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Foal born through IVF
carol with lord nelson
Owner Carol with Lord Nelson, who she likes to call PICSI (pronounced 'Pixie').

UC Davis celebrates success with ICSI
 
A foal has been born through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) at UC Davis vet school in the US. This represents a first for equine medicine at the university.

Equine reproduction specialists used the process of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Unlike traditional IVF (which often doesn't work on horses), this involves injecting a single sperm into an egg extracted from a mare.

Once the embryo has developed in a laboratory for a week, it is implanted in the mare.

Initially, specialists attempted to artificially inseminate Zholani - a thoroughbred-shire mix - using frozen sperm from an Andalusian horse called El Gavilan.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, Dr Bruce Christensen of UC Davis suggested enrolling the mare in his ICSI research study.

Six of Zholani's eggs and El Gavilan's sperm were sent to the Equine Embryo Laboratory at Texas A&M University.

Due to Zholani's previous inability to get pregnant, the team decided to use a recipient mare to carry the pregnancy.

The foal, named 'Lord Nelson' was born at UC Davis' Center for Equine Health. Once he matures, he will begin training for a career in dressage. His owner Carol Alonso is excited about his prospects, based on his carefully selected lineage.

Image courtesy of UC Davis

 

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Rabbit Awareness Week set to return this summer

News Story 1
 Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW) is returning this summer, running from 24-28 June 2024. The theme for this year will be 'Healthy Diet, Happy Bunnies'.

The focus on rabbits' diet comes after the most recent PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) Report report revealed that 42 per cent of veterinary professionals identified inappropriate diet as one of the five most important rabbit welfare issues that need to be address.

The campaign will include veterinary blogs, videos, and digital waiting room resources. Practices can sign up to receive updates about RAW. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.