POOR SEMEN QUALITY IN IRISH WOLFHOUNDS - A CLINICAL, HORMONAL AND SPERMATOLOGICAL STUDY

On the basis of clinical observations, Irish wolfhounds were suspected as being subject to a relatively high incidence of soft testicular co nsistency and low semen quality. Thirty-seven Irish wolfhounds and 67 dogs of other breeds (control group) were therefore examined. Conventi onal andrological studies were performed in both groups, these include d libido testing, palpation and measurement of testes and semen evalua tion. Semen evaluation was performed both manually and by video microg raphic analysis. Testosterone concentrations were measured both before and after human chorionic gonadotropin challenge in the Irish wolfhou nds. The Irish wolfhounds had lower libidos than the control group. Mo re Irish wolfhounds (21.2 per cent) exhibited low semen quality than t he control group (6.1 per cent). Soft testicular consistency occurred more frequently in Irish wolfhounds (25.7 per cent) than in the contro l group (10.5 per cent). In the control group, bodyweight correlated s ignificantly with total sperm count. Serum testosterone concentration did not correlate with semen quality parameters.