My bitch missed last season, so as dog is a fair distance away I thought I would have the premate tests done this time. However I am rather surprised at the price my vet wants to charge per test (given that she will have to have a minimum of 2 possibly 3!!) Just under £50.00 per test.  I am about to ring around other local vets to see if this is the norm, just wondering if it is a regional price or national. I am in the North West by the way.

D

I last had ovucheck tests done in 1997, and they were roughly £30 each back then.

Thanks Jeangenie, It does look like this is the norm rang a number of vets who though the price for the actual test was cheaper, as my bitch was a new client they would require a consultation fee to be included so they could check she was suitable for breeding lol.  Just to add I will pay the fee just it seemed excessive (dont want to appear tight) 

Has anybody had any experience of scanning to check ovulation??

D

Ring Idexx and they send you the kit free of charge then just get the vet to draw the blood (costs me £14)
then send it away to Idexx with a cheque for £20.50 and the next day they ring you wth the best time to mate.

I wouldn't trust a blood sample in the post; it could take several days to get there, if at all! Surely they'd need several samples over several days to be able to detect the changes?

Ive only done it once but my bulldog was mated after having premate tests and on Monday she delivered
6 puppies.
I was pleased but I guess like anything it is still down to mother nature,some bitches just arent destined to be moms.
We had 2 tests done,cost me £35 but it would of cost more than that is fuel alone to get to the stud dog and find she wasnt ready.

That is handy to know. I will make a note of this for future reference. Thankyou

I was going to buy the kit which tests the bitches saliva as it doesn't involve the vet fees at all.

Rhona

I don't use the premate tests anymore as they are not very acurate. Instead I get the progesterone levels tested. This is so much easier as you know almost down to the hours when the bitch is ovulating.

However, if I were travelling a long way to a stud dog, the cost of premates or progesterone levels wouldn't come into it. It is the difference between a bitch missing because she was mating on the wrong day & the bitch having puppies because you had her levels checked.

Won't all the various methods of testing be looking at progesterone levels?  I agree, though, that a blood test is likely to be far more accurate than a saliva or urine test or whatever other fluids they might be looking at :)

A premate test tells you that a bitch has ovulated, it doesn't tell you when she ovulated that is why the premate test should be done every other day. With the progesterone level, it can be 0.6 one day so you wouldn't test again for maybe 4 days & by then the levels may be reading 3.5, test again in a few days & hey presto the bitch has ovulated. Bitches obviously ovulate at different times & the time it takes them to ovulates varies too.

My bitch had the progesterone level done on Monday 6 Feb which read 0.5, she was then retested on Friday 10 Feb which was 1.4, the next test was done on Monday 13 Feb which read 6.8. I took her to the stud dog the next day & had a successful mating & litter.

For a bitch to ovulate the reading should be around 5. Anything below she has not ovulated & anything above & she is screaming to be mated!!

So which hormone in the premate test detecting, progesterone is the one, as you say that rises at ovulation? I would guess it is limited to detecting actual ovulation rather than the lead up to it simply because it is less sensitive and therefore needs a higher reading to "trip" it.

It is the progesterone again but all it tells you is that the bitch has ovulated not when she ovulated like having the levels tested. It is just not as accurate.

The premate test is a blood test for Progesterone.  the diffeence between them and the quantative lab tests is that the kits show a colour that corresponds to the values needed for ovulation and the lab ones give you the actual concentraion as a figure.  Though of course they still have to assume that a bitch ovulates once a certain number is reched, which is average, but bitches vary.

Yes the decision has been made that I will use a test........ just wanted some feedback on what I considered to be an excessive price having never used these before.  Also I don't think it is a bad thing to look at alternatives and to keep my options open. 

Thanks

D

The blood testing from Idexx is progesterone testing.

I (Molly :D ) had vaginal swabs taken when I wanted to mate Molly, they were MUCH cheaper and very accurate. :)

A friend of mine just had her leonberger bitch mated and she did the premate test, her local vet was going to charge her £120 as she would have to buy the whole box as her vet does not use then very often, so i gave her my vets number and they were £18.50 each

Peanuts

I had my bitch premate tested and was told to get her mated, I did, ........and nothing, second time she has missed now  BOO- HOO, I think I paid around £30 inc. consultation (south east)

Is the dog fertile? Has she had a previous litter? My bitch missed three times to one particular dog (who was still siring litters with other bitches) but concieved to his full brother ... sometimes dog and bitch just don't click!

What about this new product?   www.matetel.co.uk  it's supposed to be very good & not a bad price, can also be re-used over & over. 

My vet charges £20 for the pre mate test, takes the blood in the morning and they have the lab there so tell you within 1-2hours

i had gollie blood taken and send to idexx beacuse i was told that spainsh water dog mate a round day 15 to 16 day of the season we send off 3 test.the lab rang me to say that day 16 was the day to and get mated which we did we had two good tie the result 5 puppie.
but i just bought the new product on the market mate tel  canine ovulation someone show me last week a sample from a bitch that just came into season.looking at the sample and looking that the chart she wasnt realy.you can test the bitch evey day  with this product.no blood to be taken or get lost in post.

www.matetel.co.uk

has anyone elis use it on this site.