Pharmacological semen collection in cougars (Puma concolor: Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the pharmacological semen collection method with urethral catheterization (CT) in captive cougar (Puma concolor) males. The pharmacological method (CT; N= 3) was compared to the electroejaculation technique (EE; N= 4). For CT collection, medetomidine was administrated to induce semen release using a tomcat catheter inserted into the urethra to collect by capillarity. The proposed method was efficacious on all animals used. Through the CT method, semen collected yielded smaller volume (106,7 +/- 30,5(a) mu L) and higher concentration (524,1 +/- 54,3(b) x 10(6) sperm/mL) compared to EE (450,0 +/- 0,1(b) mu L and 205,0 +/- 141,8(a) x 10(6) sperm /mL). Evaluations of vigor, motility and sperm pathology demonstrated that CT does not affect semen quality when compared to EE (P> 0.05). Thus, the proposed method consists of a more practical and efficient technique for semen collection with good quality, eliminating the need for eletroejaculation.