Canine & Reproductive Medicine

Canine & Reproductive Medicine

Homestead Veterinary Hospital is proud to partner with Infinity Canine to provide reproductive services. We offer semen collection and storage on-site to preserve your dog’s genetic legacy. Once frozen, your dog’s sample can last indefinitely. We’ve had litters born from samples collected over 30 years ago! We also offer semen analysis and chilled semen shipments, both domestically and internationally.

On the other side of things, we can assist in ovulation timing using progesterone values. Timing can be crucial depending on the type of semen used and the reproductive health of the female. We will draw, submit the blood to IDEXX laboratories, and interpret these values for you. We offer side-by-side vaginal insemination, transcervical insemination (TCI), and surgical insemination. During your dog’s breeding evaluation, we can advise you on which method may be suitable given the stage in her cycle, her breeding history, and the type of semen being used.

Homestead Veterinary Hospital requires a brucellosis test prior to any breeding services being rendered. Brucellosis is a devastating contagious bacterial infection that dogs can get from sexual contact or contact with bodily fluids in the environment. Once infected, dogs can pass the infection to other dogs or humans. Affected dogs can have a range of symptoms but are most often rendered sterile, and females can abort their litters. Although treatment of the disease with antibiotics can be used to help control the infection, there is no effective cure. We require a negative brucellosis test every six months to continue reproductive care. We can perform the test at the hospital, and we accept tests performed at your primary care veterinarian as well.

All reproductive patients must be up to date on their rabies vaccine. It is recommended that females have vaccine titers or booster vaccines prior to becoming pregnant so they can pass immunity on to the puppies. We can titer or booster vaccines during the breeding exam. Breeding exams are required every six months or prior to each breeding attempt. It is also recommended to check the female for parasites and deworm her with a broad-spectrum dewormer prior to and during the pregnancy. This prevents any intestinal parasites from affecting the fetuses.

If you’d like to schedule a breeding exam, please call our front desk. We’d be happy to assist you!