ai

Question
I am about to do a vet assisted AI with my 1st time pregnant bitch.She is healthy and 3 years old. If done at optimal time do you believe 2 AI,S IS SUFFICIENT ? 3 IS A OPTION BUT IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE AS WE ARE USING CHILLED SHIPPED SEMEN?

Answer
Hi Mary Jane

A.I. is very effective. Personally, we have a 100% success rate.  It is simple and easy to do and can be done without the assistance of a vet when you have both the male and female in hand and are using fresh sperm.  

Chilling sperm decreases both its mobility and lifespan.  Which means that some of the sperm will either die or become inactive by the chilling and none will live as long as the if they were fresh. Commercially manufactured extenders are available and used when shipping semen.

Ideally, you want the semen collected and shipped over night and inseminated immediately.  Studies have shown that chilled sperm can be inseminated at 48 hours of age but with a definite loss of quality.  

Timing is everything.  The sperm has a dependable life span after insemination of approximately 12 hours.  So it's very important for your vet to do frequent progestrone testing to determine ovulation.  Because the eggs take two full days to ripen, your vet should not introduce chilled semen until you know that the eggs are ripe and ready to go, otherwise you've just wasted time, money and sperm.

The good news is that a male can produce between 300 - 400 MILLION sperm every day in small breeds, and over a BILLION in larger breeds.  With a 70% viability, chance are still very good that your female will take provided, that the timing is dead on.

Good luck