Can anyone who has had the titre testing done (in place of boosters) tell me how much it cost ? My vet didn't know and said he would find out, but he came up with a huge questimate :D

Thanks

Daisy

University of Glasgow price list :)

http://www.gla.ac.uk/companion/Pricelist.pdf

Kath.

Kath

Thanks very much - most interesting :D :D

Daisy

I'm planning to have my dog titre tested as well, next month, so have had a look at the price list!  Looks okay, but I expect the vet can add on top of that whatever he wants - consultation fee, taking the blood sample - so with my vet I would expect it to add on an extra £30 or so.
  Hilda

Well I had my dog done and now I can't possibly see what good it did.  Titre testing will only test for circulating disease antibodies for Parvo and Distemper.  They cannot test for Lepto because the virus does not ilicit titres.  My bitch came back as low Parvo and borderline Distemper, so you would think she needed a booster, oh no!  I was told by the university that its the "memory cells" that trigger the immune response to disease not the circulating antibodies, and guess what?  they can't measure memory cells!  So what that means is the fact my dog had low antibodies only meant that she was not recently exposed to the diseases she had been vaccinated against, NOT that she had no immunity to them, because should she be exposed, then the memory cells would trigger the response to fight the disease.

Whats the point?
Dawn.

Hi Dawn - yes I'd heard something similar.  You've explained it really well.
I was thinking of having my dogs titred but I now don't think I'll bother.

No probs Joyce. :D
Dawn.

No, that's right, they're not really a reliable measure of immunity, although I believe some insurance co's and kennels etc. are starting to accept them instead of boostering.

http://www.caberfeidh.com/Titers.htm

Kath.

My kennels have said that they will accept them - so have to decide whether to do the testing or have the boosters - I can't just do nothing as I need to use the kennels sometimes :) Will have to wait to have another chat with my vet - he was saying something along the lines of the tests not being very useful, but I didn't know whether this was just to cover his interests ;) :)

Daisy

The kennel might Daisy, but ask them if the insurance company they use will, otherwise you could face a HUGE vet bill if anything goes wrong.  We would accept them and the 3yr booster, but Petplan won't, not on a commercial policy like a boarding kennels.
Dawn.

Good point, Dawn :) I haven't decided yet which way to go :) Are you saying that Petplan don't accept the 3 year booster ? My vet's offer this - which would be the alternative to having the titre testing.

Daisy

I contacted Petplan and they said the same for titre testing and the 3yr booster.  Should anything go wrong with the dog, we would have to PROVE immunity before they would pay out.  Now thats impossible, especially if a dog is sick because it will have a depleted immune system as well as anything else!
Dawn.