The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case Study
During the ovarian cycle in domestic dogs, females do not accept males during the first days of estrus but become attractive to males from the beginning of proestrus, with this attractiveness persisting until the end of the estrus phase. It is believed that increased estradiol is responsible for the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3156 |
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| author | Martyna Woszczyło Antoni Szumny Jacek Łyczko Tadeusz Jezierski Paulina Krzemińska Izabela Szczerbal Marek Świtoński Wojciech Niżański Michał Dzięcioł |
| author_facet | Martyna Woszczyło Antoni Szumny Jacek Łyczko Tadeusz Jezierski Paulina Krzemińska Izabela Szczerbal Marek Świtoński Wojciech Niżański Michał Dzięcioł |
| author_sort | Martyna Woszczyło |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During the ovarian cycle in domestic dogs, females do not accept males during the first days of estrus but become attractive to males from the beginning of proestrus, with this attractiveness persisting until the end of the estrus phase. It is believed that increased estradiol is responsible for the female attractiveness to the males. In this paper we describe the case of strong, but atypical attractiveness of a castrated male to various, adult, intact males, influenced by the emitted semiochemical signals. Any significant changes in the level of hormones typically involved in the process connected with estrus and responsible for sexual arousal in the males were assessed. The case animal was a 4 year old castrated male Border Collie that was extremely attractive to various males, which presented high levels of sexual arousal, with intensive sniffing and licking of the preputial area, specific vocalization, increased salivation and, finally, mating attempts. Clinical examination of the castrated male revealed a lack of testes in the scrotum and abdominal cavity confirmed by USG. Laboratory tests indicated basal levels of estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone (15.23 pg/mL, <0.05 ng/mL, 0.25 ng/mL), and sex was confirmed via cytogenetic and molecular analysis. Chemical analysis (HS-SPME) of the urine indicated a huge similarity to the profile obtained from a bitch in estrus, with an elevated level of acetophenone, which has been previously postulated in the literature as being a characteristic of the estrus phase in female domestic dogs. This case presented very atypical sexual attractiveness, particularly when taking into account the basal levels of hormones which, according to current knowledge, are responsible for the creation of attractiveness. As a hypothesis requiring verification, we propose the idea of involvement of other hormones in the creation of incidental attractiveness or increased production of compounds responsible for attractiveness (sex pheromones) resulting from metabolic events unrelated to reproductive processes. To our knowledge it is the first described case presenting this phenomenon, which, with more detailed study, could shed new light on the process of creation of sexual attraction in the domestic dog. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:46:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f8536b733aa142d9ae35873ea21e4e33 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:46:41Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-f8536b733aa142d9ae35873ea21e4e332023-11-22T22:06:16ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152021-11-011111315610.3390/ani11113156The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case StudyMartyna Woszczyło0Antoni Szumny1Jacek Łyczko2Tadeusz Jezierski3Paulina Krzemińska4Izabela Szczerbal5Marek Świtoński6Wojciech Niżański7Michał Dzięcioł8Department of Reproduction and Clinic of Farm Animals, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Plac Grunwaldzki 49, 50-366 Wrocław, PolandDepartment of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, C.K. Norwida 25, 50-375 Wrocław, PolandDepartment of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, C.K. Norwida 25, 50-375 Wrocław, PolandDepartment of Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, 05-552 Magdalenka, PolandDepartment of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wolynska 33, 60-637 Poznan, PolandDepartment of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wolynska 33, 60-637 Poznan, PolandDepartment of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wolynska 33, 60-637 Poznan, PolandDepartment of Reproduction and Clinic of Farm Animals, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Plac Grunwaldzki 49, 50-366 Wrocław, PolandDepartment of Reproduction and Clinic of Farm Animals, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Plac Grunwaldzki 49, 50-366 Wrocław, PolandDuring the ovarian cycle in domestic dogs, females do not accept males during the first days of estrus but become attractive to males from the beginning of proestrus, with this attractiveness persisting until the end of the estrus phase. It is believed that increased estradiol is responsible for the female attractiveness to the males. In this paper we describe the case of strong, but atypical attractiveness of a castrated male to various, adult, intact males, influenced by the emitted semiochemical signals. Any significant changes in the level of hormones typically involved in the process connected with estrus and responsible for sexual arousal in the males were assessed. The case animal was a 4 year old castrated male Border Collie that was extremely attractive to various males, which presented high levels of sexual arousal, with intensive sniffing and licking of the preputial area, specific vocalization, increased salivation and, finally, mating attempts. Clinical examination of the castrated male revealed a lack of testes in the scrotum and abdominal cavity confirmed by USG. Laboratory tests indicated basal levels of estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone (15.23 pg/mL, <0.05 ng/mL, 0.25 ng/mL), and sex was confirmed via cytogenetic and molecular analysis. Chemical analysis (HS-SPME) of the urine indicated a huge similarity to the profile obtained from a bitch in estrus, with an elevated level of acetophenone, which has been previously postulated in the literature as being a characteristic of the estrus phase in female domestic dogs. This case presented very atypical sexual attractiveness, particularly when taking into account the basal levels of hormones which, according to current knowledge, are responsible for the creation of attractiveness. As a hypothesis requiring verification, we propose the idea of involvement of other hormones in the creation of incidental attractiveness or increased production of compounds responsible for attractiveness (sex pheromones) resulting from metabolic events unrelated to reproductive processes. To our knowledge it is the first described case presenting this phenomenon, which, with more detailed study, could shed new light on the process of creation of sexual attraction in the domestic dog.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3156semiochemical communicationbehaviorsex pheromonesdoghormonesattractiveness |
| spellingShingle | Martyna Woszczyło Antoni Szumny Jacek Łyczko Tadeusz Jezierski Paulina Krzemińska Izabela Szczerbal Marek Świtoński Wojciech Niżański Michał Dzięcioł The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case Study Animals semiochemical communication behavior sex pheromones dog hormones attractiveness |
| title | The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case Study |
| title_full | The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case Study |
| title_fullStr | The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case Study |
| title_short | The Case of Atypical Sexual Attractiveness in a Male Domestic Dog—A Case Study |
| title_sort | case of atypical sexual attractiveness in a male domestic dog a case study |
| topic | semiochemical communication behavior sex pheromones dog hormones attractiveness |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3156 |
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