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Is your dog or cat well protected against infectious diseases?
Anyone who loves their pet will have their pet vaccinated against contagious and sometimes deadly diseases. What not everyone knows is that a vaccination does not always work and that your pet does not produce enough antibodies. As a result, your pet can still become seriously ill or worse. Puppies and kittens do not receive many antibodies during pregnancy, like humans. The first mother's milk, also called colostrum in animals, is therefore very important for puppies and kittens because it contains the antibodies that the mother also has. After the first 12 hours they can no longer absorb the antibodies, but the colostrum provides some protection for the first 20 weeks. The degree of protection partly depends on which antibodies the mother has given. Vaccinations administered during this period are usually, but not always successful. We still regularly see puppies that have been vaccinated but still get Parvo and that is a life-threatening disease.
For this reason, the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, an international committee of scientists, issued new guidelines in 2015 regarding the vaccinations of dogs and cats. She advises veterinarians to have a test carried out on your pet to see whether antibodies (antibodies) against certain diseases have been produced. We call this a titer determination.
We can also use this titer test to see whether it is necessary to vaccinate every year. Vaccinations can cause side effects and we can now also determine whether your pet still has enough antibodies and can skip a vaccination.
What is titering?
With a titer test, the vet takes a small amount of blood from your pet and with this blood he can do a test to see whether your pet is (still) protected against certain infectious diseases. With a negative result, a vaccination advice follows, with a positive result you know that your pet is protected and an unnecessary vaccination is prevented.
The results will be announced the same day.
We can test for Parvo in the dog; Distemper and Hepatis (adenovirus)
In the cat on the feline disease (panleukopenia)
The other vaccinations as well as the mandatory Rabies must still be given.