Medical management of urinary calculi in a stallion with breeding dysfunction.

A 9-year-old Thoroughbred stallion was examined because of breeding dysfunction and possible urethritis. The stallion had good libido and readily obtained an erection, mounted, and intromitted but did not thrust and ejaculate. After mounting the mare, the stallion would squeal and dismount. Endoscopic examination of the urethra and bladder revealed irregular, spiculate yellow crystals (< 1 cm in size) and sabulous deposits; numerous calculi were embedded in the mucosa of the bladder. Because the horse was at the start of a breeding season, the owner would not give permission for general anesthesia. Medical management was attempted, because postoperative convalescence after surgical removal of calculi might have curtailed breeding activities, and the calculi were small. Every 1 to 3 days, the bladder was lavaged with saline solution containing acetic acid, and anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial drugs were administered. The stallion was able to return to breeding mares, and sperm numbers and semen quality were good. However, urine contamination of the ejaculate was detected, suggesting that the stallion may have had a primary neurologic deficit affecting bladder control and function that was causing calculi to form secondarily because of delay in movement of urine through the urinary tract.

Normal and abnormal sexual behavior.

This article includes a brief description of the reproductive patterns and specific behaviors comprising courtship and copulation in equids. The author then focuses on breeding behavior of the domestic stallion. Descriptions of normal breeding behavior under a variety of domestic management systems, comments on sexual behavior of donkeys and exotic equids, and the most common types and treatments of sexual behavior dysfunction are included.

[Clinical aspects and therapy of anaphrodisia in cows]. / Prouchvane vurkhu klinikata i terapiiata na anafrodiziiata pri kravite.

Clinical investigations were carried out of a total of 1675 cows to elucidate the reason for anaphrodisia. The functional activity of the ovaries was determined by the use of cytovaginal smears stained after Chamov. Animals with anaphrodisia on the base of ovarian hypofunction were treated with hormonal preparations of gonadotropic action, while those with persisting periodic corpora lutea--with prostanglandin or the yellow bodies were manually removed. it was found that anaphrodisia in cows was more largely due to ovarian hypofunction (78.5 per cent), and to a lower extent--to persisting yellow bodies (21.5 per cent). In the case of ovarian hypofunction very good results were obtained with the use of gravohormone and prolan, and in the case of persisting corpora lutea--with the use of prostaglandine F2 alpha. The manual removal was associated with low conception rate and higher index of insemination. The cytovaginal smears could be used as an adjunct for the indirect determination of the functional activity of the ovaries.

[The effect of chorionic gonadotropin administration on testosterone levels in the blood of boars with sexual function disorders]. / Vliv aplikace choriového gonadotropinu na hladiny testosteronu v krvi kancü s poruchami sexuálních funkcí.

Thirty-three boars with sexual dysfunctions and twenty-six boars clinically sound as to their reproductive capacity were evaluated for the testosterone levels in the blood plasma before i.v. administration of 500 i.u. of chorionic gonadotropin and two hours after the administration. A group of animals with reproduction disorders comprised boars with an impaired quality of ejaculate and low fertility ability (18 boars) and with sexual dysfunctions (15 boars). No statistically significant difference in the basal concentration of testosterone in the blood was found in the boars with the studied sexual dysfunctions, as compared with the boars with no sexual dysfunctions. Administration of chorionic gonadotropin increased significantly the plasma testosterone levels in both groups. If the effect of chorionic gonadotropin on the studied level of this hormone was compared in boars with sexual dysfunctions and in boars without any disorders, no significant differences were proved. It has been inferred from the above findings that there are no significant disorders of androgen supply and incretion reserve of the gonads in the boars with sexual dysfunctions.

[Anaphrodisia in gilts and sows(author's transl)]. / Anaphrodisie bij gelten en zeugen

The economy of pig breeding and rearing farms is determined mainly by the fertility of the animals. Anaphrodisia causes a considerable disturbance of the fertility. This has a direct effect on the number of litters born per sow per year and thus on the economic results. On the basis of several years of experience at the research station and the production unit of Varkensonderzoekcentrum Nieuw-Dalland the clinical symptoms in gilts and sows are described. Gilts should normally have come into oestrus at the age of about 8 months, and on a well-managed farm about 80% of the sows should come into oestrus within 10 days of weaning, provided that weaning takes place at 5 to 6 weeks. Different forms of anaphrodisia are described, based on the findings of post mortem examinations. These show that in 65-75% of the anaphrodisiac animals the ovaries were insufficiently active. In 20% of the animals that had not shown signs of oestrus, ovulation had in fact taken place. The causes of anaphrodisia must be sought in a disturbance of the hypothalamo-hypophysial ovarian system, in which genetic and health factors play an important role, besides housing and management (insluding feeding). A good keeping of records of sows is indispensable in the solving of the anaphrodisia problem on farms, and this hinges also on an analysis of the farm management and on the power of observation of the farmer. Finally, hormonal therapy is discussed, a distinction being made between breeding and rearing farms.