5 Tips for Accurate Canine Progesterone Testing
Testing dog progesterone at home saves thousands of dollars and countless hours.
When the numbers just don't seem to match up
it can be really stressful, missing a litter can cost thousands, and cause even more stress.
Making sure your testing is accurate is important. Accurate home testing will change how you do business.
I have found that these 5 simple tips have an extraordinary impact on
testing accuracy and your overall savings, and I wanted to pass them on to you.
These tips apply to all canine progesterone machines.
Here are 5 tips for an accurate canine progesterone test.
1. Master the Pipette.
At the center of any accurate progesterone test is the pipette. Transferring liquid from one container to another seems straightforward.
However, there is quite a bit to it. Mastering the pipette is the easiest way to take inaccurate testing, to accurate and profitable testing.
If you are seeing consistently high results or consistently low results, you may be pipetting incorrectly.
Fixing this issue has helped hundred of breeders discover reliable and consistent results.
We suggest using an electronic pipette, which makes pipetting correctly as simple as pushing a button.
My advice, treat each pipetting action and the overall test as a surgical procedure, pay attention to each small detail because the small details are where accuracy lives. The small details produce big returns.
2. Allow Blood to Clot.
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Allowing the blood to clot after pulling from your dog for approximately 10 minutes, is another easy way to increase accuracy.
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The blood needs time to coagulate (clot) to produce an accurate serum sample.
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As soon as you have drawn the blood, set a 10-minute timer. Once the timer goes off, proceed to spin the blood down into serum.
Skipping clot time will lead to inaccurate results.
3. Centrifuge Blood for 10-15 minutes.Once the blood has sat for 10 minutes, we are ready to centrifuge (Pictured left) and produce the serum sample we will use for the test.
Spin the blood in the centrifuge for 10 minutes until you have a nice separation between the red blood on the bottom and clear/yellow serum on the top.
Not all centrifuges are created equal, and many spin at different speeds. 10 minutes is a uniform time that will produce quality serum using the vast majority of centrifuges.
Spinning for less than 10 minutes is not recommended, and will likely produce inaccurate results.
I personally recommend The Tomy Multi Spin.
It is battery-powered/portable, allowing freedom of movement when testing.
It also has a built-in timer, which allows you to set it and go. Once the allotted time has elapsed, the centrifuge will automatically stop, so you don't need to worry about over centrifuging your sample.
The Tomy is what we use in our own lab, and it has proven to be reliable and intuitive.
Earning comments such as "I like that Tomy centrifuge" from our engineers.
Always allow the blood to clot for 10 minutes
PS. Always make sure to balance your centrifuge.
When spinning a sample, place another sample or a centrifuge cup filled with water directly across from the first sample.
This allows for an even mix and will protect the longevity of your centrifuge.
If not balanced, you will know it, the centrifuge will shake and dance across the table, like "Jump Around" is playing.
"Jump Around" is great, just not when testing canine progesterone.
4. Always use new materials.
We live in an age of recycling, which is fantastic. Unneeded waste is unneeded.
However, in the field of hormone testing, it is absolutely needed to use new materials for each test you run.
Each test you run requires several consumable items such as needle syringe/butterfly vacutainer, blood tubes, pipette tips, and more.
Always use new materials for each test.
Although it may seem like it would be ok to re-use some items, reusing can drastically reduce accuracy.
For example, if a centrifuge tube is reused, it's basically mixing the previous sample with the new one, leading to a contaminated result and an inaccurate test.
Always be green, just not when running canine progesterone, or any other hormone test.
5. When in doubt, test again.
Sometimes for reasons outside of your control, a test is simply bad, and there's is nothing you could off done to fix it.
You always observe the previous 4 rules, you don't jump around or recycle ( consumables that is), and yet you still received a head-scratcher of a result.
When in doubt, test again.
It could have been a faulty test strip, or maybe someone bumped the machine, regardless, the test was eyebrow-raising and what should you do next? Test again.
More often than not, a retest will yield the result you were expecting.
This practice is very common in labs and clinics and will work for you as well.
Follow these 5 tips and you'll be well on your way to accurate testing.
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