This case report describes a rare occurrence of asymmetrical conjoined twinning in lambs in Makurdi (Benue state), Middle Belt region of Nigeria. The conjoined twins were delivered normally by a multiparous ewe of about three and a half years old; the female twins had two complete set of limbs. Barium meal and X-ray revealed abnormalities of the skeletal, digestive, urinary and reproductive systems. This condition is rare in sheep and is to the best of our knowledge the first report of omphalo-ishiopagus (dicephalic dithoracic tetrabrachius) twinned lambs. The condition always leads to death of the twin lambs due to various physical abnormalities.

Aim:The importance of physical and psychological stress caused by pain during surgery cannot be overemphasized. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of ovariohysterectomy (OVH), gastrotomy (GST), and intestinal resection and anastomosis (IRA) on biochemical parameters of Nigerian dogs anesthetized with the xylazine-propofol combination.Materials and Methods:A total of 12 dogs were randomly divided into three groups of four each. The animals were treated with xylazine and propofol anesthetics for OVH, GST, and IRA in Groups 1-3, respectively. Blood samples were collected at 0 h, 2, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, and 144 h postsurgery for determination of cortisol (CORT), glucose (GLU), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), globulin (GL), and ALB/GL ratio.Results:There were significant increases (p<0.05) in mean CORT concentrations 2 h postsurgery in the three groups and at 24 h in Group 3 and 96 h in Groups 1 and 3, respectively. GLU concentrations increased significantly (p<0.05) in the three groups at 2 h postsurgery. The mean protein concentrations in Groups 2 and 3 decreased significantly (p<0.05) at 2h and 24 h and 72 h, 96 h, 120 h, and 144 h in Group 3, respectively. There was significant decrease (p<0.05) in the mean ALB concentrations at 2 h, 24 h, 72 h, 96 h, 120 h, and 144 h postsurgery. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in the mean GL concentrations in Group 3 at 24 h, 72 h, 96 h, and 144 h. All other parameters were not significantly different (p>0.05) in comparison with the control.Conclusion:Xylazine-propofol combination could decrease humoral immune status and increase serum GLU level invariably portending a high risk of diabetes in the vulnerable dogs.

Aim:Viable spermatozoa could be recovered from the cauda epididymides for the purpose of preservation of genetic material of male animals with desirable traits and for use in reproductive biotechnology. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of storage time on testicular and epididymal biometry, sperm reserves and epididymal sperm characteristics of red Sokoto bucks post mortem.Materials and Methods:Testes-epididymides were collected immediately after slaughter of mature red Sokoto bucks and transported in ice chest to the laboratory. The samples were either processed immediately or stored at 5°C in refrigerator for 24, 48 h and then processed. The testes and epididymides were measured and weighed. Sperm motility, concentration, livability, morphology, intact acrosome, and sperm reserves from different treatment groups including control were evaluated and means (±standard error of mean) were recorded.Results:There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the testicular and epididymal dimensions determined between the means of the groups. Percent sperm motility and viability decreased significantly (p<0.05) after 24 h from 69.00±0.46 and 71.27±0.50% to 50.60±0.48 and 60.47±0.70% at 48 h, respectively. Significant decreases (p<0.05) in epididymal sperm concentration and intact acrosome from 2.86±0.08 and 92.87±0.39 at 0 to 24 h of storage, respectively, were observed.Conclusion:The results of this study suggest that spermatozoa recovered from the epididymides of red Sokoto bucks were viable after storage for up to 48 h. Furthermore, this finding offers some hope that epididymal sperm recovered post-mortem can be used in assisted reproductive technologies.

Aim: Storage of testes-epididymides at refrigeration temperature is a promising method of short-term sperm preservation for use in reproductive biotechnology in dogs. This study aimed to determine the effect of storage time at 4˚C on the quality of Nigerian local dogs' cauda epididymal spermatozoa recovered post-castration. Materials and Methods: Testes along with their epididymides collected immediately after castration of local dogs were either processed immediately (0th hour) or stored at 4˚C in the refrigerator for 12th, 24th or 48th hours and then processed. Each storage group comprised 5 pairs of testes-epididymides. Sperm motility, concentration, livability, acrosome integrity and morphology from the various storage groups were evaluated and means with standard error of the mean (±SEM) were recorded. Results: Mean percent sperm motility at 0th hour (77.0 ± 2.6) decreased significantly (p < 0.05) after 12 hours (68.0 ± 1.2), 24 hours (66.0 ± 2.4) and 48 hours (60.0 ± 1.6) of storage at 4˚C. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was found when the mean sperm concentrations (×10 7 /ml) of the storage groups (5.86 ± 47, 5.24 ± 26 and 5.38 ± 31) were compared with the control (6.48 ± 0.75). Mean percent sperm livability did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) between the 0th, 12th, 24th and 48th hour groups (86.4 ± 1.5, 78.0 ± 3.1 and 75.0 ± 1.8 respectively). However, there was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in mean percent sperm livability after 48 hours of storage (69.8 ± 4.2) as compared with the 0th hour group. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was detected in the mean percent acrosome integrity between the 0th, 12th, 24th and 48th hour groups (90.0 ± 1.5, 83.0 ± 3.5, 84.6 ± 4.6 and 82.2 ± 3.9 respectively). A significant increase (p