Is my mare pregnant?

>>>> OP- go with an ultrasound. I do not like rectal palpations in the first place- only extremely experienced and qualified individuals should perform them, and even then the risk of injury to your mare is more than what I would want to take with my own.

I have had several mares ultrasounded by an experienced repro vet-- and he does it rectally-- in fact he will often palpate first to get "the lay of the land" and make some predictions to follow up on before inserting the US wand to "see"--- how are your vets performing the US on yours, if not rectally?

I've heard different things...that a vet can miss the foal during a palpatation and then I hear that a vet cannot miss it. He said no when he checked her on October 2nd but her belly has seemed to grow more since then. I don't want him to think I am crazy to have him out again if he already said she wasn't.

I highly doubt he will think you are crazy. Tell him you are worried again because of her shape. I am sure he will be more than willing to recheck.

Ok thank you! I wouldn't be worried so much if her belly would have stayed the same and her teats didn't look different. Lol everyone keeps calling it the "surprise baby" and we are going to come in one morning and there it is. I have found out a little more about her history and it is very possible she was exposed to a stallion between Jan-April.....

I agree that you should just have him out again, because there are changes. I do have to say that if you think she is that close to foaling it really would make me question your vet if he did in fact miss the fetus on palpation. They are HUGE at that point and even someone on their first time palpating shouldn't miss them. Basically you get in there and the baby says "HELLO!!!" If in doubt, as him to u/s- at this point (again assuming you think she is within weeks of foaling) there is pretty much no way to miss on a transabdominal. He should be able to sex the baby and everything by then- as the fetus is taking up about 30% of the abdomen.