IVF Puppies A World First

World's first IVF puppies have been born to surrogate mother dog following years of attempts.

17:39 14 December 2015

Researchers from Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine have successfully produced the world's first IVF puppies who were born to surrogate mother dog.

 

The seven beagle and cross-bred beagle-spaniel puppies were from the same litter but have three sets of parents.

 

Frozen embryos were implanted in a female dog using techniques similar to those used in human fertility clinics. The researchers said that IVF can help conserve endangered breeds such as the African wild dog and could be used to help fight human and animal diseases.

 

Lead researcher Dr Alex Travis, said: "We have seven normal happy healthy puppies."

 

"Since the mid-1970s, people have been trying to do this in a dog and have been unsuccessful.

 

"Now we can use this technique to conserve the genetics of endangered species."

 

"In vitro fertilisation is a really powerful tool to help preserve endangered species of dog,"

 

"IVF is also important for the health of our pets because it opens up the possibility that we could identify certain genes that cause disease and then fix those."