Breeding Day Arrives
Its been about two weeks since we first noticed Tink had come into season. The vets and I have been tracking her progesterone levels starting on day 5, see chart below.
From the blood test results, it appears Tink ovulated on Monday evening, Jan 15th. A final test the next day confirmed elevated P-levels of ~10 ng/ml. We scheduled the breeding for Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday, we went in for the first breeding. Dr. Rickard performed an Endoscopic Transcervical Insemination (eTCI) with the frozen semen from Ferro. I was present during the entire procedure and could easily see, on the TV monitor, the passage of the catheter into the cervical canal. Dr. Rickard then attached a syringe with the semen to the outside end of the catheter and slowly pressed the contents into the cervical canal. The entire procedure took less than 30 mins. Afterwards, Dr. Rickard showed me a drop of semen under the microscope. They looked very active, swimming in straight lines, like little tadpoles. The motility was good.
Tomorrow we go back for the final breeding, which will be by surgical intra-uterine insemination. Unfortunately, this requires anesthesia and an incision in the skin. The main advantage of this procedure is the ability to see and directly inject the semen into each uterine horn, right at the source of the eggs from the ovaries.
If all goes well, an ultrasound exam will be performed on February 15th to confirm the pregnancy. The expected whelping day is around March 19th.
…P