Was at the vet the other day to have a AI done and when my vet evaluated the sperm he came back and said it was 50% and 30%. Was does that mean. He did not explain as he just went back in and did the AI and brought her out and said lets hope some are good swimmers????? What are they checking for and what are good percentages? I have always done naturals but this time I wanted a dog from the south. TIA

Why didn't you ask your vet?

I've been in the same boat with a different condition. I was taken by surprise, walked out, and did not ask any questions. So take a deep breath and call the vet. Tell the vet you don't know what that means and you want to find out.

I believe it is important to know the number of motile/normal sperm you are inseminating. You need at least 200-250 million per breeding. The percents allow you to figure this out, when you know the volume/concentration. Like Sharon said, I would guess the percents given refer to motility and morphology.I am not sure in which order your vet gave them to you or how many viable/mobile sperm that would work out to be.

Let the stud dog owner know also. They would want to know. Maybe extender did not work/was not good. But that is low and I would let them know. Numbers should be higher. But they can work, I guess.

Best answer is get a microscope and look at the sperm yourself. One less vet visit and you will already recoup the cost. And do the insemination yourself too. Save buckets of money. It's so easy. And your bitch won't be exposed to everything at the vet's office. Ask another experienced breeder to show you once or twice. You can do it!

With a microscope you can see the volume and motility of semen, plus you can see if the tails are straight, etc, But you cannot see proximal droplets or other abnormalities in semen. You need to have it stained and examined by a reproduction vet to tell what the actual count is and percentages of normal and abnormal sperm. It is well worth doing if you are missing bitches or there is less than great collections.
Your vet might have been referring to normal vs abnormal semen in the collection.

By all means let the stud dog owner know. No need to be confrontational. My repro vet once caught a semen sample with unusual morphology that was only visible under her powerful microscope. She thought that the sperm would still be active enough, so we went ahead with the insemination. I contacted the stud dog's owner immediately, who took the dog to a repro vet and found an infection. Cultures were done, the dog was put on antibiotics and was back to normal within a month or so. If the infection hadn't been caught, who knows if recovery would have been so rapid, or complete! The stud dog owner was appropriately grateful to my repro vet, and I was grateful to know about the infection and treat my girl with the recommended antibiotic so that she was able to deliver her litter. If we hadn't communicated promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, things could have turned out differently.