Titre Testing Victoria

[Ptolomy]

Can one of my Victorian Friends help me please.

I am after a vet around the Brunswick West area who does titre testing - and pushing the boundaries - does anybody know how much they charge for parvo and distemper?

I am spoilt living in the West and so close to VetPath

Many thanks

[cavNrott]

Can one of my Victorian Friends help me please.

I am after a vet around the Brunswick West area who does titre testing - and pushing the boundaries - does anybody know how much they charge for parvo and distemper?

I am spoilt living in the West and so close to VetPath

Many thanks

I had this discussion with my vet just 2 days ago. She will titre test for parvo/distemper for $170 per dog. I'm in Mt Waverley. I'm not sure if that's a reasonable price but it sure is better than the price the male partner in this practice gave me a year ago. He wanted $350 per dog!!

Don't know of anyone in the Brunswick area but it might give you an idea of pricing.

[Steph M]

I had a few quotes recently. I'll have a dig through my email and pop back.

[oakway]

They do have in house testing kits now. Ask your vet for this cost against the cost of sending away.

[trinabean]

I know that it's cheap because I'm in Perth (where Vetpath lab is located) but I pay about $60 to have a parvo/ distemper titre done.

The vet practice needs to have an account set up with Vetpath I think.

You could try contacting Vetpath directly and asking which vet practices in Victoria have an account with them? Then it's just a matter of checking on prices/locations of the vets they suggest.

Vetpath laboratory

[cavNrott]

They do have in house testing kits now. Ask your vet for this cost against the cost of sending away.

Our vet who gave me the quote of $170 called the company who sells in house testing kits and they told her they sell very few of the in house test kits. They said there was no great call for them. Instead they said the vet can send the specimen to them and they'll do the test.

The in house tests kits come in a set of 12 so the vets need 12 people who want their dogs titre tested. The vet said I'm about the only person who's asked about titres. She said people are happy to vaccinate at $80 a pop rather than pay for titre testing.

BTW for those of us who were asking about pronunciation. My vet pronounces it as tie-ter rather than tee-ter.

[Ptolomy]

Thanks for all the suggestions and prices. Today I rang around a few vets in Victoria, *cough* $400, *cough* $260 + $65 consult fee and finally one who were by far the most helpful and I didn't have to repeat three times to the receptionist what I wanted. They were $240, however I did have to spell out letter by letter the breed of the dog that I wanted tested. They send the blood locally to be tested, not to WA (which confused me a bit!)

I am yet to ring Geelong and I will wait a few days to see if anybody else can chime in with any other recommendations and prices.

Thanks for suggestion of ringing Vet Path direct to find clinics in Victoria who use them - good suggestion - I hadn't thought of that.

CavNrott - is Mt Waverley anywhere near Bruswick west?

[cavNrott]

Thanks for all the suggestions and prices. Today I rang around a few vets in Victoria, *cough* $400, *cough* $260 + $65 consult fee and finally one who were by far the most helpful and I didn't have to repeat three times to the receptionist what I wanted. They were $240, however I did have to spell out letter by letter the breed of the dog that I wanted tested. They send the blood locally to be tested, not to WA (which confused me a bit!)

I am yet to ring Geelong and I will wait a few days to see if anybody else can chime in with any other recommendations and prices.

Thanks for suggestion of ringing Vet Path direct to find clinics in Victoria who use them - good suggestion - I hadn't thought of that.

CavNrott - is Mt Waverley anywhere near Bruswick west?

Nope Brunswick west is in the Northern 'burbs'. Mt Waverley is a S.E.'burb'.

[Ptolomy]

Thanks for all the suggestions and prices. Today I rang around a few vets in Victoria, *cough* $400, *cough* $260 + $65 consult fee and finally one who were by far the most helpful and I didn't have to repeat three times to the receptionist what I wanted. They were $240, however I did have to spell out letter by letter the breed of the dog that I wanted tested. They send the blood locally to be tested, not to WA (which confused me a bit!)

I am yet to ring Geelong and I will wait a few days to see if anybody else can chime in with any other recommendations and prices.

Thanks for suggestion of ringing Vet Path direct to find clinics in Victoria who use them - good suggestion - I hadn't thought of that.

CavNrott - is Mt Waverley anywhere near Bruswick west?

Nope Brunswick west is in the Northern 'burbs'. Mt Waverley is a S.E.'burb'.

Bugger

[Sayreovi]

Victorian vets aren't really interested in doing titres unfortunately I found.

I used Paws to Heal in Geelong, and she sends them directly to Vetpath so only charges about $80-$90 per dog.

I never thought to ring Vetpath either and see who has an account with them in Victoria but even when a vet investigated signing up they still came back with a price of $250 plus per dog

It's only an hours drive to Geelong from Brunswick but it's a bit inconvenient so they may want something closer but will end up paying.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Sayreovi

[Ptolomy]

Funny you say that Sayreovi - from the reaction I got from the receptionists - who were all very very nice - I gathered it wasn't a frequent request.

I was saving ringing Geelong until I had exhausted all other options - I am a bit like a dog with a bone - I don't give up easily!

Edited March 26, 2014 by Ptolomy

[cavNrott]

Victorian vets aren't really interested in doing titres unfortunately I found.

I used Paws to Heal in Geelong, and she sends them directly to Vetpath so only charges about $80-$90 per dog.

I never thought to ring Vetpath either and see who has an account with them in Victoria but even when a vet investigated signing up they still came back with a price of $250 plus per dog

It's only an hours drive to Geelong from Brunswick but it's a bit inconvenient so they may want something closer but will end up paying.

I had the same experience with vets in Vic. My vet who now says she can do it for $170 said it's too much of a hassle for the practice to open an account with Vetpath. When I told her that there were vets in Vic charging only about $80 she didn't believe it and suggested I had misunderstood.

I'm also presuming that $170 fee would be for bloods taken in the course of a consult for other reasons. I'll bet if I went there just for a titre test there would be a consult fee on top of the $170.

[Sayreovi]

Victorian vets aren't really interested in doing titres unfortunately I found.

I used Paws to Heal in Geelong, and she sends them directly to Vetpath so only charges about $80-$90 per dog.

I never thought to ring Vetpath either and see who has an account with them in Victoria but even when a vet investigated signing up they still came back with a price of $250 plus per dog

It's only an hours drive to Geelong from Brunswick but it's a bit inconvenient so they may want something closer but will end up paying.

I had the same experience with vets in Vic. My vet who now says she can do it for $170 said it's too much of a hassle for the practice to open an account with Vetpath. When I told her that there were vets in Vic charging only about $80 she didn't believe it and suggested I had misunderstood.

I'm also presuming that $170 fee would be for bloods taken in the course of a consult for other reasons. I'll bet if I went there just for a titre test there would be a consult fee on top of the $170.

Yes, I had the same issues. Vets were wanting to charge hundreds per dog (I even had one come back at $500 per dog!) and a consult on top of the test fee as well even though the only reason I would be there would be getting blood drawn.

Luckily I don't need to go through it again for another year or two so hopefully more vets will be up and going with it, when I need to retest :)

[CrazyCresties]

Hemopet (Dr Jean Dodds) charge $52 for their titre testing, of course there are postage fees and vet fees for getting the serum as well. I used them recently as the VetPath results showed Louis had no parvo immunity. Not disputing the VetPath results at all, but also wanted Hemopet's advice after Louis's IMHA.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/255154-titre-testing/page__st__75

Start from post #90

[Ptolomy]

Thanks CC - have just finished reading the other thread. Glad you did send the blood to the US. I send blood there for thyroid testing, Vet Path spin it and we pick it up and send it off.

Being nosey - did a vet pull the blood, spin it and then give it to you to post? Can I ask about postage too please. This might actually be the most economical option.

I am due to send bloods away for TgAA testing in the next couple of months and a couple of my kids came back with 1:<5 parvo results - so I may send more blood and get another titre done at the same time.

I love it how the DOL family pool resources and we come up with lots of options to a problem.

Many thanks

[CrazyCresties]

Yup my vet pulled the blood and it spun down, Hemopet sent very clear instructions with regards to this and the packing. I can't remember the cost for that part, it got buried in all the other things I am paying them for :laugh: They organised the courier and that cost $120. I got the results so quickly, serum sent of on Tuesday and results on Friday!

Hope all the red kids and yourself are keeping well :)

[Staff'n'Toller]

Vets can spin it if they have a centrifuge in-house, not all clinics have them.

The clinic that said they send it locally probably don't realise where it goes, although it would tell them in their handbook!

Unless the Greencross lab is doing them??

[Ptolomy]

Vets can spin it if they have a centrifuge in-house, not all clinics have them.

The clinic that said they send it locally probably don't realise where it goes, although it would tell them in their handbook!

Unless the Greencross lab is doing them??

Is a vet likely to hand over a vial of blood to a client for them to send it overseas. I know my vet will, but unsure if this is "normal and acceptable practice" or not

and out of interest

if I want blood drawn - do a need a consult to do this - or can a vet nurse do it (no I don't want results interpreted or need to chat to anybody about it)

If it has to be done as part of a consult - are there added charges to draw the blood?

[ness]

Ptolomy having had to go through getting blood sent off to the US for the genetic research I found that yes most of the vet practices I called wanted to charge a consult fee. In the end as you know it was pulled at the specialist centre and I was charged a fee but it was nominal compared to a consult. I didn't have to organise shipping though as the researchers had already arranged that.

[cavNrott]

Vets can spin it if they have a centrifuge in-house, not all clinics have them.

The clinic that said they send it locally probably don't realise where it goes, although it would tell them in their handbook!

Unless the Greencross lab is doing them?

If my vet had a handbook, she didn't mention it. I gave her a print out of the info re the inhouse testing kits and she followed up by calling the company who provide these kits. I didn't keep a copy of the print out so don't recall who they are. If they are Greencross then she did say that they told her they would do the titre test. I'll wager they test with the kits they sell where we get only a positive or a negative result of immunity rather than the level of immunity. This is where she came up with the price of $170 for the test. I'm uncertain if this is in addition to the normal consult fee.

Further to this, I emailed Vetpath and they replied that they don't keep a data base of vets who use their services and that there are a few vets in Melbourne offering titre testing. They suggested I would need to call around to find one located nearby. Vetpath kindly attached a link to the WSAVA Vaccination guidelines with a suggestion that I 'pass the guidelines to my regular vet and spread the science'.

It seems it's not an easy thing to do to have our dogs titre tested if our vets are not aware of VetPath and don't use their services. As my vet said "they use a local pathology service and they're not interested in going through the hassle of opening an account with VetPath as the majority of pet owners are happy to vaccinate and are either not aware or not interested in titre testing as it's cheaper to vaccinate".

Are our vets so reluctant to accept change? Are they so disinterested that they don't bother to keep abreast of information on latest developments that are readily available to them?

If we as dog owners can inform ourselves of the value of titre testing what is wrong with our vets that they don't seem to be interested in the slightest? How can we trust them to do what is best for our dogs if they're so relucant to embark upon new research and new methods of ensuring immunity from these diseases?

Frustrated rant over. I seem to be banging my head against a wall even trying to find any information.