Vaccicheck

Distemper, Adenovirus, Parvovirus (DAP) Titre Testing is Now Available In-House

We use vaccine, similar to people vaccines, to decrease the risk of serious infectious diseases that can cause harm to the population.  It has been proven that by vaccinating we can keep serious diseases like Distemper and Parvovirus under control.  There is still debate on how long the vaccines offer immunity to a pet. The current recommendation for vaccination against these three diseases is to vaccinate a puppy at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age, repeat at one year of age then every 3 years.  These recommendations have been found to maintain 95% of the dog population with immunity.

Each pet, like humans, is likely to respond to vaccination differently.  Some dogs are not able to produce an adequate immune response to vaccine; others may have protection from two years to seven years with the same vaccine protocol.

We now have the ability in clinic to run titre levels to see if a pet is protected for Distemper, Parvovirus and Adenovirus.  Previously we would have sent blood out to an external laboratory at a significant cost.  Vaccicheck was developed in Israel and has shown to give the same results as the laboratories here in North America.  Vaccicheck allows us to check antibody levels in the hospital and then the decision to vaccinate can be made when results become available, often the same day.

Dogs that should benefit from Vaccicheck include pets that have had previous vaccine reactions, breeders who prefer a minimal vaccine regime, debilitated and elderly pets, and running a titre on puppies after their series of vaccines to confirm that adequate immune levels have been reached.

Vaccination is still an important part of preventive health care; titre testing is another aid in individualizing the vaccine for the pets we see.  Please remember that the in house titre testing is not available for Leptospirosis, Kennel cough and Rabies.