Ok guys and gals. Gearing up to breed to last of my girls again. Last time it didn't take. Could have possibly been timing but the repro vet we used said we were good. We did one TCI at 12.5(two days post 3.9) as it was Friday and we were going to get only the one collection. Stud owner split it and I was going to do an at home AI on Sunday but got talked out of it by the vet. Hindsight follow my gut. Oh well missed that chance. Now we are gearing up for her next heat which can appear as early as mid December but more likely mid January. I've gotten an earful of all the things I should rule out before breeding and a Guarded Culture is one of those that I'm not sure on the timing of. Do you wait till your bitch is in heat to do one and what stage of heat if so? It sucks having all my eggs in one basket but life throws some pretty hard blows sometimes and this girl is the last Labrador I own and I would hate for another miss. I really would love to have something from my lines to carry on with.

A culture should be done when the cervix is open, by the time the culture grows it will be too late to treat. A vaginal culture isn't helpful because it isn't a sterile environment anyway. My vet will treat prophalactically and I think Hutch does too.

Thank you that's what I was thinking too, by the time you knew what you were dealing with it would be too late. So basically a waste of money. Ok then I will plan to put her on antibiotics prophylacticly. Any suggestion on type? I have used Clavamox on a bitch that had just been bred and tried to get an infection.

Batril or cephalexin.

Cephalexin or Amoxi are both safe according to the repro vets I know. I treat from day 4 or 5 to day 5 post breeding. One tome I was told to treat until day 20 post because she had had a pyo and she got pregnant.

I ditto the Baytril. I have also heard doxy works well, 1 month prior to coming into season.

I have also heard doxi. If I remember its for 30 days 3 months after a cycle and than breed on next cycle.

can't be used on a pregnant bitch but amoxi can.

Good luck with your breeding and for a great keeper for you.

These are the only 2 that I have heard being used and considered safe, not saying others can't be used. I believe Hutch uses Baytril. Cephalexin has similar coverage as Baytril but it's much cheaper and just as safe. I dose for 10 days.

Do culture in advance of bitch coming into season - have culture growth tested for effectiveness of different antibiotics. Treat bitch before breeding and for a time after breeding with test recommended antibiotic.

And how do you culture the uterus if the cervix is closed?

You don't necessarily need to culture the uterus, the guarded culture is routinely done for culturing the vaginal tract and cervix. MY repro vet recommends doing it about 1-2 months before a heat cycle so that there is enough time to get the culture results back and treat. And as an FYI, just throwing your bitch on Keflex or Baytril is a reason why there tends to be an overgrowth of other bacteria and leads to the resistance of others.
I had a bitch cultured after she missed a second breeding (dead semen and chill 10 the first time), when her culture results came back it was Ecoli, but NOT susceptible to either KEFLEX or BAYTRIL. Had I just treated her with those it wouldn't have cleared the Ecoli and likely would have created an even bigger problem.

The vaginal tract isn't a sterile environment. Just because Ecoli was cultured it doesn't mean it's presence would have prevented conception. Did your bitch have any symptoms? You also don't know if you would have tried Baytril or *Ciprofloxacin* if she would have taken.

I have not experienced any kind of fall out from a short course of antibiotics for breeding but I have had large litters this way. My vet actually talked me out of trying to culture and said it was a waste of money in an asymptomatic bitch. If you treat 1-2 months prior to breeding the same flora could re-establish itself by the time you breed her.

ETA: Because you called Cephalexin, Keflex, it made me realize Cephalexin wasn't the antibiotic that was prescribed for my bitch and prompted me to look it up. The antibiotic that I used was Ciprofloxacin not Cephalexin, they are different.

I don't just "TRY" antibiotics. I am a nurse and I have to deal with RESISTANCE to them all the time. Do you know WHY there is resistance??? Because people use antibiotics incorrectly,ie. using them when there is no indication,using non susceptible antibiotics when a culture is warranted, using the incorrect dose, incomplete dose,etc. Antibiotics are powerful drugs ,their indiscriminate use does have effects far and wide, you just may not see them right away or haven't come up against them yet.

And yes she did have symptoms, 2 misses and a discharge. All bitches have E.Coli in their vaginal tract,as well as Mycoplasma and quite a few others, it's when there is an OVERGROWTH of bacteria there is a problem that can prevent conception,the most common according to my repro vet. In the time it takes to get culture results returned and the bitch treated correctly it would be right on target for her heat cycle, and by treating correctly there isn't going to be return of overgrowth.

If your bitch had a discharge she needed a culture. Just so you know, I didn't hold my vet at gunpoint and demand antibiotics, they were given to me. I asked for a culture and the vet explained to me why a culture with a closed cervix wouldn't yield useful information. My bitch didn't have any physical symptoms or any medical reason for 2 misses.

To imply that I incorrectly used antibiotics is wrong. "People" can't get the antibiotics I mentioned without the help of a licensed professional. My vet has much more experience and knowledge than I will ever have and when he suggested I try the antibiotic without a culture I trusted his judgment. It's not much different than getting a broad spectrum antibiotic for a severe UTI. Most of the time the broad spectrum antibiotic works but sometimes it doesn't. It's not ideal but medical professionals use their knowledge and experience to make that call. 10 days on Ciprofloxacin is pretty benign especially since my bitch had never had any antibiotics her whole life prior to that.

Since you are a nurse I'm surprised you don't know that an overgrowth of normal flora can return even if the treatment was "correct", all it takes is the same conditions that caused the overgrowth (if you even know) and some time. I hope your bitch's heat cycle comes quickly after treatment and she takes. Good luck.