Does your pet need to be vaccinated yearly?

If your pet has been vaccinated in the past, adequate antibodies may be present in their system. “While there is evidence that some vaccines provide immunity beyond one year, revaccination of patients with sufficient immunity does not necessarily add to their disease protection and may increase the potential risk of post-vaccination adverse events.”- AVMA vaccination principles. “The patient receives no benefit and may be placed at serious risk when an unnecessary vaccine is given” says Dr. Ronald Schultz. “Few or no scientific studies have demonstrated a need for cats or dogs to be re-vaccinated.”

So how do you know if adequate antibodies are present in your pet to warrant skipping a round of vaccines? Distemper, Parvovirus, Adenovirus and Rabies vaccinations produce antibodies, measured in titers that can be detected through a simple blood test. An antibody titer is a measurement of how much antibody an organism has produced. Once a pet has a positive titer, he is considered protected for life.  This means he no longer requires more vaccinations (most of the core vaccines have been shown to protect dogs for 7 to 15 years).

Titer testing can be a bit pricy but two new products Biogal’s VacciCheck and Synbiotics’ TiterCHEK are changing that. At a cost of about $20 each they are more affordable than many vaccines. Both tests measure Parvovirus and Distemper and the Vaccicheck also measures Adenovirus. Titers traditionally have to be sent out to labs for analysis, but these two tests are performed on your pet in-house, greatly reducing costs.

Do your part in the fight against over-vaccination of your pet and inform your vet of these great new alternatives as they may not currently be aware of them.

Terie Hansen, Professional Dog Trainer, Pet Sitter & Owner at Good Dog! Coaching & Pet Care-may be reached at 404-422-9832 www.gooddogcoaching.com