VIP Animal Care

Born in December 2005

Owners were from Sheridan, IN

Dam:  Natural Colored Breedstock Ewe – 3yrs old

No previous reproductive issues QQ

Sire:  Crossbred Wether Buck – 2yrs old QRNS

The ewe was noted to be in active labor on early Saturday morning.  The owners thought since she was an experienced ewe she wouldn’t have any problems.  Later that afternoon, they noticed that she still hadn’t delivered the lambs.  Upon further inspection, they noticed there were two heads sticking out of the vagina and appeared to be already dead due to the dystocia.  The owners continued to try and assist with the delivery and noted that one head was facing up and the other was facing down.  There was no front legs present to assist with the delivery.  After several hours of continued struggling with the delivery, the family decided they would need some help and I received a call around 12:30 am.  The owners were very discouraged by being unsuccessful.  They explained on the phone that every time they pushed one head back, the other would retract as well.  I asked if they could feel any legs and they were unable to reach any.  They did say there was plenty of room in the vaginal canal for two heads and a person’s hand.  After hearing this I decided that this was no basic dystocia and hurried across the county to assist them.  Upon my examination, the two heads were very swollen, were facing each other, and obviously expired.  The ewe was also exhausted but was hanging in there.  When I reached my hand into the vaginal canal, I could feel that both heads were connected at the neck shoulder junction.  It was obvious that they were Siamese twins.  At first I was excited about witnessing such a phenomenon and explained to the owners that they only way to get the lambs out was by c-section.  I gave them the option to euthanize the ewe because of her condition after thirteen hours of labor.  However, I convinced them to bring her to the clinic for a c-section.  I wasn’t sure the mother would live, but I wanted to see how the Siamese twins were developed.  After being out of veterinary school five years prior, I had done my fair share of c-sections on sheep with a pretty good success rate using different surgical approaches.  I decided to have the mother stand on a blocking stand and did a left paralumbar fossa approach.  With the owners being my only two novice vet assistants, I thought not sedating the ewe would be her best chance for survival.  I did not know at the time what kind of mangled bodies I would find in the uterus.  As usual I had my hand inside the abdomen looking for the uterus and a foot or leg to make my first incision.  I was able to find four legs and tried to pull them through the incision with no success.  Finally I had eight legs in my hands at once and pulled with all my strength to get the mangled mess out.  The owner helped to support the ewe standing on the stand as I pulled.  The Siamese twins finally pulled through the incision.  Like always, I thought surely that was it for the lambs, but I checked the uterus for another lamb just in case.  Sure enough there was a large female lamb that was as big as the Siamese twins and had developed completely normal.  This lamb was lifeless as well due to the prolonged labor.  The Siamese twins weighed 35 lbs and the single female weighed 19 lbs.  The large lambs ended up tearing the uterus due to their size, and it took awhile to close up the c-section.  The ewe, however, did very well considering what she had been through that day.  She had a minor infection from the c-section and lived another year until the scrapie program got her for being QQ. This was because she was traced back to a farm that was positive for scrapie.  The male siamese twins or conjoined twins were identical except for a few spots were not in the same place.  They had two fully developed bodies with four legs each.  They were facing each other and were only attached from the umbilicus up.  The only part of their body they shared is the sternum to the neck where they bifurcate into the two different heads.  This type of conjunction that can also involve the heart or the umbilicus and is called thoracopagus conjoined twins. This type occurs in about 35% of all conjoined twin cases.  These Siamese twins and the other lamb could have possibly been born alive if a c-section was performed much earlier in the labor.  However the twins never would have been able to walk because they faced each other.

Most people that I have told this story to are either intrigued or horrified by the thought of having siamese twins.  They are identical twins who develop with a single placenta and a single fertilized egg and are the same sex.  They are more often female than male at a ratio of 3:1.  One article noted that conjoined twins occur as often as once in every 40,000 births but only once in every 200,000 live births.  It may be caused by any number of factors, being influenced by genetic and environmental conditions.  It is presently thought that these factors are responsible for the failure of twins to separate after the 13^th day of fertilization. These statistics did not specify if they were for humans, animals or both. Another article suggested that sheep have the highest incidence of conjoined twins.

While I was attending Purdue University (1992-2000), out at the Baker Farm I saw a two-headed calf that was taxidermy and mounted on the wall. The calf was born and delivered by c-section and was displayed for educational purposes. I said to myself that would be awesome, I would do the same thing if I ever came across one.

The first thing I did after the c-section was wash and dry the lambs to make them look more presentable. I also took pictures to document the process. I positioned and froze the specimens for preservation and took x-rays to confirm bone structures and body parts. My next task was to find someone to taxidermy these lambs. I have heard from many people this can be very expensive and not many people do it. After calling around and searching the internet, the only place that would even attempt this was in Colorado. So I had one of the girls who worked at the office ship the lambs to be taxidermy. They actually were just dehydrated, or preserved. The process took over 6 months. During that time my employees had changed and no one remembered where they were sent. After 8 months had past I was worried I would never see them again. So I went on a massive search to find my babies. I called every taxidermist in Colorado asking them if they had seen my Siamese twin lambs. Everyone I called was confused. However, I finally struck gold when they said they had them, but the lady claimed they had had a massive fire and lost everything in the building except the items in the dehydration tank. And yes, my Siamese twins and the triplet were survivors of the massive fire. Thank goodness they were salvaged. I received them in the mail not long after that.