Hey Rusty,



Those are definitely slugs in your picture, and that picture tells a thousand words. The vascularity could indicate fertilized follicles once healthy in early development that died at some point in gestation. It might also just represent absorption angiogenesis as your dam tried to reabsorb the follicles. The black areas of likely hemorrhage may indicate some failure of the embryonic disc or other such anomaly... In any case, the important thing to note is the apparent inflammatory process developing as indicated by those glistening white fibrin tags and granulation of the masses. My concern would be that those slugs were becoming fetid within the oviduct and that failure to successfully and safely remove that last egg could kill your female at worst or leave her unable to safely breed again at best. My unsolicited advice is to try removing that last egg as safely (gently!) and expeditiously as possible. If that egg is firmly attached to the oviductal wall as the vascularity in the others seems to suggest, you risk tearing the egg open (as well as the oviduct) warranting an emergency surgery. If the egg is far enough caudally, you may be able to help coax it out with a little sterile KY jelly, but again, do so as gently as possible. This may be a two person job or require sedation, depending on her temperament. Retained eggs, as I'm sure you know, can lead to secondary bacterial infection, sepsis, impaction and/or death. I lost one of my most valuable females last year to an unexpected dystocia and have another who is now a "vet school education" animal from the oviduct ligation surgery (my first!) that saved her life but has rendered her unable to safely breed again in the future. If my experience helps saves your mega, then risking looking like the vet student know-it-all will not have been for nothing. Good luck!




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