At the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University, the students witnessed the birth and arrival of twin foals. The probability of twin foals being born alive is one in 10,000 and there is a one in 15,000 chance of them surviving the first two weeks. For those of you wondering why this event is so special! It’s a veritable miracle!
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and this is only the second set of live twins I’ve seen,” says Dr. John Schlipf. Mocha and Cappuccino, two males, were unable to nurse from their mother and thus were not receiving the necessary amount of colostrum, so the hospital provided them with plasma, antibiotics, and lots of TLC. Students on the CVM Foal Team and students on externship from the community college veterinary technician program provided 24-hour care and feeding of the foals.
At one-week-old, Cappuccino revealed himself to be the adventurous and frisky foal, while Mocha, is the smaller twin who was being treated for angular limb deformity. His prognosis was good and he was even trying to run. “He will always be the smaller horse,” say Dr. Trina Westerman, “but with bandaging should have normal limbs.”
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