You read that right – IVF puppies!
The Guardian reports that a surrogate mother has given birth to seven puppies conceived in a petri dish.
It’s believed to be the first time IVF has worked on dogs.
“We each took a puppy and rubbed it with a little towel and when it started to squiggle and cry, we knew we had success,” Dr Alexander Travis of the Baker Institute for Animal Health at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, is reported as saying.
The institute implanted a whopping 19 embryos in the mother. They are a mix of beagle, Labrador, and cocker spaniel.
The pups were born in July. The announcement was delayed five months to ensure they were healthy.
All have been adopted expect one female, who is being kept to have her own litter.
The Guardian says IVF efforts with dogs ‘repeatedly failed until now’ but ‘the biology of the dog is really, really different than humans. Dog pregnancies last only two months and females go into heat just once or twice a year, releasing immature eggs.’
