please update about your dog breeding journey for those of us who don't follow along on the other socials. sooooo glad Bram is such a chap and rallied through the pyo!! 💜
ok this is a monster of a post
and i'll make another later discussing the literature
okay, so here's the details of the breeding process & handling the outcome with Bramble this past spring
i made a much more formal/professional version of this on my kennel page bc i do think it's a valuable experience to share, but dogblr's gonna get a less formal one that is also maybe got more opinions from me in it
and probably also like. the research
on my kennel page i only talked about catching the open pyo and then treating it; i'm actually gonna detail my experience start to finish
warning: this is SOOOO fucking long. i broke it out into 3 header sections but godspeed. feel free to send follow up questions in the replies or by ask
stud search
so, for the last couple years, i've picked a stud, and then something would happen that caused this to fall through. first one went sterile. second one we learned his sire produced a litter that went on to have 3 dogs in it that developed epilepsy. so finally i landed on another boy, whose lines i was hoping to use in the future, via a more local dog. to use him i'd have to ship his semen from the west coast and do transcervical insemination (TCI)
i was a lil nervous about doing a TCI on a maiden breeding of a bitch approaching 5 - most people will talk about this kind of fear, but i've known plenty where this went off just fine too (lol) (lmao even) (knowing what we know)
clinic + the TCIs
anyway, i opted for a place well known in the area as THE GO TO reproduction place. guy that founded the repro dept of this facility like paved the way for multiple methods back in the day - decades ago. currently, no one at this facility is an actual board certified theriogenologist specialist, and i wish i had known the importance of this sooner (and i don't say that bc of our final outcome; outcome could have been the same).
as we progress through progesterone testing and deciding on the timing of the TCIs, i realize i maybe should have gone elsewhere
i never see the same Dr twice, it is always someone different
no one ever talks to me about the steps in the process, what my experience will be there, etc.; things just Happen
first appt i see Dr once briefly, she tells me she did an exam and approves of my breeding my dog, without me knowing an exam was going to be done (i thought it was just blood draw for prog) but fine whatever
never asked for vaccine history
requested brucellosis testing, it was never done; arguably fine bc maiden + TCI
stud's owner is a boarded therio and requests prog readings as we get them; my clinic makes it near impossible to get official readings sent over to her
at this point i feel like i am in a giant machine and no one really cares about my individual dog/the big picture
stud's therio insists my clinic is misinterpreting ovulation timing and that this is bc of their use of an IDEXX machine; from my experience in breeding groups, and the therio providing well-informed obvious scientific explanations, i am keen to believe her over my team
when i express this to my team, the Dr i get that day (who is also a high volume shar pei confo breeder) gets defensive; she tells me they do "thousands of breedings" a year and this is how she would time it for her bitch
i go with the stud's therio's timing advice, we proceed
Defensive Shar Pei Dr inserts TCI instrument; finds things to be tight; removes instrument; declares Bram needs to poop and shoves two matchsticks up Bram's butt; I take her to poop; we return and complete the TCI
perform a second TCI a couple days later due to timing of ovulation & shipment options (ideal day would have been a Sunday)
and then i never heard from them again! incredible.
additionally, they - without ever informing me this would happen - stabbed Bram with a carprofen injection the moment her first TCI was finished and sent us home with a HIGH DOSE of carprofen for 3 days + antibiotics. i asked my breeding network if anyone else has experienced this with TCIs and they all said no, it's super weird. i ultimately did not use the drugs that i (over)paid for and took home.
and by high dose i mean, Bram is 30lbs. these were 100mg pills. i don't even give Asher or previously gave Gunner such high dose carprofens. spoiler: i go on to see a boarded therio at a different facility who is alarmed by this high amount and would be concerned about the effect on the kidneys. she also diplomatically called the matchstick and removal+reinsertion of the first TCI unusual.
so, again, prior to the final outcome we experience, i'm OVER this place. i was not impressed. meanwhile, another friend of mine had gone there for a frozen insemination - it doesn't take, i ask for her prog values, they absolutely did it too early. you have to do frozen inseminations on the last fricken day, you cannot do it too early. i could go on and on, but my point is that even if the open pyo hadn't happened, i was DONE with this place and never intended on returning
resorption + open pyo
for bram's ultrasound check, i go to our normal vet bc i didn't want to give that clinic any more of my dang money. we're a little early - day 26 post-ovulation - but we see 3 gestational sacs. there's a lot of inflammation and fluid in her uterus, but it does NOT, at this time, look like pyo; it doesn't look infected. on ultrasound this looks black. infected is more full of static.
however, can't find embryos or heartbeats in those sacs. we both "hmmm" and decide i'll come back in a week.
few days later, bram begins to experience what i assume is morning sickness. first lack of appetite in the morning. next morning she throws up before eating.
following day, she seems quite fatigued in the yard while we try to play some fetch. lays down a lot. it's unusual.
go to do her conditioning exercises for agility and i notice in particular, she is struggling with sitting extensions. she doesn't want to keep her booty down. i've seen this behavior around her heats - the motion of the sitting extension would rotate her vulva across the floor, so if swollen, that's probably irritating.
so, that night, i check her vulva and confirm it's starting to swell. this can be normal. i confirmed discharge, but i had to wiggle the tissue to pick it up and it was not abnormal looking.
CUE AN EVENING WHERE NEITHER OF US REALLY SLEEPS. every 10 mins she's doing something - incessantly cleaning herself for 10 mins straight, panting for 5 mins to recover, leaving to go drink a bunch of water, return and repeat. i had to let her out twice (once at like 1:30am, again at 4:30am or so) and on our way to one of those she had an accident right near the door out. this was all highly unusual.
morning starts and it's similar behaviors, but she seems more exhausted. she's finally laying and starting to sleep but her breathing is heavy. i get her food, i get her outside. when she comes back in, i check her pants and find that they are absolutely coated in a sticky-but-dried substance. even pregnant, i do not notice an egregious smell; there's a smell but it's not different from her heat discharge smell.
regardless, i check her vulva, and there is a giant pool of brown, opaque, thick discharge. i call the vet as i take her temp. temp is at the high end but not yet a fever (102 something).
tldr, boarded therio can't get us in, but agree going to another vet hospital near me is a good option. they see us, they ultrasound, confirm open pyo, send us home with clavamox. by the time we arrived she did develop a fever (104). naturally recommend spay, etc. therio told me to call back after this appt so i do, gave them the info, and very reassuringly they say, "oh no, we have other options than spay, come in tomorrow and let's take a look"
now lemme tell you after she sat in the car for 30+ mins and we got home, that pyo moved. she got out of the car and fell out in a big splash. and NOW. now. NOW!!! it fucking smelled. that hit like A WALL. when they say pyos smell foul, that's what they meant. my god. worst smell i've personally experienced, altho it's enhanced by my own pregnancy.
the night in between was rough - i once again did not sleep, i had to spend the night near bram in her crate in order to rest at all, convinced she might explode over night - but we lived. between a high dose carprofen that i maybe shouldn't have used, the clavamox, and bram's own beast of a body, she passes more of that pyo that evening and overnight.
see the therio the next day and my god i wish i had seen her to begin with. used to do agility, has sheep, BCs, yada yada. she understands me and bram immediately. she is super impressed by how bram's body handled everything, stresses that she is a great candidate for treatment and re-attempting on her next heat cycle.
so they culture the pyo, we change antibiotics to baytril (enrofloxacin is the actual drug) - it's e. coli in there. we strongly suspect the infection was introduced by the TCI and that's why the puppies did not develop further, nothing to do with the stud.
therio figures 5 days we do prostaglandin injections, which is shorter than they usually does, but bram had already cleared so much, etc. but then we see bram's white blood cell count is high af and opt to do 7 days. i get sent home with a triple bagged set of 3 ziplocs of needles and a biohazard box. they triple bagged bc as a pregnant woman, you might imagine, i'm not supposed to touch this drug LMAO
bram handles all of this like a champ. we come back a week later, ultrasound looks amazing, we're mostly clear. WBC came back down no problemo. we're scot free, dude, and i can't believe it! i was so ready for bad news. we continue antibiotics for a bit bc there's a small bubble of infected liquid in the tippy top of her left horn, but no big deal. i come back again another week later to confirm it resolved.
so now the plan is to retry when she comes in next. the best thing you can do after this is to have a litter - it is the best way to clear the uterus in mammals with an estrus cycle. she will get antibiotics the moment she comes into season and continue for a few days past ovulation.
since this is long af, i'll make another post later with a paper i read about these treatments & outcomes, TCI risk rates, yada yada.
if the retry doesn't take, we'll spay. if it takes, we'll have puppies, and then once clear, we'll spay. lol
dogs can go on after this to have multiple litters, but that's not what i'm trying to do, and at her age i rather play it safe. i really, really, really hope we get puppies on the retry.
Bella, Beagle (3 y/o), Cobble Hill Park, Brooklyn, NY • “Funny story actually, he had a different name for her. He wanted to call her Jessica…just a random name. You wanted to call her Jessica… I was like that’s a weird name for a dog. I don’t know where he came up with Bella; I think we went down the list and were like Bella sounds really sweet. She is more of a people person than a dog person. She definitely has a few spots in the house she has claimed. Matt has an Eames chair that she’s claimed. You have to trade – ‘If I give you my spot, I want a piece of bacon’.”
Saturday was Indigo’s 20th “gotcha day” anniversary and this (from 9 years ago) popped up in my memories today. Shout out to the dog who helped me grow more than any other and who secured the permanence of Aussies in my heart and home.
the only real difference between a girl dog and a boy dog is that boy dogs have a tiny little secret drop of piss somewhere at all times. and if you think 'mine doesnt' he does. you just havent found it yet.
this post has been brought to you by the fact that my boy dog has learned to lift both his right and his left leg to mark. i know this, because he now has piss stains on both sides of his belly
theartofmadeline
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