Vaccines

[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by periwinkle

When you get your dog titered, is it a blood test? Does one test show how much immunity is in their system for all the immunizations they've ever received? Do all vets do it?

All vets have the capibility to do it, but not all will.
Some won't give up the annual vaccine schedule and some don't think titers are worth it.

Yes, it shows how much humoral immunity (amount of antibodies) in the dog's blood. It does not show cellular immunity. So a low titer does not always mean the dog is unprotected.

We used to do titers on Ellie (most common are parvo and distemper), but it obviously wasn't showing the whole picture in our case and we have since stopped. We will likely stop all vaccines except rabies for life at this point.

[Nico29]

Originally Posted by dwerten

they have separate shots for parvo and distemper and should be given separately but some vets do not carry individuals

Thank you! Do we have to give MLV, distemper and parvo at this age (1 1/2 ) or should we request a titer? Should the Bordatella, distemper and parvo shots be given a week apart? Or more? Also,what is the MLV and can that be given separately? Oh my gosh...I hate to ask so many questions but we are going to vet tomorrow and I don't want to go without knowing what is appropriate to do. I really appreciate your help.