Titers test
 ) and it came back that he was VERY well vaccinated and therefore we didn't need to do any vaccines this year. Now - a place I take him to play is asking for proof of current vaccines - but I don't have the " typical" proof they are looking for. I showed them a copy of the Titers test - but were unaware of what it was and I think they thought I was trying to pull something. My vet said he would put a letter together for me as proof - but I was wondering if any of you who do the Titers test do or have something different as proof? |
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| You could get his vac records from his vet should still have a record of all vaccinations that he has had.The titers test should show that he does not need any more vacs at this time |
| the problem is though that they average person who doesnt deal that much with vaccines and such doesnt or wouldnt know about titers or how to interpret them and I believe that is why it isnt enough proof for most places. |
| The titers have been slowly becoming more known as a "real" proof of vaccine.
I actually am amazed that Therapy Dogs International has allowed titers to be used for the last 2 years - as they are unbelievably strict about health records. Hopefully your play place for Winston gets themselves more educated. Kind of makes me wonder, actually. I don't know that I would want to take my dog somewhere that doesn't know about something as common as titers. |
| Good for you for not subjecting your boy to unnecessary vaccinations.
Titers are slowly becoming more accepted in this part of the woods too, especially at training facilities and dog clubs, which is to be expected since breeders and especially performance people are usually on the cutting edge when it comes to what's best for their dogs and tend to be the catalyst for that kind of change. (Dawn - I'm really shocked TDI accepts titers though!) Expect it to take much longer to trickle down to places that cater mostly to pet people. You can try to educate them. Failing that I simply politely tell them their policy is unfortunate because I'd love to frequent their establishment but won't put my dogs' health at risk to do so and walk away. (Another sticking point is places that require the bordatella vaccine which is basically useless but which they probably feel shields them from liability to some degree if they demand it and have an outbreak anyway, such as what happened to Barkley's Mom at doggie daycare.) Hear that enough and they'll start to educate themselves. There really is nothing more than a copy of the titers test plus if need be your vet's translation of what that means for the under-educated. Nice of your vet to offer to do that. As titering becomes more widespread perhaps they'll develop a more universal and generally recognized "proof of titer" format. For now it can be hard to get some places even to accept the new vaccine protocols, but there too things are slowly changing. And Dawn I was thinking the same thing - don't want my dogs subject to ignorant people...who knows in what other ways they're clueless. 
My agility instructor requires proof of rabies vaccine - titer if they are medically excempt as allowed by WI law - and proof of vaccine OR titer for distemper and parvo only. That's it and that's as it should be. Kristine |
| I am in full favor of not over vaccintating, but tiers testing isn't always reliable... a high titer can mean the dog is well immunized, or that it is carrying the viruses it was tested for. |
Willowsprite wrote: a high titer can mean the dog is well immunized, or that it is carrying the viruses it was tested for.
Is the titers not good then? How can you tell the difference between the virus and being immunized? Please excuse me if I sound dumb - I have had Winston for seven years, but I am new to this way of thought. |
Mad Dog wrote: My agility instructor requires proof of rabies vaccine - titer if they are medically excempt as allowed by WI law - and proof of vaccine OR titer for distemper and parvo only. That's it and that's as it should be.
Krisitne - what did you mean " if they are medically exempt as allowed by law." The vet here didn't even give me the option of titers for Rabies. |
| The way I was taught to read titers, which I dont know if it is correct or not, was that a high titer or say a 1:2000 for whatever test it is was a good or negative titer because they immunity was well up to par to not being susecptible to getting it. A low titer like 1:200 was a positive titer which means they are not up to par with their immunity and either have the disease like parvo for example or they were just vaccinated a couple days ago and the titer was run and it came up low because the vaccine is making it show a false positive. if it is a titer on the lower end but not super low then it means they need the vaccine.
Titer are run in increments/dilutions. so if a pet if titered and it shows a positive titer at say 1:200 then that pet is as positive as their diultions go and they wont run any further dilutions. If however it is negative at 1:200 then they will comtinue to dilute until they get a positive. so if its negative at 1:200 then whatever their next dilution is, say 1:400, they will run that until it comes up positive and then youll know your immunity. Each test has its own positive and negative standards and dilution factors. this is how it was explained to me but I dont know if that made sense to anyone or not. |
OES4ever wrote: The way I was taught to read titers, which I dont know if it is correct or not, was that a high titer or say a 1:2000 for whatever test it is was a good or negative titer because they immunity was well up to par to not being susecptible to getting it. A low titer like 1:200 was a positive titer which means they are not up to par with their immunity and either have the disease like parvo for example or they were just vaccinated a couple days ago and the titer was run and it came up low because the vaccine is making it show a false positive. if it is a titer on the lower end but not super low then it means they need the vaccine.
Titer are run in increments/dilutions. so if a pet if titered and it shows a positive titer at say 1:200 then that pet is as positive as their diultions go and they wont run any further dilutions. If however it is negative at 1:200 then they will comtinue to dilute until they get a positive. so if its negative at 1:200 then whatever their next dilution is, say 1:400, they will run that until it comes up positive and then youll know your immunity. Each test has its own positive and negative standards and dilution factors. this is how it was explained to me but I dont know if that made sense to anyone or not. This is interesting, but I am confused...sorry. Our Sadie has been very ill to the point we thought we would lose her. She began hemorrhaging from the nose and we rushed her to our vet. They did a CBC and then a titer count for possible tick borne disease (TBD) and it had to be sent to our state lab for processing. When it came back, they told us 1:40 was negative, 1:80 was positive. Sadie's was 1:2560 a definite high positive for ehrlichiosis canus. (This seems opposite previous posts) The high positive says the tick exposure had been in her a very long time (probably longer than we have had her), just not showing clinical signs. The titer test also cost $150. Are there different kinds of titer tests? Our vets have a very reserve policty on vaccinations with the exception of rabies, still required yearly by our state; so I wonder why we would need to do a titer count for vaccinations? Things have been touch 'n go with Sadie for 3 weeks. If interested you can read her story in this part of the forum at "Sound sleeping or passing out." She is doing better, but not out of the woods yet. Also we are vigilent about ticks and fleas. We treat our dogs and treat our yard. We have not seen a tick in over 3 years. Sadie is 2 1/2, but as the vet said, "No preventative is 100% and it only takes one bite." |
| Yeah, "titer" essentially means "how much" and they can check to see "how much" vaccine or nasties are in the blood. For rabies, maybe they're checking for antibodies to the vaccine and for Lyme for antibodies to the Lyme infestation. Just guesses. In this thread they've been talking about titers for the rabies vaccination. |
| I do believe that some titers are opposite as you were indicating so for some this reasoning the reverse applies.
If I remember correctly at least that is. It is also easier for me to explain what a titer results mean if I have the actual results in front of me. Some titers though test for antibodies where some test for antigen. so that also makes the interpretation different. |
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