Are you over vaccinating your English bulldog?
11 May 2009
Pet owners have become increasingly worried of the health risks linked with repeatedly vaccinating dogs following the initial “puppy shots”. Is there a solution to determine if your English bulldog is over-vaccinated? Fortunately there is a way to determine any solid evidence that your pet has been over vaccinated through titer test. Know the basic information of this simple blood test to help you decide whether or not to have your dog’s antibody checked.
Titer Testing
Titer, pronounced as “tight-er”, test is a laboratory test necessary to measure the presence and level of antibodies in blood. The time when antibodies are produced is when a foreign substance such as bacteria and virus provokes an immune response. The responses can be result from natural exposure or vaccination.
Should you test your dog for all diseases?
The most recommended test should be for antibodies for parvovirus and distemper. These two most important viruses can offer the dog owner a very reliable result of the dog’s immunological status. Both of these tests indicate proper markers for the competence of the dog’s immune system. IF you think your dog needs to be tested other than parvovirus an distemper, chances are you’re wasting your money. Coronavirus is another test but depends on the current state of health of the dog’s gastrointestinal tract and not based on the dog’s blood. Lyme test is regionally based and not a significant threat to the general dog population. Not unless your dog lives in a high risk environment, there is no need to have your dog tested for Lyme.
Importance of Titer testing
Titer testing is not a simple guess test at the immunological response in a dog. There is a great correlation between certain high titer values which is referred to as “protection” from the diseases involved. When the tests show that your dog has a borderline or low titer values, the owner and veterinarian should consider revaccinating and then testing the antibody levels again. It could mean the dog only needs a booster to stimulate a stronger immune response. It is also possible that the animal is incapable of responding normally to vaccines. Vaccination is not a mere case of guessing if your dog developed antibodies against a certain type of disease, rather the use of titer tests is to know about the competence and status of the dog’s immune system.
Nowadays, the benefits of titer testing is widely recognized which caused an increase in the number of titer tests performed at veterinary laboratories and lower costs for such tests available from a wide range of providers.
There are two ways in conducting vaccine titer testing namely traditional testing and traditional testing coupled with accepted immunological techniques. Veterinary laboratories offer traditional vaccine titer testing by inspecting a blood sample from a dog to identify a specific level of actual immunity in the dog. Reputable laboratories use commonly accepted immunological techniques validated against original test techniques which are proven to be more accurate. You should make sure that your veterinarian sends blood samples to a major professional veterinary laboratory such as Antech Diagnostics (www.antechdiagnostics.com), Idexx Laboratories (www.idexx.com), Vita-Tech Laboratories (www.vita-tech.com). The blood specimen can also be checked by one of the major university veterinary laboratories, including Cornell, Colorado State, Michigan State, Tufts, and Texas A&M.
An innovative titer testing is more readily available and affordable produced by Synbiotics Corporation, a San Diego-based manufacturer of diagnostic materials and instrumentation for the veterinary market.
TiterCHEKTM is the first in-office titer test licensed by the USDA for use in veterinary clinics. TiterCHEKTM tests titers for canine parvovirus and canine distemper virus. It registers the degree of strength of the immune response in varying color shades. When the test results denote a weak immune response level, blood samples can be sent to a veterinary laboratory for more comprehensive testing. Dr. Dodds estimates that more than 95 percent of in-office tests will indicate a satisfactory immune response present in a dog that has received its puppy vaccinations and one-year boosters thereby follow-up is rarely required. This service and titer tests costs from $40 to $100 for CDV and CPV titer testing from a laboratory, and slightly less for an in-office test, for which your veterinarian must purchase the TiterCHEKTM test kit.
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