Titers?

[MonicanHonda]

Titering is a great idea and I plan on asking my vet next time I'm in. But actually, a lot of vets are beginning to only give shots every three years... so you may not even have to titer unless you need proof of immunity for classes or boarding or such. Delta will receive her limited one year shots and then will not receive any other shot (except rabies) unless her immunity dips below. But it shouldn't considering that shots after given after puppy shots do not increase immunity really, yearly shots was just a way to get people in for their yearly check ups, which should still occur even if you aren't getting vaccines.

[wolfsoul]

I don't vaccinate at all; I use nosodes and then I titer when I need to (for whatever classes etc). I don't titer on a regular basis (in fact I haven't for years) because honestly titering isn't always accurate when you're wanting to know if your dog is immune to something. A dog generally needs to be exposed to a disease before it will even show up in a titer. This is why titers fluctuate so much; You can take in your dog one day, and the titer will show an immunity to parvo (because the dog has been recently exposed, therefore it's immune system has produced antibodies which show up in the blood). Next year you can go again and it will show no antibodies to parvo; This doesn't mean the dog isn't immune, it just means that it hasn't been recently exposed, so no antibodies are there.

So don't expect a titer to be the amazing answer to everything, because it won't be; I will occasionally enter agility etc classes that require vaccinations or a titer; But the instructors don't know what titering really is. They think it shows a dog is immune; It rarely does. Not many dogs are exposed to rabies or distemper, so antibodies likely won't show up unless the dog has been recently vaccinated.

The last time I titered, which would have been 3.5 years ago, it cost me $60; I believe the cost is still the same, if not less by now. Nosodes are very inexpensive and last so long; I'm still using the same ones from 3.5 years ago and I think they cost me $30 each (parvo, distemper, and rabies). I don't bother with them on my older dogs, just pups. Nosodes don't produce antibodies so nothing will show up on a titer (this is the reason conventional medicine won't accept nosodoes, even though they've been proven to work better than vaccinations -- I still only give nosodes to my daughter).
Parvo is around dogs all the time because it sheds through fecal matter after dogs have been recently vaccinated, so it's very likely that if anythign shows up on the titer, it will be parvo. Visa was not only vaccinated for parvo as a puppy, but she also HAD parvo (after her vaccination), and at 3.5 still titered 1 in 400,0000 for it; Solo titered 1 in 5 hundred something, can't remember -- he was obviously immune to it (he had never been vaccinated), he just built up an immunity over time while being protected by the nosodes.

[MonicanHonda]

Hmm, I've heard of the nosodes before but never looked much into them... Wolfsoul... I do a lot of classes with my dogs (basic/puppy/agility/rally) if I were to not vaccinate... how would I show immunity? Would I do the titer for the classes??? Because I would love to not vaccinate at all! And one of my friends who has been researching along with me is getting her dog from a natural rearer ibizan hound breeder and she will not be vaccinating her dog either... I've been meaning to ask her what she plans on doing also.