Unlimited access >

Is WFFS carrier a blood test?

Hi-my mare needs a WFFS test. Is that just a blood draw, or more involved?

Also, she had been on Regumate as a riding horse. Now off, but theoretically now is non-estrus time of year. Do I have to wait 'till Spring to test for fertility? Is that an ultra sound, or a blood test to determine hormone levels?
Thanks.

You can get your mare tested to see if she is a WFFS carrier via a hair test with UC Davis. You mail in the hair and the results are generally back quite quickly and it is easy.

https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/tests?field_species_target_id=266

2 Likes

A reproductive exam is an ultrasound and a culture with sensitivity at a minimum. There are additional tests that can be performed like a biopsy depending upon what they find.

1 Like

You can’t really test for fertility. I mean, I guess you could, with extensive, $$$ testing of some kind. But generally you don’t do that.

You would do a culture and cytology (both, not just one or the other) to determine the cleanliness of the uterine environment, so you don’t go trying to breed into something that isn’t healthy enough to either conceive, or maintain a pregnancy.

You’d do that maybe a month before your earliest intended breeding time, to give you time to clean things up if needed (antibiotics, more diagnostics, etc), but not so long that you risk having another infection develop.

And yes, the FFS test (no longer WFFS since it’s found in non-WB breeds) is a hair DNA test

Thank you to everyone!

Pretty much what it says above however the easier way to do the ffs test is to contact your mares registry and they can order it through UCD who in most cases have DNA on file so you dont have to send in hair but its done from DNA on file.

3 Likes

@Edgar Thank you!