association with pseudopregnancy (p-value ≤ 0.05) in the multivariate analysis. All
positive cases were successfully treated using 125 μg intramuscular injection of
Cloprostenol. Out of 40 treated animals, 4 (10%) of them showed recurrent
pseudopregnancy. 2 out of 4 goats with recurrent pseudopregnancy responded to
additional dose of Cloprostenol and conceived as confirmed by ultrasound. The other
two goats were diagnosed again as pseudopregnant. In conclusion, this study showed
for the first time that pseudopregnancy is a real- reproductive problem in goats in
Khartoum State and ultrasonography is an accurate, rapid, reliable and non-invasive
technique for diagnosis of this condition as well as Cloprostenol proved an efficient
treatment.
