Breeding Soundness Evaluations

Find out if your pet is a good candidate for breeding with our breeding soundness evaluations. For our male patients, an evaluation includes:

• Basic health check
• Brucellosis testing
• Discussion of breeding plan (Transcervical AI, artificial insemination, side by side, natural, etc.)
• Semen collection and evaluation
• Optional OFA testing for hips, elbows, and thyroid

We don’t leave the ladies out of our breeding soundness evaluations! Making sure a male dog can readily reproduce is important for breeders, and it’s just as crucial to make sure your female dog is ready to support a pregnancy. Our breeding soundness evaluations for females include:

• Basic health check
• Ovulation timing
• Progesterone and luteinizing hormone (LH) monitoring
• Brucellosis testing
• Discussion of breeding plan (Transcervical AI, artificial insemination, side by side)

When we have answers from your pet’s breeding soundness evaluation, we can discuss the best path to breeding.

Artificial Insemination

Artificial insemination (AI) has come a long way since 1784 when Italian physiologist Lazzaro Spallanzani performed the first successful AI in a dog. More breeders are embracing artificial insemination as a convenient way to breed their dogs.

At Parkside Animal Hospital, we offer two types of artificial insemination:

• Transvaginal Insemination (TVAI): The semen is collected from a male and inserted into the female’s vagina just in front of the cervix with an insemination pipette. We’ll keep her hips elevated for 10-15 minutes to help the semen work its way into her cervix. TVAI can be done with either fresh or chilled semen.
• Transcervical Artificial Insemination (TCAI): In a TCI, we use a specialized scope to insert a catheter through the cervix and then injects the semen directly into the uterus. Although dogs are commonly sedated through the procedure, there are instances in which it is not necessary. TCAIs come with a higher success rate than standard artificial insemination. They can be done with fresh, chilled, or frozen semen.

Our veterinary team at Parkside Animal Hospital will work with you to figure out the best way to breed your furry companion. We can also check your pup for signs of pregnancy and perform ultrasounds to confirm the good news.

Pregnancy Care

Once your pup is pregnant, we'll monitor her to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. We'll do an ultrasound between days 33-37 and an X-ray after 41 days of gestation to get an accurate puppy count. It’s important to know how many puppies to expect during whelping.

If you know your dog is expecting seven puppies and it's been two hours since the sixth puppy came out, you'll know to seek veterinary care right away. (For reference, there shouldn’t be more than four hours between each puppy’s birth. Although it does sometimes happen, this is a benchmark to use to know when to reach out for help. The same goes for kittens). If possible, we do C-sections for most of our clients unless we are not properly staffed, in which case we will refer to an emergency clinic.

Our veterinarians offer elective and emergency c-sections. We use c-section timing to make sure we can deliver your dog's puppies during the narrow window when it's safe to do so (which, unlike humans, is only 48 hours). Many of our clients with brachycephalic dogs end up planning elective c-sections. This is because these puppies' large heads are often too big to fit through the female's narrow pelvis. When c-section is needed, we will look closely to ensure puppies are as fully mature as possible and not in distress when deciding when to perform elective c-sections, using ultrasound and reverse progesterone. If possible, we do c-sections for most of our clients, unless the timing does not allow for sufficient staffing, in which case we will refer to an emergency clinic.

If you'd like to breed your cat or dog, reach out to the Parkside team. We look forward to guiding you and your pet through the reproductive journey!