Sperm Bank (Cryopreservation or freezing)

To perform a collection for cryopreservation, we require an appointment to be made. We require pedigree papers and ownership details and a ‘teaser bitch’. A ‘teaser bitch’ is a bitch in season who is used to improve the chances of collecting a sperm sample. Without a teaser bitch the chances of collecting a sample adequate for freezing is low, especially if the dog has not been collected from before. The collection only takes a few minutes and the analysis is started immediately so you receive some results straight away.

We collect and freeze sperm from pedigree studs. We recommend considering freezing your stud’s sperm when they are at optimal fertile age (2-6 years) as dogs over 6 years may show an increase in sperm abnormalities and a decrease in sperm count due to their age.

The process often only takes a few minutes in consultation. The semen sample is separated into 3 fractions and the second fraction containing sperm is analysed for quality using the latest technology to count the live and dead sperm and assess the sperm for abnormalities.

Following this, the sperm is prepared in an extender and then frozen in straws using liquid nitrogen. The whole process takes about 4 hours in the laboratory. Following freezing, a test straw is thawed to assess the quality of the sperm after the freezing process. A full report is then emailed to you regarding the quality and amount of sperm collected.

Quality of Frozen Sperm

The freezing process damages sperm and this cannot be avoided. We expect that half of the sperm will die due to the freezing process. Therefore, frozen semen samples contain less viable sperm compared with fresh samples. Also, less sperm are inseminated than with a natural mating or fresh artificial insemination. If available, a fresh sample will always be better than frozen.

Why we are different - Careful quality control

We perform stringent quality control on the semen which is time consuming but necessary. This level of scrutiny is often lacking and may result in disappointment when the semen is used years later.

We analyse the motility of the semen with a computer (Computer assisted semen analysis, CASA).

We examine the shape of the spermatozoa using two methods.

We examine the live:dead ration of sperm under fluorescence.

We measure the concentration of the sperm using three methods including fluorescent counting.

We discard inferior quality semen.

We then test thaw the semen and perform all of the quality control again so that an accurate dose of sperm can use used to give a good chance of success.