Am I the only breeder that still does a vaginal swab instead of progest. testing? or do others? I have done this for years and have great success..view points please.
I start out doing vaginal swab and then when cornification reaches a certain mark my vet switches to progesterone. He says that there is no reason to do progesterone the whole time. It also saves me a ton of money.
We went back to smears, as progesterone has gotten way to expensive and smears I seem to get better results. I know that's not the way everyone thinks it should be done, but works for us.
Cytology will show cornified cells over the entire estrus period...too wide a window to do anything but cover your bitch repeatedly. If you are using any other method, i.e. fresh chilled or frozen where you are getting one or two inseminations max, it's too wide a window to work.
"Why can’t you just look at vaginal smears and determine when to breed my bitch?"
Superficial vaginal epithelial cells become greater than 90% cornified at a variable point two to four days before the rise of LH. They will remain elevated through the entire estrus period up to the first day of diestrus. (See figure 1.) If you looked at nothing but vaginal smears to determine when to breed, you could breed up to five days before ovulation and up to three days past the point of maximum fertility.
On the first day of diestrus there is an abrupt change to normal vaginal epithelial cells. It is at this point that a retrospective identification of the day of ovulation can be made. By counting backward six days from the first day of diestrus, the day of ovulation can be identified. (See figure 1.) This first day of diestrus can also be used prospectively to count forward 57-58 days to the day of parturition. Vaginal smears can not predict the LH surge or ovulation before the fact, but by continuing the smears through estrus we can look back and confirm that our inseminations were performed at the correct time.
Ask your veterinarian if he actually counts the cells on the vaginal smears or if he estimates the numbers. Estimates are only that!
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Am I the only breeder that still does a vaginal swab instead of progest. testing? or do others? I have done this for years and have great success..view points please.
I wait until the nuclei are gone. I can determine this by swabbing and using microscope...heat set and then view, once the nuclei are gone she's ready. You too can determine this by swabbing at onset, then you'll see the difference.
