I. Lueders, I. Luther, G. Scheepers, G. van der Horst<\/p>\n
Geolifes-Animal Fertility and Reproductive Research, Frohmestr 7, 22 457 Hamburg, Germany<\/em><\/p>\n For wild and domestic felids, electroejaculation (EE) is the most common semen collection method. However, the equipment is expensive, there is a risk of urine contamination and animals usually show strong muscular contraction despite general anesthesia. Accordingly, we tested the feasibility of a different approach using urethral catheterization (UC) in seven African lions, previously described for domestic cats only. After general anesthesia with the \u00012-agonist medetomidine (which also stimulates semen release into the urethra) and ketamine, a transrectal ultrasound was performed to locate the prostate. A commercial dog urinary catheter (2.6 or 3.3 mm in diameter) was advanced approximately 30 cm into the urethra to allow semen collection into the lumen of the catheter by capillary forces. After retraction, sperm volumes between of 422.86 \u0001 296.07 \u0002l yielded motility of 88.83 \u0001 13.27% (mean \u0001 SD) with a mean sperm concentration of 1.94 \u0002 109\/ml. Here we describe a simple, field friendly and effective method to attain highly concentrated semen samples with excellent motility in lions and potentially other wild felid species as an alternative to electroejaculation.<\/p>\n Theriogenology 78 (2012) 696\u2013701 <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"