To begin, prepare the surgical table with the appropriate sterile instruments. After performing surgical field antisepsis in the anesthetized animal, position the surgical drape over the penultimate pair of inguinal mammary glands. Using scissors, create a rectangular opening in a surgical drape and place four backhouse clamps to secure the surgical drape over the animal skin.
With a scalpel, create an incision approximately 10 centimeters in length. Achieve hemostasis of subcutaneous vessels with hemostatic forceps and absorbable suture size two. Using fine-pointed scissors or fingers, dissect the subcutaneous tissue, deepening the incision to reach the linea alba in the abdominal musculature.
With Alice forceps, grasp and lift the musculature to make a stab incision in the linea alba with a scalpel. Insert the index finger into the incision to assess the presence of adhesions. Extend the incision over the linea alba caudally and cranially, avoiding injury to other organs and underlying structures.
Insert one hand into the abdominal cavity to locate and exteriorize the ovaries. If one of the uterine horns is located, gently follow it until reaching the tip of the uterine horn and the ipsilateral ovary. After locating the ovary, gently pull it and carefully expose it.
Assess the presence of pre ovulatory follicles, hemorrhagic corpora lutea, cyclic corpora lutea, and corpus albicans to evaluate if the gilt synchronization is as expected. Gently remove the fimbriae of the uterine tube covering the ovary, and divert its mucosa to locate the osteum of the uterine tube. Then carefully insert a tomcat catheter containing the embryos into the osteum of the fimbriae until reaching the ampulla of the uterine tube.
Attach a one milliliter syringe to the Tomcat catheter to push the embryo containing fluid into the uterine tube. Cover the ovary with the fimbriae, and return it to the abdominal cavity. If it is difficult to identify the osteum, use a round bodied suture needle to create a pocket on the ampullae of the oviduct.
Then, insert the tomcat catheter containing the embryos. Next, reposition the structures inside the abdominal cavity. To prevent adhesions, add one liter of saline or ringer's lactate solution, tempered at 39 degrees Celsius, to the abdominal cavity.
Next, suture the abdominal musculature with absorbable suture size two in X interrupted stitches. Close the skin with ethyl cyanoacrylate adhesive. After cleaning the surgical wound, apply rapamycin or Pearson's ointment and cover the area with gauze.
Finally, apply the surgical adhesive. Nine gilts underwent surgery with an average of 185 cloned embryos transferred per gilt, totaling 1, 664 embryos transferred bilaterally. No animal showed signs of intense pain after surgery, with an average pain score ranging between 0.33 to 4.67 on the pain scale of zero to 18, performed over the three postoperative days for each of the gilts.
