I’ve performed home pregnancy testing for dogs for many years. In the beginning of my career, I figured the dog gestation period was so short, why not just wait 63 days and know the outcome for sure? Besides, there are other ways to determine pregnancy, pretty reliably at home without a vet but just further along the gestation than a home dog pregnancy test. Since I’ve never had a false pregnancy, that wasn’t something I felt the need to rule out either.
But some bitches can hide their pregnancy well with minimal abdominal expansion and being able to fine tune her diet if pregnant along with just basic human curiosity led me to using the tests available.
The Difference Between A Home Dog Pregnancy Test vs Testing For Humans
Human pregnancy tests are specifically designed to detect the presence of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG). That hormone is produced by the placenta after implantation of the fertilised egg in the human uterus ONLY. Dogs do not produce hCG; therefore, you’d be wasting your time using a human urine test for pregnancy.
There are a few different home dog pregnancy test kits available. Some require drawing blood from a vein, spinning it down in a centrifuge to separate the blood cells from the serum, adding a small amount of that serum to a diluent and adding that mixture to a cassette similar to what human test strips for humans look like.
Video Transcript
00:03
I’m going to be running a home pregnancy test on Jenny. I’m using Belly Labs, which does not require you to draw blood in a syringe and then spin it down in a centrifuge. It uses a simple lancet on the inside of the dog’s mouth. In the kit, you’ll find an instruction sheet, two lancets, and they give you two just in case you accidentally
00:28
miss the mark with the first lancet. You can have a second try with the same kit. There is a cotton swab that you will collect blood from the inside of the mouth after you use the lancet on the dog.
00:43
and then a small tube with some fluid that you take that cotton swab that has the blood on it, put it in the tube, mix it around a few times, and then you’ll be using that fluid to put on the cassette for the test itself. And the cassette is very similar to what people are used to for pregnancy tests for humans. You’ll be seeing a window with either one or two lines that tell you whether someone is pregnant or not.
01:13
So we’ll be doing this with Jenny today.
Don’t lick. Stop. Eww.
Alright, this may be easy in terms of not having to hit a vein to get blood in a syringe.
Come here.
This does not look good. Don’t need saliva. I need…
Stop. I’m sorry, baby. That was nasty. Come on. You can get down. I’ll get you cookies soon.
Now, we get the tube.
02:23
And we swirl it around. One, two, three, four, five. Oh, and we set the timer for one minute. Start it. Break it off. Break it off. One minute. Okay. Nasty. I’d rather draw blood. But that’s just me. Okay. So now it’s a minute. We take this little thing. I just want to knock whatever fluid we do have. Unscrew this.
03:25
turn upside down and then we do two drops. One, two. And then we do a 10 minute timer for us to read it. Okay, you can see that the C, the control line is starting to show up. I don’t know if I can focus in any closer. Can you see the C, the line by the C? Now we’re just waiting for the line for the T, the test to say she’s pregnant. Okay, let’s see what we got.
04:27
This is a 10 minutes. Tiny, very faint. We’re gonna wait five more minutes up to the 15 minute mark and then see what we got. Okay, we’ve got 13 minutes in with only two minutes left to go before we call it a day. I think I might be seeing a slight change in the color, a line over the T. What do you think? I’m finally seeing it. I am finally seeing the second line.
05:10
Talk about a cliffhanger. Okay,
congratulations, Jenny. I guess we’re gonna clip you down because the last time I kept you in a long coat with your babies, boy, did we end up with a mess. So we’re gonna make it nice and easy for you this time.
All right, guys, so that’s the testing. I personally think just drawing blood would be easier. Yeah, you can miss a vein and
05:43
It takes some practice, but this is kind of nerve wracking. I don’t know, maybe it just takes more practice to use a lancet further up in the mouth. The other thing I think maybe would be helpful is if you dried the inside of the cheek
06:05
Where are you going to be using the lancet so it’s dry? Maybe you would end up getting more of a drop of blood instead of what I was getting with which was just blood kind of getting smeared all over the place. Just a thought. Let me know what you think.
(Transcribed by UniScribe (https://www.uniscribe.co).
The home dog pregnancy test in this video only requires using a lancet (similar to the fingersticks human diabetics use to test for blood sugar. Well, ok, this lancet is a bit bigger in order to get more blood). It is used on the inside of the dog’s mouth to obtain a few drops of blood. Watch the video to see how it’s done and if it is something you feel you could use.
Basic Test Info
The manufacturers claims a 96% accuracy rate.
The test determines if Relaxin, the canine pregnancy hormone, is present. It takes at least 28 days after ovulation to produce Relaxin. Therefore that is the absolute earliest date to test. Date of ovulation is approximated by testing for progesterone prior to breeding or at the very least assumed around 28 days after the first breeding.
In order to save yourself from having to retest due to a possible false negative, it would be prudent to wait a few days after that estimated date.
Bellylabs home dog pregnancy test kit can be purchased online in a variety of places. Just do a search for Bellylabs. I have not been requested nor paid to do this demo.