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Canine Reproduction

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Reproductive Services offered at Rogue Valley Veterinary Hospital

  1. Comprehensive Reproductive Exam/Fertility discussion
  2. OFA Hips and Elbows testing & PennHip radiographs
  3. OFA Thyroid, Patellas, and Cardiac via practitioner
  4. First progesterone appointment
    1. Same day progesterone results for ovulation and breeding timing
    2. Vaginal cytology
  5. Send out Brucellosis testing
  6. Vaginal Artificial Insemination
  7. Semen collection and brief analysis
  8. Pregnancy confirmation
    1. Ultrasound 25-30 days post ovulation/breeding
    2. Radiograph Day 55 or later post ovulation/breeding
  9. Planned C-Section
    1. With reverse progesterone testing when necessary
  10. Vaginal/semen culture
  11. Fresh chill semen receiving for breeding
  12. Litter exam and wellness care for puppies
  13. Neonatal advice/care

 

Breeding Guidelines

If you are interested in becoming a breeder or have been breeding and would like collaborate with your veterinarian we have formalized a set of standardized reproductive recommendations. These guidelines have been made to help promote high quality and responsible decision making when it comes to your canine reproduction plans.  Rogue Valley’s priority will be in the health and well-being of our patients.

Initial Reproduction Exam/appointment:

We recommend a breeding exam/consult before your pet is in heat or needed to be used as a stud to determine if they are a healthy, good breeding candidate, and to educate you on what will be involved in responsible and successful breeding.  Ideally if you are a new client coming to our practice for breeding purposes, we would like to set up a consult to discuss your breeding plans and preventative care (please send records) It is important to confirm that your dog is old enough, healthy, and health tested based on breed standards. Our goals are to educate you on responsible practices and work together to accomplish them.

First Progesterone appointment:

When we start the breeding process together during a first progesterone appointment, we will go over some basic standardized recommendations that our hospital believes are important to breeding. Our goal is to breed dogs with healthy genetics and well managed behavior. This mutual agreement should be signed by the breeder at this first appointment.

  • RVVH will not assist with breeding a dog under 1 year of age or on a first heat cycle.
  • We recommend health testing and reserve the right to deny breeding services if a pet has outward medical conditions that could be deemed heritable or affect the health of the pet during pregnancy.
  • We do not recommend breeding dogs with behavioral issues that would interfere with basic handling (i.e blood draw /restraint) or jeopardize safety of the staff assisting.

Breeding timing is a crucial step that we want to help assist in your success. The perfect time for us to start making breeding plans is during a first progesterone appointment. This appointment should take place 5 to 7 days in to their heat cycle. Please plan to call us at your females first sign of heat (discharge or vulva swelling).

The goal of a first progesterone appointment is to confirm a healthy heat cycle with vaginal cytology, perform a physical exam, and start progesterone testing to determine the best time to breed based on your breeding plans.

 

Breeding Requirements/Recommendations

Preventative Care for breeding : Basic preventative care is a crucial part to a healthy and successful breeding program. Infectious disease from both viruses or parasites can affect fertility, puppy counts, and breeding success. We will require pets to be kept current on their basic core vaccines (DHPP and Rabies), fecal, and heartworm test. Proof of vaccine history and or titer testing for DHPP will need to be kept current in our system. Please make sure to send records if your pet’s vaccines have been kept current somewhere other than our practice. Prevention of both internal and external parasites is also very important in having healthy thriving puppies and we can help you find safe product to be used during all stages of your canine’s life.

Age: We recommend a breeding bitch be at least over the age of 1. We do not recommend and will not artificially inseminate a dog under a year of age or on its first heat cycle.

Health Testing: We encourage our clients to follow their specific breed club standard health testing recommendations for their breeds (or foundation breeds) or visit the Canine Health Information center (caninehealthinfo.org) for breed testing requirements.  We can help complete the following health testing OFA Patellas, thyroid, and hips/elbows and Penn Hip testing.  Genetic testing can be performed in your home through websites like Vetgen or Embark. In order to help better all breed standards and produce healthy puppies we reserve the right to decline breeding assistance if we feel there is concern for a heritable disease. This includes, but is not limited to hip dysplasia, heart murmurs, congenital defects, and other chronic health conditions.

We believe that breeding is a privilege and while all of these services are currently offered, we do reserve the right to deny these services for a variety of reasons.

Reproductive Websites to Reference

American Kennel Club – https://www.akc.org/

Orthopedic Foundation for Animals – https://www.ofa.org/ CHIC – Breed specific testing recommendations – https://www.ofa.org/browse-by-breed

Canine Health Information Center – caninehealthinfo.org