Comments on Avoid These 7 Common Titer Testing Mistakes for Pet Health

My 6-lb Teacup poodle is 2 years old & I'm looking for a vet to reduce the rabies dosage for his size & can't find anybody in St. Louis, MO. I'd drive anywhere to find a vet that would give him a rabies vaccine for his size. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tracy Floeh
314.853.9653.
Tracy@paylifeforward (dot) com

My dog was a stray the first few months of his life and was found and taken to a shelter for 2 months and then fostered (by me) under a rescue organization until he was about 1 - aka he had all the puppy vaccines, etc. He is now about a year and a half (estimate) and I just had to get his rabies vaccine as it is required by law where I live. I did opt for the TF 3 year. The vet suggested he is due for DHPP as well. Should I get titer tests for these, skip altogether, get this annual one and then that's it moving forward? He had 4 rounds altogether of DHPP/DA2PP in his 1st year of life. Advice much appreciated! Thank you in advance!

I am so thankful for this website and for Dr. Falconer. I am at my wits end. Every year I have to take my cat in for blood work and because she’s aggressive and doesn’t like to be handled, they have to fully sedate her, give her the rabies vaccine and reverse the sedation. My cat suffers from a severe twitching condition and is on medication for life. I truly believe that her condition is due all the shots she had as a kitten in addition to what she was given a month later when she was spayed. Before she was spayed, she was a sweet, curious, loving kitten who liked being around people. When I went to pick her up after her spay, she was this wild beast - screeching hysterically. A week after she healed, she turned into a completely different cat. She was aggressive and started acting out. Then at 3 years old she developed a severe twitching condition. Now she is on medication for the rest of her life and because of this, the vet clinic makes me take her in every year for blood work. It’s now coming up to her annual visit in a few weeks. A few months ago I talked to the vet about not giving her the rabies vaccine and was told that her condition does not exempt her from getting it. She went on to say its law and she brought up Vicarious Liability. What hurt me the most is that she said to me that if my cat bites someone, she has to report it and my cat may be quarantined and put down!!!!! I am now terrified. They know I am against vaccinating and I even called their office a few days ago and told them to note my file that I don’t want my cat to be vaccinated for rabies and then later on in the day, I receive an email from the clinic saying I am due for my cat’s annual blood work and RABIES VACCINE! What can I do? If it weren’t for the fact that my cat needs the meds, I would not even take her to the vet’s every year but they have me in a corner and I can’t get away. I am so upset and cry myself to sleep. My sister’s poor sweet boy (dog) died 4 months ago from a very fast growing cancer which we suspect was from over vaccination. I feel powerless:(

There is a vet where I live that ran a video in the exam room while you waited. The video was about the parvo vax and how it should be given every 6 months. Needless to say I never went back to that guy.

I had my two Yorkies tittered for the first time in late June of this year. I did so because I wanted "proof on paper" that they were "immune" and since they are both "overdue" by a year for their rabies vacs (and increasing pressure by the vet to have them done), I opted to titer instead. My eldest (9 yrs old) boy's came back with an "above 0.5 IU/mL" which was deemed "good". My younger (8 yrs old) boy's came back as "below detection" at "less than 0.1 IU/mL" and "needing booster". The blood samples were sent to Kansas State. The ONLY difference in the two boys' vaccine history is that my younger boy received for his "1 year booster" the "3 year vaccine" instead. (I am well aware that they are the same vaccine, only labeled differently.) Thus, he has "technically" had one less rabies shot than his brother. They both were last vaccinated in 2014. Neither boy is healthy enough for me to risk any more vaccinations, my younger one is particularly unwell with declining health, extreme yeast problems (black skin disease) and ear infections. I'm of a notion that he is one of the one's that don't "register" immunity , no matter how many shots he gets.

Thanks for an informative article. I live in a rural area in Virginia. My vet does titer testing for me at my request. I am the only one in my area who has asked for this. What a shame! I have a Doberman who is almost 5. I have been titering every year but from your article I see I don't have to. This year Beau was due for a rabies vaccination. My vet did a titer and found he still had immunity. She filled out a form for the county so that he would not have to vaccinate. So far, so good, since I haven't heard anything from them. Every dog I have had before this one I have faithfully vaccinated as suggested by the vet. When I lost my last one to cancer and before I got another one, I did a lot of research. I always find valuable information from you and I follow you on Facebook. I always share your articles hoping that some of my friends will read them and take them to heart. Again, thanks from Beau and me!

I groom dogs and I'm required by the state to note vaccinations on the client cards. Now...I could be devious and put false information on the cards and groom the dog anyway but I'm not that kind of person. So, I discovered a loophole in my states grooming laws. Personally, I am NOT licensed by the state...only my facility. The state can't go into each private home and license their "facility". I have double checked this with my Dept of Agriculture and they agreed. So, I now do house call's for those people who do not want to vaccinate their dogs. Of course, I cannot advertise that's the reason why I'm doing house calls because I'd get a HUGE backlash from local vets. (they already hate me LOL!!!) There's a million reasons why a person would prefer house calls...such as the disabled...human and canine. And I do NOT charge exorbitant rates for this service! I won't take advantage of the people I serve in this community.

As for my own dogs...all vaccinations have STOPPED! I do give distemper/parvo as puppies because the rate of Parvo in this area is epidemic. I asked my local vet, "when was the last time you saw rabies in your clinic"? I was surprised by the answer! They've NEVER seen rabies in the clinic but HEARD of another vet that saw a feral cat about 7 years ago with it. OMG! Doesn't that put things into perspective?!! I asked the same question to a new vet straight out of school. He'd never seen rabies but HEARD there was a cow that had it while he was in school. The cow had to be euthanized. Hummmmmm....

So for me, I weigh out risks...risk of disease vs. vaccination.

Thank you for breaking this down! I'm bookmarking this article so I can share it with others. Excellent, life-saving, money-saving information!

Hi Doc! Thanks for doing such a service for the animals by educating the owners! So much has changed since the original date of the publication regarding availability and cost.

Dr. Robb of ProtectThePets.com does affordable titers, as well as RabiesAware.org and Hemopet (Dr. Dodds). All have the paperwork online, cost, and instructions on sending the sample yourself, rather than the ridiculous cost through your vet's contracted lab.

I'm sorry Darren above thinks titers are useless. It sounds like words out of a Dr. Whitecoat's mouth.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

Great article, if titers actually meant anything at all.

Showing titers for a disease, regardless of the level does not show immunity. To put it more clearly, titers do not equate to immunity. They are simply a measure of antibodies and those antibodies are simply an indication that the animal has been in contact to the virus previously. Having titers, high or low, does not mean your pet is immune in any way. There are far more mechanisms involved in immunity other than just titers. You can have titers, high or low, and still catch the virus/disease. You can research this yourself and you will see the proof.

The only benefit titer testing has, is to bypass the vaccination law to prevent over vaccinating.

By the way, for the record, vaccinating (which is not immunising) is the worst thing you can do to any living creature.

I am so with you Dr. Falconer. I have a male Doberman, who just turned 12 years old this month. He is doing great, you would never know he was that old. The only shots this dog has had is the puppy shots. Back in 2006 when he was still a pup, my gut feeling was no more shots. In return a very healthy, happy boy! Keep up the good work and getting the word out Dr. Falconer!!

Just in case you need more ammunition against vaccines: When I got my first job I decided to take my childhood cat to the vet and make sure I got him checked on and did anything the vet said was necessary to keep him in good health. The vet, hearing he only had his kitten vaccines recommended a series of vaccines. My cat was 10 years old. The vaccines were given a few weeks a part, she also ran every test available. I just trusted what she told me despite the fact that my cat had no problems or symptoms. A few months pass and my cat now has several lesions in his inner legs. Back to the vet and she says he has auto immune disorder. I was baffled. How did that happen? What caused it? She couldn't say, but suggested steroids and started a place in case it started happened again. I didn't trust her after that and I worked hard on a healthy diet for my cat. It seemed to help, but he truly never was the same, it seemed the health problems we're constant. #2, my pup was vaccinated very close together, I was not happy the vet took advantage of my husband not knowing or questioning what they were doing. He cost me 3 grand in testing to figure out what caused a siezure. Auto immune disorder again, high white blood cell count in the spinal fluid causing brain inflammation. We're going on 7 months now with treatments almost every month costing $330. Fortunately my nuerologist has been awesome and my pup is a champ. But this has been stressful and costly. I fortunately have pet insurance.

My Briard had cancer and my vet insisted on a rabies shot before she would do surgery even though the current shot was just a few days over the 3 year mark. We went around and around and finally she was able to convince the owner of the practice to waive the shot if I had a titer done. So, I did, at a cost of almost $300 and it took weeks to receive the results from the lab in Kansas. The ridiculous part of this was the surgery was done the next day after the titer was sent out without them knowing Bentley was covered! He lasted about 4 months after the surgery. And, oh, the cancer was on the site of the injection for rabies.

Our rescue has been with us almost a year & although he came with a lot of baggage, he's clear of everything now except still tests positive for Heartworms, although he's never acted sick. I'm beginning to wonder if he's one of the small percentage of dogs I read about who can always show antibodies once exposed. Because he's not quite two years old & we're the third (& final) home for our sweet boy, I know he's had at least one Rabies vaccine & most likely several considering how many times he's been in rescue before. The problem is because he had a 1-yr. vaccine a year ago, he's due for another & I don't want to give it to him, but I know if I don't, he won't be allowed the 3-yr. certificate if/when we do allow it. I know it's law-required in our state, but I'd like to hold off at least until he's clear of the Heartworms, however I can't find a Vet within driving distance who does Rabies Titer testing. How can I avoid risking yet another 1-year vaccine if I wait or find a Vet sympathetic to our situation? Thanks!

Hi. I breed Persian kittens and I always insist a titer test is done if I am bringing in a new kitten. This is to check if the kitten is carrying Coronavirus Antibodies. Ironically I am looking for a zero reading if possible, but will accept a reading up to 20.Anything higher than this ,I will not touch.
About 12 years ago I took in a "moggy" as a favour.I knew nothing about Coronavirus then. This kitten had Coronavirus which mutated into F.I.P. and my 5 Persians had to be put to sleep. I got a special licence from the Dept. of Agriculture to bring in vaccines from Germany, but to no avail. I then had to disinfect everything and keep my place free of all cats for 12 Months.
I don't think there is enough attention to this type of titer reading

My 11-yr old girl Corgi titer tested good for rabies. California law demands every 3 years. I got monthly fines, increasing, when I didn't have her vaccinated. Then Gov. Brown changed the vet laws and made vets responsible if the dog bites someone, so the vets got on my back. She is new with diabetes before the rabies shot, but rabies shots always make her very aggressive, I no longer have a good holistic vet who can make the shot ineffective. Makes me so angry! She got the rabies shot, and we are dealing with the aggressiveness. Not giving her any more!!

In my area, I was quoted about $150 to do titers for several of the vaccines, except rabies. For rabies I was told it would be $400. I don't know why the cost is so high in Southern Ontario, but I feel like it's just to discourage people from getting titers and to "just get the vaccine." My dog is 10 years old, raw fed, no chemicals used on him. His immune system is fantastic and he definitely doesn't act like an old dog. I'm not going to trade all that away and put vaccines in him year after year when I'm pretty certain, knowing what I know about immunity, that he is still protected.
Last time I was in to the vet (for a chiropractic adjustment for my dog) they begged me to get the lepto vaccine. Oh boy! That's the worst! No thanks!

Hi Doc-
Thank you so much for all the critical information that you share with your readers; I appreciate all of your advice. I have a great article on my website iin which I listed the states that allow medical exemptions and waivers for rabies vaccinations. I included a short description and a link to the actual statute for each state on the list.
http://essentiallydogs.com/medical-exemptions-rabies-vaccine
Thanks again
Janie Lerner

I have been told youve used my quote from another site....curious..what site? . I thought Id add she was diagnosed with encephalitis from being over-vaccinated......she goes for chemo every 7 weeks now to keep her immune suppressed and a small dose of prednisone. its been a very long hard road over the year.... if you want to use my quote..can you please link http://beautifuljosie.blogspot.ca/ so that people can see the real experience we went through from being over vaccinated?

I have a q about types of vaccinosis, and protocols to handle them. I have a 13 year old dog who received some vaccines until age 4. He has been titered and unvaccinated since, except for 2 rabies vaccines, which we stopped at age 8. He's been on raw food and anti-inflammatory supps for 9 years to help with arthritis. topical flea treatment was applied monthly for 6-9 months a year till this year. Three months ago a hard, fibrous lump appeared, under the skin, no lesion, fixed something, sitting between his scapula. This is where some vax were done, also his microchip is partially embedded, and also where the Revolution treatments were applied. The lump is growing up like a hump - now size of tennis ball. Fine needle aspiration revealed irregular cells no official cancer (not yet). Could this be a form of vaccinosis? It is very round and encapsulated, and integrative vets all agree not a good thing to remove or break open to biopsy for a number of reasons. What protocol is there to shrink a mass caused by vaccinosis or toxins? TY
(Yes, I know his program was not perfect, and will follow natural rearing in the future with any and all pets we may have :) )