11-21-98

CONTENTS: CLONE UPDATE; FROZEN SEMEN INTERNATIONAL LITTER YES, HAWAII
LITTER PROBABLY NO, TIP OF THE WEEK FOR SUCCESSFUL COLLECTIONS/ KEEP
YOUR WEBPAGE ADDRESSES COMING new homepage coming!!!!

Thanksgiving this week:
Because the laboratory was impatiently waiting for Clyde Henry's cells
(for tissue cultures for future clone cells), I had been very time
urgent and thus didn't quite notice the tears building up as I flipped
through the 1998 Clyde Henry Calendar sent with his cells by his
Houston owner. Every month had a picture of Clyde Henry engaged in
some appropriate behavior: Jan. he was on the treadmill trying to loose
holiday weight, Feb. he was loving his family for Valentine's Day, April
he was meeting with his accountant, Larry Parker, July he was swimming
in his pool,etc.
No doubt about it, this was a beloved member of a loving family and with
advancing technology the cells I held in my hands would keep a form of
him in this family for generations. And the feeling of thankfulness to
be part of such endeavor momentarily overwhelmed me.


CLONE UPDATE: I have personally met with representatives of the Midwest
company that has taken both dog and cat clone embryos to the blastocyst
stage, ready for transfer. This face to face meeting with a leading
edge researcher and upper management of the company certainly enhanced
my expectations that the animal owners who are preserving their animal
cells now will have an excellent chance of clones in the not too distant
future. Hopefully, the company will pursue their interest in providing
breakthroughs in the technology of dog and cat clones. Now I still need
to find a company doing as well in the equine field. I must admit I
recognized the old "let's be first!" excitement rising in my
soul...just like the first days 17 years ago in canine frozen semen
when some researchers were saying canine frozen semen didn't work and we
had 4 litters on the ground and George Govette in Pennsylvania had many
more!
Can't you feel the excitement?

FROZEN SEMEN: Jan Reital's Australian litter for Yvonne Barter is
expected within weeks. Gee, Jan that's 100% conception rate for Ch.
Tifarah' s Hi Flying Victory, internationally, isn't it? For those of
you calling to import semen, the regulations for getting semen into our
country are very very simple. You do not need a vet in a foreign country
to collect and process the semen, nor to do any expensive testing of the
dog. Shipping documents must be properly and carefully filled in and
placed on the outside of the shipper.

I doubt that we will have good news from some Doberman
semen we sent to Hawaii. The tank came back weeks later, and when we
opened the tank, the thaw media was still in the tank. (Tanks are
labeled with the semen id and thaw media.) That means when the vet reads
direction #1. regarding the thaw media ,there will be no thaw media to
use! I left a message with the stud owner, hoping that the semen wasn't
used yet, but I haven't heard from anyone. I pass these stories on as
an effort to educate potential frozen semen users of the importance of
being on top of all aspects of the frozen semen process. Years ago, I
started sending copies of the thaw instructions to both bitch and stud
owners and the inseminating vet hoping to have everyone checking up on
all the minute details necessary for success.

COLLECTION TIP: A BRazilian vet asked about using a synthetic hormone
for arousing males before collections. Doesn't work. Also, one product
marketed had warnings about letting dogs ingest the product. Well, dogs
lick during the arousal phase. Having an estrus bitch is mandatory for
the best collections. For frozen or cooled or fresh semen
inseminations, the counts are easily 50% or better and progressive
motility, 100% with an estrus bitch. The morphology of the first sperm
faction may include more abnormal sperm than the second sperm faction.
Therefore, sending cooled semen from the non hormonally stimulated stud
does not best serve the bitch. Whenever, I hear someone insist that "my
dog doesn't need a bitch" I shiver with dread. Too many times, we stare
at the screen, shaking our heads as we look at poor semen quality, both
number and quality. We always use an estrus bitch. Our clients deserve
the best quality semen representing their dogs worldwide.

ULTRASOUNDS: What a great week! Everyone was pregnant!!!Which means
approximately 20 families whelping pups during the Christmas week!

To the best dog people in the world, our grateful thanks for letting us
be part of the best dogs lives......

Happy Thanksgiving to all.