Ok today I'm going to catch us up on what's been happening inside of Nickel... this will be Puppy Making 101.
As you might remember from Ico's litter, dogs are unique in the animal world since the eggs are ovulated before they are ready to be fertilized. This means that they must mature for 3 days before they can accept the sperm. This's why timing is important in a frozen surgical breeding where the sperm only live for about 7 hours. In the case of a natural breeding (as we all know happened this time.. eh hem!) the sperm can live up to a week. So basically the sperm can be hanging around waiting for the eggs to develop. Once matured, the egg can live several days as well so you can see that timing is less critical. You still need to make sure the healthy sperm and egg are in the same place at the same time so a ntural breeding is usually done 2 to 3 times over the course of 5-7 days.
The birth date for the puppies can be calculated very precisely. We count 65 days from LH surge or 63 days from Ovulation. Nickel ovulated approximately March 11th so we can expect puppies to be born around May 13th.
Here's a picture of an oocyte inside the oviduct where it waits to be fertilized.
The eggs stay around the oviduct until they are fertilized. After that they travel to the Uterus Tubes (or Uterine Horns). They will stay free floating until around day 19. For Nickel, Day 19 will be around March 30th. On day 19 the eggs will implant in the uterus. There will be waves of contractions which will distribute the eggs throughout the uterine horns. Sometimes this will cause 'morning sickness.'
As you might remember from Ico's litter, dogs are unique in the animal world since the eggs are ovulated before they are ready to be fertilized. This means that they must mature for 3 days before they can accept the sperm. This's why timing is important in a frozen surgical breeding where the sperm only live for about 7 hours. In the case of a natural breeding (as we all know happened this time.. eh hem!) the sperm can live up to a week. So basically the sperm can be hanging around waiting for the eggs to develop. Once matured, the egg can live several days as well so you can see that timing is less critical. You still need to make sure the healthy sperm and egg are in the same place at the same time so a ntural breeding is usually done 2 to 3 times over the course of 5-7 days.
The birth date for the puppies can be calculated very precisely. We count 65 days from LH surge or 63 days from Ovulation. Nickel ovulated approximately March 11th so we can expect puppies to be born around May 13th.
Here's a picture of an oocyte inside the oviduct where it waits to be fertilized.
The eggs stay around the oviduct until they are fertilized. After that they travel to the Uterus Tubes (or Uterine Horns). They will stay free floating until around day 19. For Nickel, Day 19 will be around March 30th. On day 19 the eggs will implant in the uterus. There will be waves of contractions which will distribute the eggs throughout the uterine horns. Sometimes this will cause 'morning sickness.'
I love this picture.
ReplyDeleteStoli: "Hey, can we, uh, you know, uh, do that thing that, uh (giggle, smirk) we did that day, you know, YOU KNOW, "that" thing, can we do it again?"
Nickel:
Stoli: "Hey, did you hear me? Can we do__"
Nickel: "Shut up, lowly worm. There is a lowly worm speaking. How is this possible, lowly worm? I don't hear you."
Stoli: "oh"