# Oxytocin and Partially Dilated Cervix



## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

I am a bit confused now. Oxytocin is only to be given to does with an open cervix or they may burst their uterus from contracting on closed cervix, I understand that. But, what about a partially opened cervix? A doe with a partly open cervix should be okay, right?? I mean, oxytocin is released in the body to cause contractions, which causes cervix to dilate...that's what I understood from reproduction class.

Also, Lutalyse/PGF2a, will this help open a cervix that has already begun dilating? I remember it feeding into the cascade of kidding events, but didn't remember if it was continual or just started the process. Cindy, did you ever do your research/homework?


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

My basic understanding is, prostaglandin causes the cervix to soften and efface. Oxytocin causes contractions which cause it to open. A soft opening cervix makes induction with oxytocin more successful.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

From what I understand, Oxytocin should only be used to open a cervix by using a GLOVED! hand and rubbing it directly on the cervix. As far as Lute goes, it seems to me that once the doe is in labor and the cervix is dialating, that it is too late for Lute as it takes probably 24 hrs for it to START working. ? I have heard of people using it for a stalled labor...not sure why...my first thought on stalled labor would be CMPK.
I don't really understand the 'Oxytocin only after fully dialated' either, as I was given it and Pitocin(sp?) during labor with my third child. INSANE! Contactions OFF the charts. The nurse and doctor couldn't even read them. :/ Ticked me off and I pulled the stupid uncomfortable belly monitor off and threw it across the room. GRRR They had an internal monitor on the baby anyhow!


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

That damn monitor!!! I kept adjusting it, because I really just wanted it off, and the nurse kept coming in to "fix" it. I think we were both irritating each other (well, that's just too bad, I was the one in labor!). At first they were letting me not wear it all the time, but when I decided to just stay in bed (because I was soooo tired), they kept harassing me with the thing.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Yes, Nancy, I did the homework, now I just have to write it up (sorry, everyone).

Lute only works if there is a corpus luteum (CL). In a pregnant doe, it is the CL that maintains pregnancy. In a normal birth, without intervention, the kid releases prostaglandin that breaks down the CL (there's more to it, but that's the short version), thus decreasing progesterone. An increase in estrogen plus the decrease in progesterone stimulates uterine contractions which is also helped by the release of the prostaglandin which then will stimulate the release of oxytocin.

So to answer your question, Nancy, I'm still no expert, but you asked if lute is used to start the process of can it be used when the process has started, I would say, yes, you can still use lute even though the process has started. It takes up to 36 hours to work because we are assuming that the process of parturition has NOT started so it will take a while for that CL to break down with the resulting decrease in progesterone. Which is also why, if the process has already started (without obvious signs) that a doe given a shot of lute kids earlier than that 36 hour mark. I do agree with Denise (and we've all read it on DGI) to try it directly on the cervix with a gloved hand.

Regarding the oxytocin, I would not use it unless that cervix is open. Yes, oxytocin and progesterone do work together within the doe at the time of labor, but it is not only the contractions that stimulate the cervix to open.

One more thing for info for everyone (and it will be in my write-up), lute will NOT miraculously dilate a cervix of a doe. There MUST be an active CL (corpus luteum) in order for it to work. No CL, no dilation. It may soften a cervix, but again, it will not open it up unless the doe has an active CL. 

It's the same when using it to bring does into heat or synch heats in the fall. We are only guessing that there is an active CL. In the fall, the actions begin with a follicle developing on the ovary which produces estrogen. Estrogen triggers FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone) which matures the follicle. The follicle grows until it bursts, releasing the egg (ovulation). After ovulation, that collapsed follicle begins to grow into a CL (corpus luteum) which produces progesterone to prepare the uterus for pregnancy and helps maintain that pregnancy. If the does is not bred (or does not conceive), the uterus produces prostaglandin that will dissolve the CL and a new cycle begins. So we give the shot and hopefully the doe go into heat a day and a half later. Then their cycles should continue every 3 weeks after that. But again, if there was no CL to begin with, there was nothing to kill. 

So in my post about my doe aborting when I asked if I should use lute to open her back up so I could do a uterine flush, she said no, it won't work, and rightly so. Because the CL was already gone which is why she did not maintain the pregnancy. So me giving a shot of lute at that particular time will result in nothing. No miraculous opening of the cervix.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

They are vet scripts, so when you are using it, you have to have a clear diagnosis of the problem and what you are doing with the drug.

You got pitocin with doctors and nurses right there. So if you are going to give IM oxytocin to a laboring doe you darn well have to know the cervix must be opening and you are also using it on your gloved hand to soften and manually open the cervix because the doe is in distress. Banging contractions against a closed cervix when you do not know what you are doing, is going to cause damage if not death to the doe. In the hospital you are right there to have a csection if it is not working, can you do the same for your goat?

It's to late to use lute it takes hours for it to work, and does she have a corpus lutem during labor? for it to work on??

Clear plan of action, a doe is in labor, she is older and not really pushing with gusto....30cc subq of calicum is usually the best start 1/4 to 1/2cc IM of occytocin to not just help her have stronger contractions but it will help her clean and get the placenta going in a doe having a sluggish labor.

A doe has been laboring for an hour, not pushing for an hour but obviously in labor, she starts pushing, she pushes for 15 minutes and you do a pelvic and find a partially closed cervix....a closed cervix is vet time. Since the cervix is partially open, 30 cc subq of calcium, 2cc of banamine to calm her down and 1/2cc of oxytocin while your gloved hand opens that cervix up, if you do not have clear improvement in another 15 minutes it's vet time.

It's the dangers of forums, of vets who give you drugs when you don't really know how to use them. You have to start writing things down, each drug you have should have it's own page and exactly how you use it, why you are using it and the dangers that go with it, this has been talked over multiple times on the forum and this question is not coming from a new person. (When we don't mind rehashing the same subject for new folks questions, the forum is a LOT to search).


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

I had pitocin with my second child. My doctor explained that it was likely to work because I was effaced and partially dilated. Giving pit on a closed hard cervix is a bad practice to which many women can testify to being subjected. I believe now they are working with prostaglandin with women who are not as far along. Interesting thread. Beyond the scope of my experience with goats. I imagine if I need these drugs ever I'll be getting guidance from the vet, but good to know what the vet should be saying.


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

I was mostly confused because someone (with much more experience than me) told me that oxytocin cannot be used on a doe whose cervix is dilating, but not completely open, which seemed counter-intuitive to me. The person was giving the doe lute to try to get her cervix to finish dilating. I realize that Lutalyse causes luteolysis (gets rid of the corpus luteum), and in goats, corpus luteum maintains the pregnancy (pretty much every species, pregnancy is maintained by progesterone, which can be produced by a cl or by the placenta (and some species, the placenta does not produce enough to maintain the pregnancy). But Lute is prostaglandin, which is also part of the hormone feedback cycle, there is a kind of circle, where prostaglandin starts it, which works on the CL, then luteolysis causes increased oxytocin production, which causes increased prostaglandin, and on it goes. So, I am still not sure if giving lute will help or not. I guess it just all depends on the CL still being present or not. *As a side note, prostaglandin is responsible for pain response as well, I'm guessing part of why labor hurts so much.


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## Tracy in Idaho (Oct 26, 2007)

No, like I told you, I will not give oxytocin on a partially open cervix -- for one reason over all others --Usually those kids are not positioned correctly, and I don't want to be fighting against a contracting doe! What good could would it do to have those kids pushing up a cervix that is not all the way open? Yes, Lutalyse will take a while to soften the cervix (hours) -- I can be patient. I have had great success utilizing lute and manual stretching. I am not talking true ringwomb where there is NO dilation at all, but partial dilation - ie a fingertip or two- in a doe that has been not progressing at all.

I'll give you this bit from Goat Medicine -

"Possible treatments include careful manual stretching
of the cervix (success in two of sixteen cases) (Ghosh
et al. 1992), administration of calcium and/or estrogen
604 Goat Medicine
and waiting a few hours, and cesarean section. Prostaglandin
F2 alpha (7.5 mg intramuscularly) has been
proposed as an effective treatment, as judged by delivery
of kids within four hours (Majeed and Taha 1989). If a true
ringwomb is present, manual dilation
can easily rupture the cervix or uterus (Engum and
Lyngset 1970).
Oxytocin also should be avoided. If placenta
is visible and other techniques fail, surgery
should not be delayed longer than a few hours."


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

Thank you Tracy! Have you ever tried breaking the amniotic sac through the opening of the cervix (or is too difficult with just a small opening?) to help things along? Seems like they really wanted me to let them do this at the hospital, for some reason, but I wouldn't let them. Wasn't gonna do anything that wasn't completely necessary to avoid c-section at all costs (I did not take any drugs, etc.) when I was in labor.

Did it say what the treatment for a "true ringwomb" would be then?


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## Tracy in Idaho (Oct 26, 2007)

I break the sac if I need to get a better hold of kids to move them out, but I don't think fluid coming out going to help much in dilation. Sometimes as you are massaging, the sac will start to fill out through the cervix and help hold it open. 

I would imagine that the only real cure for a laboring doe with a closed cervix is going to be a c-section.


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