Does Pregnancy Tests Work on Dogs? Know It All

Do you suspect that your dog is pregnant? Are you wondering if you can find out yourself using a pregnancy test? You may even be second-guessing if it is possible to use a human pregnancy test on your dog. Before you go out and try to make your dog pee on a stick, it is worthwhile to find out if such tests even work on dogs.

You could be super excited to get puppies from your female dog, but you also don’t want to harm her before she delivers.

Are there any key symptoms you should be looking out for? Are you able to know the expected number of puppies you should be expecting? How do you best check pregnancy in dogs?

These are some questions that could be lingering on your mind. We’ll tackle all these key queries and provide you with your desired clarity on these questions.

Let’s now get to it, starting with this fundamental query.

Does Pregnancy Tests Work on Dogs?

So, do pregnancy tests work on dogs? The simple answer is no, they don’t, especially if the test is designed for humans. Pregnant dogs produce hormones that can’t be detected by human urine pregnancy tests, due to this normal human pregnancy tests can’t detect pregnancy in dogs.

Only a test specific to dogs can be expected to give you actual results. Therefore, don’t go forcing your female dog to pee on a pregnancy test as you won’t get the results you are looking for.

There are way better ways of testing pregnancy in dogs. Don’t try anything that might hurt your canine friend in any way.

Do Human Pregnancy Tests Work On Dogs

Commonly found home pregnancy test kits usually work in a simple way. The pregnancy test tells whether you are pregnant or not by looking for a particular hormone in your urine or blood. This hormone is called HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin.

The important thing to know is that the hormone HCG is essentially produced in a woman’s placenta when fertilization and conception have occurred. We cannot expect a routine pregnancy test to work on a dog because dogs do not produce this hormone when they are pregnant. 

Interestingly, there is no specific hormone produced by dogs in pregnancy. However, a hormone called relaxin is produced in dogs during pregnancy and they can be tested for this. It appears three to four weeks after conception.

Pregnancy Tests For Dogs

There are ways to test pregnancy in a female dog. But the detection would not be as rapid as a home-pregnancy kit. When you suspect that your dog is pregnant, you should immediately take her to the veterinarian. A canine pregnancy test will be performed.

At around 28 days of gestation, pregnancy can mostly be detected in dogs. An ultrasound is usually conducted after the 20th day. The doctor will also physically examine your dog after 30 days to check how many puppies are expected. This process of checking the dog’s abdominal is known as palpation.

However, this test is not always accurate and you are likely to be surprised by many more puppies.

Your vet may also conduct a blood test on your dog to test for pregnancy. Your vet will be looking out for the relaxin hormone with this test. Once it’s found your dog is declared pregnant and vice versa.

From day 45 onwards, your vet may also conduct an X-ray to determine the exact number of puppies you should be expecting from the litter. This is a much more reliable test and provides much more accurate information than ultrasounds.

None of the above methods should be conducted from home. Always seek professional help from your vet to avoid causing any potential harm to your dog and her puppies.

However, you should know that a canine home-pregnancy test is not possible and there is no such thing. If you still want to know whether your dog is pregnant or not then look out for the following symptoms:

• Slight discharge after a month of mating
• Morning sickness – Possible vomiting in the beginning phases, if this persists get her checked by your vet
• Loss of appetite 
• Lethargy
• Protruding teats that may start secreting a transparent liquid
• Belly swelling from Day 40 onward

Beware of false pregnancy, some dogs may exhibit such symptoms but may not be pregnant. Ultrasound is always the safest and most reliable method to know if your dog is pregnant or not. This method uses sound waves to create images of what’s in the dog’s womb.

Pregnancy in dogs generally lasts for 61 to 65 days. It is not always possible to notice physical symptoms until the female dog is in its final phases of pregnancy.  You should also know that female dogs (bitches) can get pregnant once in 8 months, whenever they go in heat.

We hope this was helpful information and you now know that pregnancy test kits meant for humans cannot work or give accurate results when it comes to animals. So do not go through the hassle of making your doggo pee on a stick. Take your dog to the vet and get routine checkups to be sure about their pregnancy. 

Final Thoughts

Pregnancy in dogs happens once every 8 months, if you’ve noticed your female dog was recently on heat, then knowing when whether you’ll be expecting puppies becomes a priority for you.

Conducting a pregnancy test using a human urine test pregnancy kit won’t give you your desired expectation. Always seek to consult your local vet to check if your dog is pregnant.

Ultrasounds and blood test makes the most reliable and safest options of checking if you’ll be expecting puppies. To know the number of puppies, requesting your vet to conduct an X-ray test is your best bet. You can, however, still use the palpation method to get a rough estimate of the number of puppies to expect.

Have you ever been curious about whether pregnancy tests work on dogs? What did you do? Share with us your thoughts below in the comment section.