Interesting titer findings

[katenjim]

Hello,

I just wanted to pass on some interesting findings on a recent titer. I have my dog Rudy titered because he had severe seizures after rabies vaccine. – several times.

While there, at the vets request we decided to titer a few other things, heartworm, distemper, lyme, lepto, parvo, rabies.

His distemper & lepto immunities were a high level – despite not having these since he was a year old, he is now almost 12.

All other titers were adequate protection and no booster required. ( we’ve been following Dr. Jean Dodd's protocol since he was a pup)

Again, this made me re-think vaccines. Not against them, but the amount we put in our dogs over the years, may cause some dogs harm.

According to my vet, there is no study indicating vaccines need to be given every year, every 3 years etc. (except rabies by law according to states)

I’m not at all against vaccines, but more is not usually better.

I now have a Rabies health waver if needed.

My border collie started having grand mal seizures when he was 5 years old, usually 2 a month.

In stead of just putting him on epilepsy meds, I went to a holistic practitioner.

He found he had high level metals. Vaccine related? – probably, we don’t know for sure.

He’s been on supplements the last 5 1/2 years with NO seizures.

We go for a re-check every 4 months and supplements are adjusted to his body changes.

There’s many different ways to look at disease and healing.

Kate

My wonderful seizure free boy Rudy at 11 years.

 

[Debbie Meier]

the over vaccination deal worries me, thank you for sharing. Our vet has mentioned that he has seen the same results after pulling titers.

[Maja]

What are titers?

[gcv-border]

A titer is an immunological term. It is a quantitative method to determine the level of antibody in blood (i.e. the serum). One determines the titer level by serial blood dilutions, then testing these dilutions for the presence of antibody. For example, one could dilute the serum , by half for each dilution. You would then have 1:2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:16, etc. dilutions. Or one could use different dilutions. It all depends on the protocol that has previously been determined for a particular antibody.

 

I have also asked the vet to pull a blood sample for determining titers, rather than vaccinating. The results came back as "fine". "Fine" is not an answer. (I used to do immunological research.) When I asked what the titer was, the vet said it was greater than 1:5. I was gobsmacked. To me, a 1:5 titer is meaningless. In the tests I ran, a 1:5 titer could be background noise. I would prefer to see a higher titer level reported [actually, I would like to see the exact titer level reported], but the vet said that the lab doesn't take the dilutions out past 1:5.

[chene]

So, they take a sample of the blood and see how diluted it can get before antibodies are no longer registered? I'm struggling a bit to understand, sorry - I don't know most of the technical terms. I'm making the assumption mostly from your story.

[mtnfrank]

'large quantity of metal due to vaccines'

 

Very highly doubtful that it is due to vaccines. How did they measure the metal content? If there was too much metal, I would suspect drink-food or recipients for them way way way before vaccines!

[Liz P]

From a medical standpoint, titers don't actually tell you if an animal is immune or not to a disease. (Humoral vs cell mediated immunity.)

 

I have absolutely seen animals that had not been vaccinated in as little as 7 years who developed parvo, distemper, etc. Not all animals have "lifelong" immunity. Sometimes animals don't adequately respond to vaccines and sometimes they don't respond at all. One of my own dogs got very sick as a result of failure to respond to a vaccine (that was appropriately boostered for the initial series and kept up to date after that).

 

Do vaccines have enough heavy metals to trigger seizures? I highly doubt they contain enough to cause any toxicities like seizures. I would look for other environmental sources (water, toys, etc) before assuming it was the vaccines. Do note that I used the word trigger rather than cause. They are very different medically.

[katenjim]

Not here to start a “vaccine controversy” Just telling my story.

For others reading this that have concerns, there are other options for healing.

As I said in my post “I’m not against vaccines, just the amount given”, there is no study according to my vets that dictate how much – how often – it is guess work.

each of our pets are individuals, just like us, we all react differently to things.

I ended up in the hospital after taking the over the counter Aleve, others take it, no problem.

We all react differently, our dogs are no different.

My dog had severe grand mal seizures. - 3 times the day after vaccines. I’m over the moon happy he is seizure free for 5 years!

I just thought I’d share my “happy story” !

[B Point]

Beautiful dog..and he's seizure free...you've won. Touch wood!! And speaking of wood...as a long time builder....NICE DECK!!

[Tommy Coyote]

My vet isn't crazy about titer testing. They had a dog that tested immune for parvo and the next month came down with parvo. But we don't do shots every year.

 

I kind of take the middle road on vaccinations. I do the 3 year rabies and that is acceptable to the city so I can get the dogs their licenses w/o having to get a rabies every year.

 

I do the other shots about every 3 years. I don't want to take the risk of not vaccinating any more after puppy shots. Parvo and distemper are both serious problems in our area. I don't get lepto shots since my dogs are never out where lepto is a problem but I would if I was out on farms or out with the dogs at trials.

[Maja]

Thank you for the reply.

 

Thank you for sharing the story!

[simba]

I agree with you that vaccines are not necessary to be given every year, and can have side effects, but it's hugely unlikely they caused high levels of heavy metals.

 

Maybe check the water he was drinking, the food (maybe fish for example), or maybe something in the house? Or if he'd had some kind of a chelating agent that would make them look higher too.

 

I can see the point behind booster shots etc. It's usually cheaper than titer testing, there isn't a huge added risk, and the average dog owner is going to go with the easier option so you want to make 'giving the booster' the easier option (because the alternative for people here might be to do the titer, but the alternative for most of the people I know would be to give one shot and then sure they'll be fine).

 

Thoughts on some dogs needing fewer shots vs rethinking the vaccine schedule: I had to get a certain vaccine, 3 doses, myself and the group I was travelling with all went in for titers afterwards. I was protected after that amount, as were most. Others had to keep going back, and going back, and going back (one person ended up having had 6 shots or something, no ill effects aside from annoyance). So while I could have maybe gone in, had one shot, been protected and thought that the other two were unnecessary- taking our group as a whole there would have been other people left at risk given the same protocol. Similarly if we'd all gone in and got 6, that would have been waaay more than anyone but that one person needed.

 

The protocols are given as an average, to cover most people with the least amount of risk. The fact that the protocol wasn't perfect for the people who'd only 'needed' one, or for the person who ended up needing more shots, doesn't invalidate it since it did what it was supposed to and looked after most people.

[G. Festerling]

The best and most understandable writing on titers was actually on this very board for me. It is the last of the pinned threads on this section of the forum.