Take the Titer Test before Administering Vaccinations

Testing a dog’s serum antibody titers can prevent overvaccinating.

Now more than ever, vaccine titer tests are readily available, not terribly expensive, and offer multiple advantages over the practices (intentional or not) of over-vaccination and under-vaccination. Few issues in veterinary medicine are as controversial as the debate about administering annual vaccinations to our dogs. Long considered part of the standard of baseline, responsible veterinary healthcare, and credited with conquering some of the fiercest canine viral and other infectious diseases, vaccinations now are also suspected of creating vulnerability to illnesses and chronic conditions such as anemia, arthritis, seizures, allergies, gastrointestinal and thyroid disorders, and cancer.