It is advisable to require Brucella species screening in all outside bitches coming to a stud dog. If the slide test yields a positive result, perform additional testing to rule out a false positive result. The agar gel immunodiffusion assay tests for cytoplasmic and cell surface antigens, effectively differentiating between true positive and false positive results. Stud dog owners often request a vaginal culture before an outside bitch is bred. But without clinical signs or a history of reproductive dysfunction, vaginal cultures are usually not indicated.
Bitches have normal vaginal flora, which has been described.
Similar results were found in cultures from the prepuces of normal stud dogs. Requiring routine prebreeding vaginal cultures from bitches not only wastes time and money but may lead to inappropriate antimicrobial therapy. One study showed that using antimicrobial drugs in healthy bitches promoted the growth of opportunistic pathogens in the vagina such as E. coli and Mycoplasma species . Some of the normal bitches in this study developed vulvar discharges during antimicrobial therapy. If an owner still requests a vaginal culture, you must carefully interpret the culture results.