My bitch was progesterone tested on Thursday - reading 11.7 and the earliest to be able to use stud dog is on Monday , will it be to early or late ? Doing another prog test on Sunday ( shall have results back on Monday )

Monday will probably be the best day to mate - but still have the test done

Rather than starting a new thread - can anyone help - how is the best way to go about progesterone testing?

Get your vet to draw blood and send it off to a lab to analyse it.  People are divided about when is the best time to start but usually day 5-7 of the season is best.  You need to be testing before ovulation, as after ovulation levels can fluctuate and be meaningless so you need to start early enough that you are sure you will catch ovulation.  At something like £60 a pop it's not cheap though.  (At least, at my vet's.)

Anyone ever used a Dramiski dog ovulator detector?

How did you get on with testing/mating?

According to one of the canine fertility experts Dr Angelika von Heimendahl  in her Virbac canine reproduction webinar http://www.my-virbac.co.uk/technical.aspx?id=132, the Draminski is a gimic and useless, designed for sheep.

> Anyone ever used a Dramiski dog ovulator detector?

A friend of a friend came and tried it on a bitch when I was trying to get my first litter and having problems getting the dog and bitch to mate.It was day 15 and the first day the bitch would stand for the dog but they seemed to be having problems actually completing the task. Male tied outside the bitch and didn't seem to be able to work out what to do. (Maiden dog)!

Along came friend with detector used it on bitch and announced that bitch had gone over and it was far to late and we would not get a litter this season. While we were discussing the result dog and bitch were just hanging around together, we heard a squeal and there they were tied! We had 7 puppies!

thanks all.
Got vet coming tomorrow ( day 5 of season ) and he will do a vaginoscopy and hopefully draw bloods.
I ordered a kit from Idexx yesterday which i HOPE arrives in time - what does the kit contain ?

Also a friend has the Draminsji machine for dogs which we will use along side to compare (why not?!) .
Took 3 reading with it this morning : 110 , 120 , 110  - we are told to take the average of all 3 and map the readings on a graph.

Thanks , I had her progesterone tested again on Sunday and results came back as 12.7 , so she was mated on Monday night and 2nd mating will be on Wednesday .

3 sets of envelope, forms and phial for blood - usually arrive quickly and results come through next day if you send off Special Delivery

thanks - got them today - will get the vet to take blood for her first test tomorrow ( day 5 of season) for a base read  ...eek!

good luck!

Blood tested Friday - results today : barely .6 - can someone post the chart

This is the potocol I use to interpret blood progesterones its in nmol/l
To convert to Progesterones in ng/l MULTIPLY BY  3.18 = progesterone in nmol/l
To convert nmmol/l DIVIDE BY 3.18 = progesterone in ng/l

0-2  nmol/L           Baseline concentrations too early to estimate ovulation 
3 - 6 nmol /L        Minimum 2 days before ovulation expected however result of 3 - 4 nmol/L may persist for a week or longer before increasing. Earliiest estimating breeding 4 - 6 days but could be longer (re test needed)
7 - 12 nmol/L   Minimum 1 day before ovulation. Estimated window for breeding 3 - 5 days but could be longer  ( re test recommended) 
13 - 18 nmol/L   Ovulation impending or just occurred. Estimated breeding window 2 - 4 days  
19 - 31 nmol/L   Ovulation recently occurred. Estimated breeding window 1 - 3 days
32 - 64 nmol/L   Ova have matured, optimal potential for fertility.  Estimated breeding window  0 - 2 days
65 - 90 nmol/L   Ova have matured but aging, decreased potential for fertility.  Breed  at once
Above 90 nmol/L    Too late 

Thanks - so am I right that 0.6 is in the 0-2 reading ( sorry if I seem dumb - my first time testing with idexx)

You need to know which the result is in ng or nmol

I will ring Larry and ask! doh

nmol - 0.6

Baseline reading so re test need, too early to estimate optimum breeding date. The table above is in Nmol/ L
My girl was 0.9 yesterday so plan to retest Monday :) 

We will retest Monday too :-)

Hmm - retested Monday, still 0.6 :-( retest Friday go results sat - being a bank holiday weekend - however my vet can't do Friday !!! Only Thursday.
She is either in day 11 or day 9 ( depending in when you count season from - from when you see spotting or from when I swiped her)
Stud owner a bit worried that maybe she won't ovulate?
Any thoughts?

Well if it were one of mine I wouldn't expect them to be anywhere near, average best days for mating are days 15 - 17.

So unless your breed are generally early ovulaters then I'd not expect ovulation until the average day 12.

The reason for starting to test early is not to miss ovulation, in case it's early.

As long as you can move quickly on Tuesday should results warrant then I'd retest Tuesday which should indicate if she has ovulated.  She isn't going to go from such low levels to ovulating and going over (4 DAYS AFTER OVULATING) before then.

Thanks - my mid is all over te place as I lost my boy last week.
Everything happens at once
Would you not be concerned that her levels are not rising at all?
We are also using the draminski which is showing a rise - but Idexx said no :-(

Thanks - my mid is all over te place as I lost my boy last week.
Everything happens at once
Would you not be concerned that her levels are not rising at all?
We are also using the draminski which is showing a rise - but Idexx said no :-(

Thanks - my mid is all over te place as I lost my boy last week.
Everything happens at once
Would you not be concerned that her levels are not rising at all?
We are also using the draminski which is showing a rise - but Idexx said no :-(

My girl was 0.8 ng ( 2.5nmol) on Monday which was day 13.   Tested her last year for a failed AI and she was exactly same levels on day 13. Will retest her tomorrow (Wednesday) day 15 and IF she is on same pattern as last year will have jumped to 3-4ng ( 9.54 nmol- 12.72nmol) and she had ovulated day 16. 

Don't panic she still early in her season to worry about not ovulating :)

K

Our vet goes kn holiday Friday - would like to have retested Friday but will have to do bloods tomorrow instead - she is having her herpes jab tomorrow too.

My girl is at LH surge as expect so setting off tomorrow to Germany with aim of getting a mating over the weekend. Good luck with your girl ... Blooming awkward so n so's they are coming in season overvBH weekends !

K

Blooming dogs !
Vaginoscopy today - folds rounding slower than expected so et thinks Monday Tuesday, will take blood with another vet tomorrow for result sat.
She has the start of a urine infection so has a 3 day course of anti biotics - thoughts on that anyone ?
Good luck with your mating xxx

Thank ... Got early train out of Folkestone tomorrow so will get to stud on Saturday :)
Hope your girl keeps progressing even if a little slow .. Will keep everything crossed.