All your titer questions answered!
Kona Thompson Answering your questions about titer testing, a safe alternative to annual vaccines. Vaccinations can be both helpful and harmful. It all depends on how they’re used. In young dogs and cats, vaccines help establish immunity from infectious disease. But repeated and unnecessary vaccines can be harmful if the immune system reacts to them inappropriately and makes the animal ill. Titer testing is a safe way to avoid over-vaccination while ensuring your companion remains protected from disease. This article will answer some common questions about vaccine titers. Q. WHAT EXACTLY ARE TITER TESTS? Vaccine titer tests are simple blood tests that measure your animal’s antibodies to certain diseases. In most practices, these diseases include distemper, parvo and hepatitis virus for dogs, and rhinotracheitis, calicivirus and panleukopenia virus for cats. The titer is a number derived from testing your animal’s blood for antibodies against these diseases. A positive titer means y...