i have heard of a blood test to indicate pregnancy in the bitch. is this accurate and if so at what date is it done. i have had breeders tell me that scans are not fool proof . sadie931112432@aol.com sorry but am already regeistered but cant log in for some reason staffymad

I am not aware of a test that can predict pregnancy in a dog.
You can test the levels of progesterone in the blood near the due date to try & predict when she will whelp but that's it as far as I know.

A bitches hormones have the same pattern post season - if in whelp or not (hence the reason most will have a phantom to some degree) therefore making it difficult to predict the difference between in whelp / not in whelp by testing blood.

There is a blood test to determine pregnancy in the bitch.  I'm not entirely sure that it is a hormone that is detected or something else that is only secreted in the pregnant state.  My vet offered it to me instead of scan this time.  But I opted for scan because I feel it is less invasive.  Our vets offer a free scan a week later if no pups are seen on the first scan.  I think the blood test can be done only marginly earlier than the scan but not sure so you would have to check that out your vets. :-)

A friend of mine had this blood test on one of her bitches. The results were that she was pregnant, she was,nt. Vet said that it wasn,t always accurrate. He also said that if a bitch is only having a small litter the blood test might need to be done twice as the first might show up as negative.

The test is looking for the Relaxin hormone.(Think that it is made by Witness) It should be used ideally after 28 days. It can give a false negative, if used too early or with an unusually small litter but not a false positive.An early negative sometimes calls for another test.
Remember even if in whelp at the time of the test, just like with a scan pregnancy can be confirmed, only too have the bitch re absorb.
Eavie