Do You Human Pregnancy Tests Work On Mares?
Saturday, February 27th, 2010This may sound a really silly question but do human pregnancy tests work on horses? After all, they both produce oestrogen and both mammals etc but is there any difference in human oestrogen and a mares?
My friend says she uses one all the time with her mares but I don’t know if she’s just having me on!
Kicking Bear says:
February 27th, 2010
8:44 am
Human tests measure for hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin). Technically horses don’t even produce hCG, they produce eCG (equine chorionic gonadatropin). I don’t know if the eCG will mimmic the hCG and cause the test to go positive.
If you were going to try it, you test for eCG between 35 – 60 days. A blood test for estrone sulfate is a little more accurate.
You can try the human test, I honestly don’t know if it will work and I would be lying if I said I had not tried it myself. It will not automatically be positive – I have tried it twice, niether turned positive and neither mare turned out to be pregnant. But I have never seen someone use it and have it turn positive. If you are going to try it, I would try it between 35 – 60 days when the eCG levels should really be rising.
On a side note – those tests are suprisingly expensive, I would rather spend the money on an accurate blood test than a less than dependable urine test.
edit: those pee sticks mentioned above would be nice if they are not too expensive. They say to wait until 120 days – that is to lower the chance of a false positive. If a mare aborts her pregnancy early on, eCG levels can continue to build and cause the test to still be positive. So that company says to wait until 120 days to make sure the pregnancy is still viable. That is why the blood test for estrone sulfate is better.
Chloe B says:
February 27th, 2010
10:59 am
Get the vet in mate!
Anonymous says:
February 27th, 2010
3:19 pm
you would have to be deadly accurate with catchin’ that pee. i wouldn’t think so as the hormones are different, and you cannot make horses pee on a tiny stick like a human. best to get her palpitated.
see arr harr says:
February 27th, 2010
5:01 pm
I honestly don’t know… but you can get “pee on a stick” tests for mares. http://www.foalproof.co.uk/
Mulerein says:
February 27th, 2010
6:06 pm
Its a good question, but no, it wont work. They are made for levels for human body hormones, not horse levels.
cindylic says:
February 27th, 2010
9:16 pm
i wouldn’t think so. estrogen levels in humans are most likely different to that of horses…i could b wrong tho
madisonn says:
February 27th, 2010
11:29 pm
They wont work because mares have higher levels of estrogen and they human test will register that as pregnant.
Brenda says:
February 28th, 2010
3:46 am
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!