Pregnancy is a time of excitement, anticipation and change. Whether it be a change in your physical shape, in the food you eat, or in the lifestyle you lead, expectant mothers need to make sure that their pregnancy gives their unborn child the best possible start in life. It is this realisation that means many women will avoid certain products that are deemed to be of harm to the developing foetus, from the consumption of certain soft cheeses to declining a glass of wine during dinner.

However, it is also important to ensure that as little stress as possible is experienced during pregnancy, and this is important not just for humans, but for lots of different animal species too. The amount of stress experienced by the mother can play roles in the future characteristics of the offspring. As an example, pregnant woman exposed to high levels of stress may give birth to children that have an excitable temperament (which may not always be advantageous). If we consider this from the point of view of a breeder, animals bred would ideally be born with a calm and friendly nature which would clearly be useful - the eventual owner would be able to handle the animal with ease, and there would be no requirement to attend costly training sessions to help with any behavioural aspects the animal may possess. This is not only applicable to breeders of small animals, but also to farmers of larger members of the veterinary species, such as cows and sheep.

So the big question here is, where does veterinary ultrasound fit in? Previous articles have listed a number of advantages of using veterinary ultrasound, including the painless nature of the scanning and the rapid results following examination. Furthermore, the availability of ultrasound training courses, in addition to readily portable ultrasound scanning machines, can help to ensure that the animals in questions can be scanned by a ‘familiar face’ within a familiar environment. This bypasses the necessity for a trip to the vet to be scanned (which could cause unnecessary stress), or a practitioner having to visit a herd of animals on a farm, that may unknowingly carry an infection that could have potentially fatal consequences for the farmer.  It is these characteristics of ultrasound scanning that can help to explain why carrying out ultrasound imaging is the tool of choice during pregnancy.

Over the next few weeks, I will be looking at how stress can affect pregnancy in different animals, why this is important, and how veterinary ultrasound can help.  I will start by discussing the smaller members of the veterinary world such as dogs and cats, before moving on to their larger farmyard counterparts. For more information on ultrasound training courses or the portable scanning machines we stock, please click on the relevant links in this article.