Big Paws Only Dog Forums
BPO Medical Forum => Treatment & Preventative Meds => : newflvr January 12, 2006, 04:36:05 PM
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I just got back from taking Cowboy to the vet for his physical to be re-certified for Therapy Dogs International. Because of his epilepsy, we try not to give him immunizations to minimize the chance of seizures so we titre him. I was FLOORED at the cost! I always thought titres were about the price of an immunization .....$30/each, was sort of what I was thinking. Oh no!! For 5 titres it was almost $600.00!! Does that seem over the top to you? Rabies alone was almost $200! and there's a chance it won't be accepted because the State of Calif. doesn't accept titres for rabies! AGHHHHH!
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Don't mean to sound stupid, but what's are titres? I've never heard of them before.
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Oh, sorry. It's a blood test to find out if a dog is still carrying immunity to whatever disease he was originally immunized against. For example, there's a parvo titre to see if your dog is still immune to parvo.
As the vet explained to me, most immunizations last in a dog's body anywhere from 2 years to 10 years, depending on the immunization and the individual dog. That's why it's not necessary to do annual immunizations (and can be deadly if the dog gets too many and his/her immune systems 'flips' and starts attacking healthy blood cells. I lost my female Newf a year and a half ago from that :'(). The results of a titre will give the percentage of protection against that disease. Last year, Cowboy was at about 75% if I remember correctly which is still considered protected.
The down side has always been that if you had to pay for the titre and pay for the immunization, it was double the cost. Obviously, now, though that's changed if in fact each titre is over $100!!
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It's expensive, but still less than any of the HUMAN blood tests I've had to have regularly since they removed my thyroid along with it's papillary carcinoma!
We all look at how expensive things are for our pets, but imagine how much more expensive it would be for YOU, and you won't feel so bad.
(Personally, I think it's proof of how it's the insurance companies who have driven and continue to drive up the cost of human health care. JMO....)
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Poor you and Cowboy! That is seriously a ridiculous amount of money to pay. :o Did he prove to be immune to all of the tests so that you didn't have to pay double or is that why the test was cost was expensive?
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MAN MARI! That DOES sound outta control!!!
I don't know for sure about what's normal, but my best friend titres all three of her dogs, and doesn't have the account of Bill Gates...and she's never mentioned THAT kind of expense before! YIKES!
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Did he prove to be immune to all of the tests so that you didn't have to pay double or is that why the test was cost was expensive
I won't know for a couple of days. The only good news is that we didn't have to pay for the fecals since he had all that stuff done in Dec. when he was so sick. If he does need immunizations, we'll have to spread them out so he only gets one every couple months or so....AHHHH. So maybe another year without being able to "go to work". Poor guy!! And he always looks so big and healthy!!
And yeah, Nicole....it is incredible. And his doc. doesn't charge me for her time since his stuff is always so expensive.
He'd lost almost 10 pounds since early December from going off pheno! He's down to 136. If only I was on pheno so I, too, could go off pheno and lose weight!!! ;D ;D ;D
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He'd lost almost 10 pounds since early December from going off pheno! He's down to 136. If only I was on pheno so I, too, could go off pheno and lose weight!!! ;D ;D ;D
And so say all of us ;D
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I knew that titres were more than the actual vaccine, but I didn't think they were that much more. I was told they usually run around $50 or so. Maybe that's changed?
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That sounds ridiculous, I know Moni titers, I'll ask her.
Moni says "D@MN!" I take that to mean that's over the top. :P Moni says that there should be cheaper ones if you can find someone to do them in house. Probably more luck with a holistic vet.
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Moni says that there should be cheaper ones if you can find someone to do them in house.
Of course! Why didn't I think of that before? The price goes WAY up for any work done if they have to send it to another facility for testing. It would be much cheaper if you can find someone that runs their own bloodwork.
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Yep! That makes sense...becaus e the ER sends all their labs out! Next year I'll try that!
Thanks guys! I knew I'd get an answer ( or at least sympathy!! ;) ) here!!!
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You might want to research and consider having nosodes done for your baby, rather than vaccines and titers. They are the homeopathic version to prevent the same diseases, without stressing out their immune systems so badly. A good place to find some info to get you started is http://www.beowulfmastiffs.com/ go down the menu on the left side to "Holistic Information"
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WoW!!! What a great source of information! Do you know if nosodes are accepted as equivalent for Therapy Dog Certification?
Since Cowboy is epileptic, we are VERY careful of what he eats, and the meds he gets. It may be that he just can't be immunized and so won't be able to go to TDI locations. If that's what has to happen, we'll just deal with it. TDI is fun, but maybe he can do therapy work with the people we know. He great therapy for me all the time, no matter what! ;D ;D
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Sorry- I don't know about the TDI requirements, no experience with that personally. Maybe you could email someone with experience who is involved and have them get you some answers. Good luck!
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BTW, your dogs are amazing looking! Do you use all the recommendation s (food and supplements) that were recommended on that web site???
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I have read and double read everything out there as well as having plenty personal experience of many litters of puppies. I would never, ever, trust my dog's health to nosodes having seen unvaccinated puppies die a horrible death through parvo. And many years ago, when it was the custom not to vaccinate and to let your dogs roam where they wanted, I've seen distemper hit my area and the dogs that didn't die or become very sick were the vaccinated ones. I'm sorry if I offend anybody who's a believer in homoeopathy, but until I see some hard evidence that it works any better than a placebo does, I'm not buying it. The only tests done in canine parvo showed the nosode protected dog's mortality rate was identical to the control group given nothing, but the vaccinated dogs had a significantly lower mortality rate.
Here's a link that just about puts it in perspective:
http://www.labbies.com/immun.htm#Nosodes
I have a friend who was a vet's receptionist and in the last outbreak of Parvo in our area a few years back, two show breeders lost a lot of dogs - one who used nosodes and one who didn't believe in vaccination.
Another friend has bred dogs for over 30 years and she's had one puppy in all that time react to it's initial vaccines. She does the initial course and then the first booster at a year old and that's it - her dogs regularly leave her property to go to shows etc... She used to run a boarding kennel so had people and dogs coming and going constantly. At the time of the aforementioned outbreak, she had one dog boarding who was fully vaccinated (at a notoriously bad vet) who got sick the day after he came in and despite him being rushed to the vet, died of parvo. Her own dogs, including a litter of newborn pekingese puppies, were fine. Nothing is 100% effective or safe and I'm not saying that the current situation re vaccinations is perfect either.
This same friend lost two litters to parvo some years before that due to fostering a pregnant bitch who was a silent carrier. Turns out she hadn't been vaccinated ever in her life. The puppies were all fine when with their mothers, but once they were fully weaned, they got sick and died, I suspect due their dam's antibodies no longer protecting them. The infected bitches puppies died in exactly the same manner. Obviously, mommy had got sick and recovered, so was now well herself, but was still highly infectious to other dogs.
All any of us can do though, is read both sides of the argument and decide what we think is the best for our dogs. The disconcerting thing I found when looking on the internet, is the extreme one sidedness of the information available, but hey, that's a human nature issue and a whole different ball game altogether!
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quote: newflvr "BTW, your dogs are amazing looking! Do you use all the recommendation s (food and supplements) that were recommended on that web site???"
Absolutely! Both of my girls came from that particular breeder, as well. If you have questions or concerns on any of the info, email the owner- she is full of info and very helpful.