Thanks! I was afraid that I would have to dodge bricks! :D

I hope that never happens. One of the things I like most about YT is that we can get an abundance of information from all sides. No brick throwing here! I totally enjoy your responses and the information that folks like WyliesMom presents! It is what makes us better, thoughtful, Yorkie parents:D

pstinard , it's great that you've done so much research!!

Would you mind if I asked what your preference is for the vaccinations of your dogs? If you'd rather not say, that's okay too.

So for those of you who like to follow an alternative way of vax for your dogs, can I ask what vax you did for your puppies the first year of life? thanks!

My personal preference is to follow the AAHA guidelines found here: https://www.aaha.org/public_document...guidelines.pdf . That is what our vet follows. We also vaccinate for the diseases that are endemic to our area. (I always ask the vet, "Are you SURE that she needs this vaccine?" and the vet will reply with local statistics.) We have been blessed that our Bella has not had any adverse reactions to vaccines. If the AAHA decides in the future that vaccines aren't needed as often, we will follow the new rules. The new research is promising, but we're not taking any chances with Bella. I believe that the risk of her catching a disease from not vaccinating is greater than the risk of adverse reactions, at least for Bella.

If Bella had a specific health issue with vaccines, or if she had adverse reactions, we would probably take a chance and do titers, even though they are somewhat unreliable, but since she's in good health, we don't need to.

Ann, I think you can save any PDF's into a personal Dropbox account (if you have one) and share the link to that file only (make only that link public), so as long as you're sharing the link with members here, they'll be able to see it.

Thanks!! Really appreciate your opinion. :)

Parking my story here
 

I must admit to a black hole of understanding as I wrap my mind around titers. One day I will try to beat that knowledge into my head! I think it is because I need to understand the *why* of it and I don't.

Now about the cost of titers: Rabies a non export rabies titer is $276 might be more now and this is in Toronto Canada. An export titer is $500 and the last time I checked it out I believe England only recognizes Univ of Guelph. Note you will need to check out the rules and regs if you want to go to Crufts and bring your pooch with you.

Pavro and Distemper approx $40 each.


USA entry points do NOT recognize titers and you must show a Valid Rabies Certificate. And in the last couple of years when I travelled they did check out the Rabies certificates.

I suppose as a traveller you could get around this by getting a Nexus approval.

There is no rhyme nor reason to the newish regs at the border or any justification made for them. Do you Americans have a rabies epidemic down there?:rolleyes:

Now there are dogs that for what ever reason the Rabies vaccine does not take My friend who owns a house in England wanted to take her dog with her - she did the Export titer and he did not pass. She had to leave him at home.

I don't think that there is a rabies epidemic among dogs that travelers are taking across the border, but you might want to have your border authorities ask for certificates from raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes, and coyotes that are crossing the border :D CDC - Wildlife Reservoirs for Rabies - Rabies

Titers, nutshell version:

- Titers measure humoral immunity ONLY (ie, antibodies in the blood)
- Titers do NOT measure cell-mediated immunity (cell-mediated immunity is what fights the disease, if it occurs)

Therefore, titers really tell you nothing about whether or not the body can actually fight the disease should it occur, since we only see humoral immunity.

In addition:

- You can have a positive titer and have NO cell-mediated immunity
- You can have a negative titer, but actually HAVE cell-mediated immunity

Therefore, a positive OR negative result really has very little meaning since we can't get a look at cell-mediated immunity.

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Did that make sense? I hope so...

Thanks a lot for sharing this! This is exactly what I need, my Fauna recently gave birth to four little yorkies. Thankies! :animal36:animal-pa