Contents The purpose of this study was to define (i) the interval between treatment and sterility, and (ii) semen quality in male dogs administered a 4.7‐mg deslorelin implant. Six healthy, adult dogs of various breeds and body weights were implanted with deslorelin (Suprelorin, Virbac) and followed every 2 weeks with semen and blood collections. Semen quality remained stable or even improved during the first month following treatment and then showed a progressive decline until the end of the study, except for sperm morphology, which was unaffected by the treatment. Complete sterility was achieved on post‐treatment days 70, 84, 60, 23, 51 and 40 for dogs 1 to 6, respectively. The 4.7 mg deslorelin implant caused a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in serum testosterone as well as sperm motility. Our results (i) confirm the efficacy of deslorelin in causing reversible sterility in male dogs, (ii) confirm and provide details about endocrine and seminal parameters involved in this process and (iii) contribute to define the interval between treatment and achievement of complete sterility. Practitioners should be aware that such interval may be longer than 2 months in some cases, and that fertility may actually be increased during the first 2–4 weeks post‐treatment.
Rabbits are particularly sensitive to develop hypotension during sedation or anaesthesia. Values of systolic or mean non-invasive arterial blood pressure below 80 or 60 mmHg respectively are common under anaesthesia despite an ongoing surgery. A reliable method of monitoring arterial blood pressure is extremely important, although invasive technique is not always possible due to the anatomy and dimension of the artery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement between a new oscillometric device for non-invasive arterial blood pressure measurement and the invasive method. Moreover the trending ability of the device, ability to identify changes in the same direction with the invasive methods, was evaluated as well as the sensibility of the device in identifying hypotension arbitrarily defined as invasive arterial blood pressure below 80 or 60 mmHg.Bland-Altman analysis for repeated measurements showed a poor agreement between the two methods; the oscillometric device overestimated the invasive arterial blood pressure, particularly at high arterial pressure values. The same analysis repeated considering oscillometric measurement that match invasive mean pressure lower or equal to 60 mmHg showed a decrease in biases and limits of agreement between methods. The trending ability of the device, evaluated with both the 4-quadrant plot and the polar plot was poor. Concordance rate of mean arterial blood pressure was higher than systolic and diastolic pressure although inferior to 90%. The sensibility of the device in detecting hypotension defined as systolic or mean invasive arterial blood pressure lower than 80 or 60 mmHg was superior for mean oscillometric pressure rather than systolic. A sensitivity of 92% was achieved with an oscillometric measurement for mean pressure below 65 mmHg instead of 60 mmHg. Non-invasive systolic blood pressure is less sensitive as indicator of hypotension regardless of the cutoff limit considered.Although mean invasive arterial blood pressure is overestimated by the device, the sensitivity of this non-invasive oscillometric monitor in detecting invasive mean pressure below 60 mmHg is acceptable but a cutoff value of 65 mmHg needs to be used.
Contents The purpose of this work was to compare two different protocols of oestrous induction, using either a dopamine agonist (cabergoline) or a GnRH agonist (buserelin) in anoestrus bitches. The clinical trial involved 22 Beagle bitches, randomly allotted to two treatment groups: group A (n = 12) was orally administered cabergoline (Galastop ® ; Centralvet‐Vetem, Milan, Italy; 5 μ g/kg SID), until the onset of cytological oestrus or for a maximum of 30 days and group B (n = 10) was treated with buserelin acetate, (Suprefact ® ; Aventis Pharma, Milan, Italy), administered subcutaneously t.i.d., at 1.5 μ g/kg for 11 days and 0.75 μ g/kg for the following 3 days. Blood samples were collected twice a week to measure progesterone and prolactin concentration. Both cabergoline and buserelin produced a significant early decline in prolactin concentration (p < 0.01), but the effect of cabergoline lasted longer. Progesterone concentration was significantly affected by buserelin administration, showing a significant increase (p < 0.01) from day 3 to day 6 of treatment. Cabergoline confirmed its effectiveness in inducing oestrus as 10 of 12 bitches responded to the treatment, were mated and whelped. On the contrary, oestrus was observed in only three of 10 buserelin‐treated bitches and in two of them 7 and 13 days after the end of treatment. These same two bitches accepted mating and conceived. The results suggest that in a clinical setting, dopaminergic treatment is the treatment of choice as it yields more consistent results and involves a much easier administration protocol.