Success with intravaginal insemination of frozen-thawed dog semen--a retrospective study

This retrospective study reports on the fertility of bitches (n = 40) that were inseminated into the fornix vaginae with frozen-thawed sperm from 9 sperm donors. In most bitches, the inseminations were repeated daily although, in 5 bitches, 1-2 d were skipped between some inseminations. All semen had been frozen by the same method and all prostatic fluid had been frozen at -18 degrees C prior to use. Sixteen Beagle bitches (Group 1) were inseminated with frozen-thawed semen to which 3-5 ml prostatic fluid had been added post-thaw. Ten German Shepherds and 4 other bitches of similar size (Group 2) were inseminated after adding 6-10 ml prostatic fluid to the frozen-thawed semen. Ten different German Shepherd bitches (Group 3) were inseminated without using prostatic fluid. The volumes of individual insemination doses were 3.5-6 ml, 7-12 ml and 1-3 ml for Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The number of progressively motile sperm per insemination varied from 9 x 10(6) to 300 x 10(6). Sixteen of 16, 13 of 14 and 6 of 10 bitches conceived in Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Mean litter sizes were 4; 5.6 and 4 in Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The pregnancy rate of Groups 1 and 2 combined was higher than that of Group 3 (P < 0.01). The mean number of foetuses per bitch bred was 5.2 (SD 3.2) for Group 2, which was higher than the 2.4 (SD 2.8) of Group 3 (P < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)