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

Perfect timing! Just had my two 3-year old Westies titer test (VacciCheck). One Westie tested positive for parvo and distemper. The other Westie, parvo was positive but distemper was negative. I asked about the negative reading and they said it was just light blue instead of bright blue. Of course, they are advocating re-vaccinating for distemper. My gut tells me no, and now your article confirms it. This Westie also receives weekly allergy shots for his 20+ environmentally allergies. No sure if there's a corrolation between the allergy therapy and the negative titer.

Hi .I have 6 x collie/ poodle dogs aged 17.5 yrs, 12 years , 10 , 7, 3 and a pup of 11wks.
My eldest dogs Mum died of autoimmune hemolytic anemia when my dog was a year old. Because of this I researched feeding and vaccinations. He had already had his puppy shots and a booster but I vowed I'd never give an unnecessary booster again. I changed his food to raw and stopped vaccinating him and chose to titre test instead. At that time very few vets in the UK even knew you could , but I researched and took the info into my vets and got the titre done. He was fully protected.
I continued to read and learn and when my next pup came along I intended to just give both puppy shots. However he was poorly after his first shot with bad diarohea ,so I decided to get him titre tested to see if he needed his second jab. Despite him having the jab at 9 weeks he was fully immune so no second jab needed. I continued to titre test him yearly ,as I didn't realise or have the knowledge then on immunity. However each year for 4 years his levels rose !!! despite having had no boosters . He is an extremely puppy friendly dog and I am sure he self boostered ? Anyway in his 6th year his levels dipped to low again. My vet said he must be boostered , but I refused and took him to visit a friend with a recently vaccinated puppy. Out of interest I re titred him a few months later and hey presto high titres again.
From this I have done the same regime with all the successive dogs. One puppy jab and titre a few weeks later. All have been protected by one jab and all have remained so. Now I have the knowledge that if a dog has had a high measurable titre at least once in its life it is fully protected almost certainly for its life ,I no longer titre
that dog once a high titre has been proven.
My latest puppy will not have a shot till she is 14 weeks and I am not sure if I'll even have her titred as I am so sure she will be protected. I am also not giving her the Lepto jab as it's the most likely to cause a problem and only has such a short duration of immunity. All my dogs are fed a raw diet and have great health.
I continue to try and educate people and friends as to the dangers of over vaccination, but sadly it falls on deaf ears such a lot :-(

Hello, I have 2 Bearded Collies I bred, they are now 11 1/2 years old. When their first booster was due I had them titre tested, both came back low for parvo and the vet recommended booster of parvo and lepto. Within 3 months both started having digestive issues - one cannot have any fish products or cereals and the other no meat or cereals and both started reacting fearfully to certain noises. I put this firmly in the vaccinations court and they have not had any chemicals since but the vets in the UK won't recognise this and say that reactions to vaccines are rare! Now I have had a litter of 9 and their owners are having trouble with their vets and what I have recommended, what can I do?

Dr. Will,
Just remembered hearing of this "trick" to boost titers...never tried it as i never will vaccinate again, but does this work? i was told a week or so before you have you dog's titers done take him/her to vets offices, dog parks, pet stores, your friends freshly vaccinated dogs ect..idea being some of those dogs were more likely than not freshly vaccinated, and shedding the virus. Exposing your dog to those enviroments will trigger an immune response to those shed virus' and boost the titer results. Ture or hogwash?

Thank you Dr. Falconer for this valuable information. Just today before I opened your newsletter to read this, I made an appointment for annual blood work which includes titers. The last time I did titers was August 2013 for rabies and parvo/distemper. Having been told that the rabies titers was good for 3 years , but the parvo/distemper was only good for one year, I thought that I might need to do this since it is required for my dog to go to camp. However, had I not read this article, I would not have known anything about falling titers and not to panic if that were to show up, and how to confidently respond if vaccines were suggested.

Excellent article again Dr. Falconer! Love you! :) But I have to say, I don't even titer test and I don't vaccinate anymore(haven't in several years & my indoor cats only were vaccinated 1x ever!) I feed a the best raw diet on the market and has been for 21yrs now! Not Steve' raw food as it is not properly formulated. And advise people on how to make their own when they want help.
These vaccines are money makers for allopathic vets. Depending on where they are located & how small or large their practice is they make a 2,400% to 6,200% profit on all vaccines & meds(we haven't done the profit on surgeries still)
And remember titers can be incorrect too. Meaning false. Happens in humans too for blood work and then you'll have some allopathic vet there telling you that you need another vaccine. NOT!!!! If people were to raise their dogs & cats naturally, on great correctly formulated raw food diet mainly from herbivore/angulate animals because poultry, pork & fish are not the normal diet of carnivores(made up by the PFI & poultry factory farming industry). Yes, bad breedings can cause medical problems, but most diseases in our pets are caused from poor nutrition from feeding Commercial Processed foods, over vaccinations, monthly Heart Worm Poisons, flea tick & mosquito poisons of topical, oral pills & collars. Meds like steroids & pain killers cause damage to the immune system too.
Again, thanks for the info.

I would like to know if there is any research on circulating levels of antibodies in the bitch and the corresponding antibody levels in colostrum.

I do not vaccinate. I had a 7 year old unvaxed dog titred for rabies 2 years ago. He had a better than adequate titre! I wrote to Ron S. Told him this dog has never been exposed to bait as they don't drop bait in this area. He was surprised enough to ask me to do all my dogs which I decided not to because of the cost involved and I prefer to be under the radar if you know what I mean. I am very happy that he had such a good titer and am not concerned. it disturbs me however that the medical community puts so much emphasis on titers and not "memory cells" which REALLY are the important part of the picture. Sigh.

Great article, thank you so much for arming us with the knowledge we need to be the best advocates for our pets!
I have an 11 year old Westie and back in 2008, she would of been 4 at the time, I decided to run titres instead of vaccinating. I would say this was on of the best decisions I could of made, her rabies titre came in at 1:1700 (booster is required if below 1:5), adenovirus, parvo and distemper titres were also extremely high. I think my vet was quit shocked as she had never seen titres so high. I shudder to think what would of happened to my poor dog if I continued to vaccinate her. We have never run titres on her again nor do we plan to as I would never vaccinate this dog again - I am fortunate to have a vet who feels the same way.

When I had titer tests run this year for my year and a half old aussie she tested fine in everything except Lepto. My vet said she had no immunity. She has reactions to vaccinations, hence the titer testing. He wanted her to have just a lepto but I decide against it since it is usually the one that causes reactions. Do you think I did the right thing?

My dog Buddy was found as a stray and taken to a shelter. He was suffering from malnutrition, sarcoptic mange, hookworms, and IBD. Before they allowed me to adopt him, he was neutered and fully vaccinated, despite his health issues. It took almost 2 full years for me and my holistic vet to restore him to a state of good health, and he was never vaccinated again. He is now almost 6 years old. I recently had a titer test done, and his results indicated full immunity for distemper, parvo, etc. Except he did not do a rabies titer, because he said rabies titers are inaccurate and that rabies vaccines tend to wane after 6 years. Based on that, he wants to go ahead and vaccinate for rabies next year. I really would prefer not to do that. Is there an accurate titer for rabies?

Hallelujah! Finally someone that makes sense. Thank you!
Now do these same guidelines apply to titre testing for tick borne illnesses? My girl tested pretty high for Babesia (650) and were advised to give her those toxic shots. What is your thought on this?
T

The way I see it is why titer at all if any reading at all means there are antibodies present?

Thank you for this article. I'm importing a Spinone Italiano puppy from the UK. I am also a Spinone breeder. I've asked the breeder in the UK to not vaccinate my puppy, which they've agreed not to. The pup will be 10 weeks old when she arrives in the US (in 2 days). I've decided to not vaccinate until she is at least 12 weeks, and then only with single parvo and distemper vaccs. and will put off the rabies as long as possible. My question to you is: since she is coming from the UK where they do not vaccinate for rabies will she have the immunity from her mom?
I would like to wait to vaccinate until she is 16 weeks but am worried about early socialization and taking her around other dogs that are vaccinated (they can shed the vaccine, right?) Spinoni need early socialization or they can become very shy and never get over it and I don't want that to happen so I'm between a rock and a hard place.

My Bernese Mountain Dog is nearly 10 and we have been titering since she was one year old. They are still good. I really do it for my vet as I think she is learning something. And she can't say I'm a bad client because I don't vaccinate. She sees proof every year that it would be unnecessary and hopefully if she has an immune-compromised patient maybe she will rethink about re commending shots. I really don't think the older vets totally understand it . I am her only client t that titters.

This article couldn't have come in at a better time. Just took my 4 year old German Shepherd in for her yearly exam and my Vet tried to convince me to have titers done for Parvo, Distemper and Hep because my dog may have lost all the antibodies since the titer was done last year. Also she said the Distemper reading was a little low last year so she was very concerned my dog would be susceptible to this disease. I told her I saw no reason to do titers 2 years in a row and it doesn't matter that the distemper reading was low...any reading at all means they have antibodies.. She wasn't happy with my decision. I will print out this article and bring it to her next month when I have to bring my other dog in for his yearly exam.

We also no longer titer test our dogs. When we first started using the titer test process, results for one of our dogs revealed a "below protective level" distemper reading. The vet we were using then (approx. 16 years ago) recommended re-vaccinating with a single distemper vaccine. As we were new to this process, we authorized her to do this. When our dog was next titer tested for distemper, the reading remained low. The vet felt that this wasn't going to ever change and continuing to repeatedly vaccinate was not going to provide him with any additional protection (nor did we want to keep doing it) so we decided to discontinue the testing (and vaccinating) process. Big learning moment for us and, happily, the precious dogs who share our lives today reap the benefits of this knowledge!

Hi Dr. Will!
I just recently found your site, but i'm not new to Natural Rearing. I had 2 dogs which i never vaxed or used any flea/tick/hw poisons with. Then i got a Rat Terrier pup 15yrs ago that i bought from a PR breeder. He had been vaxed, dewormed whole nine yards. When he arrived, he was skin and bones and had a nasty case of diarrhea. I put him on the best kibble at the time, but he still had the runs and soon, projectile vomiting. I tried all sorts of foods..cheap, canned, super expensive (what i fed my other two dogs.) And did fecals weekly. Tried Albon for coccidia..he was dying. So i got on the net and found BARF. Couldn't possibly hurt, so i ordered 50lbs of meat, bone and veggie/fruit mush. In the meantime, that night i went and picked up a pack of bone in chicken thighs. Came home, gave my pup, Tyson, a thigh. He gobbled it down and i waited..15, 30, 45 minutes..no vomit! The next morning gave him another (plus my female RT, Hannah, and my Great Dane/Lab rescue who got like 5! ) A few hours later i took them out and Tyson pooped a perfect poop! Yes! I fed off the 50lbs of BARF mixes and everyone glowed with health. Tyson filled out and got his UKC conf champion title at 8 months! The judges raved about my dogs muscles, coat, teeth and health! One asked what kind of conditioning program i used to get them so solid, i told her ghey were crated all day and playdd ball for an hour every afternoon. Then asked what food i fed, it proudly said "a raw diet!" Luckily she had already given my girl BOB, cause the look of disgust on her face was almost audible!
I then raised Pixiebob cats, all rawfed and completely unvaxxed. My mentor used homeopathy and taught me all i know now. I still have my foundation queen who is 11 years old, and plays like a kitten. Only been to the vet once to be spayed at 7yo, after 4 litters of, 9, 7, 8, and, at 7 years old, 5 kittens! None vaxxed, all rawfed and several champions and regional winners.
However, with my current dog i did something stupid, still no idea what came over me. I found a good breeder (although PR), and got a beautiful Chesapeake pup. The day he came home he was done with pukrina puppy chow..and dove right into raw. He had got a parvo/distemper shot at 8 weeks and a kc intranasal. 4 days into his new home, he broke with a raging case of KC. I took him to the vet who told me it was KC and to just wait it out. He was fine in a week. Never had flea/tick/hw poison in/on him ever. He was to be my service dog, and was busy getting socialized daily, learning manners and obedience, was totally positively trained, was super happy, friendly, outgoing,confident, and a very smart pup. And then i did mistake #1...at 6 months, for no good reason, i had him violated with a rabies vax. Oh the hell i caused with that.
3 days later he was chewing on something he shouldn't and i went to trade him up for a treat.. he whale eyed, growled and bite me severely when i went to trade him. He nearly took my finger off. I had emergency surgery to put the ragged mess of my finger back together. I was now scared of my sweet puppy! He also became very aggressive around his food and began humping everything around. I had a training session later that week and she saw my hand bandaged and asked what happened..i was crying telling her "he bit me!" Shes also a cert behaviourist so first she asked if i wanted to keep him. I wanted to but i was terrified of him, but i put so much time into him i decided to try and work things out. First, full vet exam. I suggested a vaccine reaction to which dr. Whitecoat said "impossible, vaccines are very safe, its just his hormones. Neuter him and he'll be fine!" His bloodwork was fine so my trainer worked with me every week for 3 months (another cost to vaccination..expensive private sessions with a behaviourist!) At the end the aggression was better, but he was still humping everything and very resource reactive. I had planned to show him, but his work as a service dog was more important, so i made mistake #2... i decided to have him neutered. Since i'm disabled i got a free neuter voucher and scheduled the surgery for just past his 9 month birthday. The lady took his rabies certificate, copied it and put it in his chart. And i left my boy. That afternoon, i went to pick him up, and the lady handed me his rabies cert, and checkout papers, and said he'd be right up. I looked at the post op care and then for some reason looked at the rabies cert...it was dated THAT DAY! WTF!!! i demaned the supervisor and asked why was my puppy, who was JUST vaccinated for rabies 3 months prior REVACCINATED?!?! She said "oh, we just vaccinate everyone, just to be sure!" I screamed at her that he was being neutered BECAUSE of a rabies reaction! I grabbed my doped up pup and got home as fast as i could and called my cat breeding mentor and asked her for her homeopaths mentor's name and contacted her. She worked with me and Peyton for a year and he was finally 99.5% back to himself. I will never bother with titers because no matter what they say, i'm NEVER VACCINATING ANYTHING again! Luckily, the only residual (visual anyways) reminder of his reaction is an occassional lip curl if he gets a hold of something hes not to have (of, yeah he has pica, too, since the rabies vax) and i just have to say "you want a cookie? Drop it!" And he spits it out and runs to the freezer to await his chicken foot! Thank you for putting this info out for people to learn! I just wish i would have heeded my own advice!

I haven't vaccinated my dogs for 4 generations. I've bred Australian Shepherds for over 20 years, and back when I vaccinated puppies with 5-in-1 shots starting at 8 weeks, I regularly lost puppies to parvo. Since I quit vaccinating and started feeding raw, I had 1 litter with 2 puppies that got parvo (verified by test). They were sick for 3-4 days. We gave them home made pedialyte along with bovine colostrum, and they bounced right back. I give several articles to every potential owner after they fill out my questionnaire. I tell them if they absolutely must vaccinate, to wait until 14-16 weeks and then give ONE vaccine for parvo/distemper. Call the vet a week in advance to make sure they carry it. Then, if they're nervous or want proof the vaccine worked, have a titer test done 2 weeks later. I stress to them that their dog will be protected for life. I can't guarantee that every puppy family follows my advice, but if even half did (and I'm sure it's more than that), that means a lot more dogs leading healthy, long lives, and a lot more owners who will continue to use these methods with other dogs in the future, as well ad educating others.

Bravo Will!
Such an excellent article!!!