Titre Testing While Working In A Shelter

[Kobi'sDaisy]

Hey all,

So we have Kobi who is 2 in December. We were planning on titre testing next year instead of vaccinating. I have just started volunteering at the AWL and will be working with dogs and cats once a week.

From what I understand this test allows a snapshot of your dogs antibodies towards a particular disease (I think it is only a few at our vet rather than the 5 in total usually vaccinated against).

From what I have read it can be mostly accurate, but is in fact a snapshot at that particular moment which can differ at other times.

What I was really hoping to find out (obviously I will chat to my vet before the time comes) is will my dog be at a higher risk of contracting the disease/virus and will the shelter dogs be at risk at all due to the fact of titre vs vaccinating.

I don't want to be the cause of any unnecessary risk for any animal involved.

Thank you all for your help!!!

[Crisovar]

I work with rescues & pound animals, as well as the dogs belonging to my clients, I have also nursed Parvo cases. I have never had one of my animals contract anything from this. The other animals are not at risk from your dog.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I would say it depends on the way the disease is transmitted and also what hygiene practices you put in place. When I was volunteering with shelter animals I made a point of always changing having a shower and changing my clothes before interacting with my own animals. I was working on the theory better dafe than sorry even if it is only minimal risk (this was especially true for me when I was working with cats who had flu symptoms!).

[Staff'n'Toller]

I haven't vacc'd my dogs for kennel cough for about 8 years. I think *once* they had a mild cough for a couple of days but nothing before or since. I consider I take home some nice amounts of virus on my clothes on an occasional enough basis that sparks immunity. :D

I do, however, triennial C3 for the younger dog as we never see parvo or infectious hepatitis here.

I guess you could argue I am being contradictory, however I'd kick myself if my dog contracted parvo.

(Older dog is not vacc'd as she has multiple liver tumours.)

[Everythings Shiny]

I vaccinate yearly as we have a really bad parvo hotspot in this area (We've pretty much had parvo right up until a month ago and it's warming back up now). I thought about Titre testing but with 5 dogs if they come back with low levels it would cost me a fortune to vacc after titre testing. It's economically better for me to vaccinate from the get go.

I am germ conscious though, I trigene myself from head to toe before leaving for home. It's now a routine practice for most of us nurses.

[Jumabaar]

Vaccination is a stimulation of a dogs immune system using a man made substance. I don't vaccinate because I figure I am constantly naturally exposing my dogs to these pathogens so why pay to do what is already happening....

I do titre test and they have all come back nice and high- even the dogs that have only ever had their puppy vaccines indicating that they are getting exposure naturally. That may be from the amount of time they spend around other dogs as much as me working though.

I do however worry about puppies pre vaccination and am very careful to not take contaminated clothing in so that my home environment doesn't become contaminated. Its also important to remember there are plenty of bugs that there are no vaccines its great that you are aware of the need for biosecurity

ETA- yes it is a 'snapshot' but remember that the picture isn't going to change tomorrow. The immune system doesnt turn off unless something goes very very wrong so a good level of immunity isn't going to suddenly disappear.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Jumabaar

[WreckitWhippet]

I vaccinate yearly as we have a really bad parvo hotspot in this area (We've pretty much had parvo right up until a month ago and it's warming back up now). I thought about Titre testing but with 5 dogs if they come back with low levels it would cost me a fortune to vacc after titre testing. It's economically better for me to vaccinate from the get go.

I am germ conscious though, I trigene myself from head to toe before leaving for home. It's now a routine practice for most of us nurses.

That doesn't make any sense. Once you have vaccinated your dog and it has immunity, you cannot give it any more immunity by vaccinating it again every year.

Given that you supposedly live in a high parvo area, then your dogs would be exposed to it and therefore will have their immune systems challenged each time they come in contact with the virus.

[Kobi'sDaisy]

Thank you everyone, there is a lot of good information to think about. We really did want to titre test and hopefully avoid the vaccinations so hopefully if the vet as well as the shelter give the OK it should be good.

Thanks again

[Staff'n'Toller]

At a guess I would say if you tested now, then in 6 or 12 months their immunity will be higher, later- which ins a good thing to have measured field exposure.

Probably the biggest risk is you catching ringworm, if you're working with dumped/found kittens. :laugh:

[Daisys Mum]

I have previously volunteered at the AWL ..... We had to show them proof/ receipts that my dogs had been vaccinated before I could start. Don't know about titre testing though ... At the induction you would have had , did you ask them about it ? Things may have changed as its been 2 years since I was there :)

[Everythings Shiny]

I vaccinate yearly as we have a really bad parvo hotspot in this area (We've pretty much had parvo right up until a month ago and it's warming back up now). I thought about Titre testing but with 5 dogs if they come back with low levels it would cost me a fortune to vacc after titre testing. It's economically better for me to vaccinate from the get go.

I am germ conscious though, I trigene myself from head to toe before leaving for home. It's now a routine practice for most of us nurses.

That doesn't make any sense. Once you have vaccinated your dog and it has immunity, you cannot give it any more immunity by vaccinating it again every year.

Given that you supposedly live in a high parvo area, then your dogs would be exposed to it and therefore will have their immune systems challenged each time they come in contact with the virus.

My dogs don't leave my farm, hence in theory they shouldn't come in contact with the virus. We've had two dogs at work who have come back with low Titre's this year. I sat down with the dogs vet and we discussed the options. I have one dog that we are certain would titre low as she has issues (which I won't air over a public forum), and financially I can't afford titre testing then having to vacc if they do come back low. After seeing the histoy of the two dogs who came back with low titre's, I'm sticking to my guns and vaccinating as reccommended by their vet. The two dog's whose titres came back low were two very fit kelpies from different families, both had been vaccinated as per reccommendations.

There's no supposedly about my area being a high parvo area, I went to a conference this year about parvo and the first place the speaker mentioned as a hotspot was my area (And he was from interstate). Considering the fact we've had parvo almost all year, I think I get to call it a hotspot.

[Kobi'sDaisy]

Kiwigirl - They did ask for his most recent vaccination, which we decided to do his booster when he was 12 months so no problem there. I did ask about Titre but they did not know anything about it but did offer for my vet to write an outline/ some more information about it and they would hand it onto their internal vet who would then decide if it was an option.

Just wanted to be ready with as much information as possible!