Principle causes of infertility in the male Flashcards
What history should we ask when presented with an infertile male? (7)
- Has he ever been used successfully? How long ago?
- How old is he?
- How many females has he been with and when?
- Were they in good breeding condition?
- Did females breed successfully with other males or A.I.?
- Is he home-bred or bought/hired in? When?
- Has he had febrile disease or treatment recently?
What do we look for on a clinical exam when investigating male infertility? (7)
- Whole animal clinical exam not just the reproductive system
- Observe from a distance – lameness, posture, demeanour
- TPR and BCS
- Teeth to check age
- Check that the age the owner thinks It is matches what you see!
- People aren’t always the most honest when selling
- Eyes check for cataracts
- Can’t see where they are going or the female
- Brisket – check for sores*
- When you don’t fit the harness properly – sore (see picture)
- Legs check range of movement and any indication of pain in legs as well as feet
What is this?
Brisket sore
What is the affect of feet or leg abnormailites?
•Feet and leg abnormalities that did not cause lameness were not significantly associated with semen quality but may affect libido (they might just not be interested as a result because they CBA)
What can be wrong with leg confirmation?
- Posty legs
- Puffy hocks
- Very straight legs
What conditions are there of the prepuce? (6)
- Urolithiasisis – crystals on preapical hair
- Crystals indicate risk of urolithiasis
- Bladder stones block
- May need to discuss diet – more likely to get these stones
- Absent musculature in bulls/Too tight musculature can prevent intromission
- Too tight or loose and wouldn’t work very well
- Phimosis (can’t get out) and paraphimosis (can’t get back)
- Infectious balanitis
- Eversion leading to trauma
- Bit floppy and hanging out – get kicked more likely
- Trauma and foreign bodies
- Depends on how pendulous it is
What conditions are there of the accessory sex glands? (3)
- Hyperplasia of prostate (dog)
- Infectious seminal vesiculitis – typically yearling bulls; refractory to treatment; diagnose & treat early.Tulathromycin weekly for 6 weeks; Meloxicam by injection alternate days for first 2 weeks.
- Check for the abnormal shape of the seminal vesciles
- Absence (any species)
How can we exam the accessory sex glands? (3)
- Digital in dog
- Rectal in bull/stallion
- Ultrasound
What do we do to assess the conditions of the testciles?
Scrotal circumference (part of physical exam) – very informative. Should be part of the clinical exam for a breeding exam
What are the conditions of the testciles? (6)
- Hypoplasia – bilateral or unilateral. Congenital can be due to abnormality of blood supply (More common in Belgian Blue bulls)
- Hard and possibly small due to post-traumatic scarring or fibrosis/calcification with age
- Soft due to tubular atrophy (including non-breeding season)
- Absent – cryptorchid
- Rotated – stallion. Not significant.
- Epididymis is on the wrong side
- Enlarged – neoplasia, especially older dogs
What is this?
Small epididymis! Had v poor semen quality
What are the conditions of the epididymis?
- Lumpy, esp. ascending infection (mainly ram), blockage (spermatocoele)
- Floppy, small, possibly displaced cauda
- Absence (segmental aplasia of mesonephric duct)
- It may just not be there at all
How do you assess the scrotum?
•Testis should move easily within the scrotum, if not then adhesions are indicators of previous infection and inflammation or trauma
Why will a short scrotum affect sperm?
•Sperm production is affected by body temperature – so needs to hang low
What is shown?
•Normal vs short scrotum
What causes orchitis? Where is it seen? What do we do if we find it?
Seen in rams. Brucella Ovis in rams is notifiable and causes orchitis as primary symptom. PHONE APHA. Should be in top 3 of differentials
What causes dermatitis?
Chorioptic mange common cause of scrotal dermatitis in rams
What are the conditions of the penis? (6)
- Trauma – all species, but especially stallion
- Rupture at the sigmoid flexure – ruminants
- Papillomas and other tumours – sometimes self-cure; can often be ligated in bulls; Squamous cell carcinoma at urethral orifice in stallions, fibroblastic sarcoids on penile/preputial skin, Transmissible Venereal Granuloma in dogs.
- Corkscrew penis in bulls
- Normal in a boar
- But bad in bull – hard to get in
- Persistent frenulum
- Most common in goats - although not v common
- Try to extend the penis and you will find it
- ‘Pizzle rot’ – Rams - Corynebacterium renale: grows in the alkaline environment caused by the high urinary urea content of rams on high protein diets
What is this?
Papilloma – little warts on the penis. Common in bulls. Can be ligated or self cure!
What are the causes of infectious cattle infertility?
Viral (4)
Bacterial (7)
Protozoa (1)
Viral
•IBR, BVD, EBL (enzootic bovine leukosis – ND! You would see other signs before probably), Bluetongue
Bacterial
•Campylobacter, Brucella (ND) (B. Abortus), TB, Lepto, Johne’s, Mycoplasma, Ureaplasma
Protozoal
•Trichomonas – we think we haven’t got it atm. But we just haven’t got a lot of it! Just be aware as worldwide it is a big problem!! E.g. V common in N Spain.
What are the infectious causes of infetility in sheep?
Viral? (2)
Bacterial? (4)
Viral
- Bluetongue and possible Schmallenberg.
- Schmallenberg is more under control now
Bacterial
- Brucella ovis (notifiable), possible Johne’s, Mycoplasma, Ureaplasma
- Brucella is a high risk if brought in from an endemic country
What are the infectious causes of infertility in horses?
Viral? (4)
Bacterial? (5)
Protozoa? (1)
Viral
•EVA (equine viral arteritis) , EIA (equine infectious anaemia), Vesicular stomatitis, African horse sickness
Bacterial
•CEM *Taylorella* , Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Salmonella abortus equi, Glanders
Protozoal
•Dourine – we don’t have it in the UK. Just double check.
How long does it take for pyrexia to affect sememn quality?
4-6 weeks
