Rabies Titer Test Results…
I get questions regarding TITER TESTING fairly often, so I wanted to share my nearly 16 year old indoor only cat’s recent Titer test results for Rabies. Toby is VERY much protected from rabies! I have been titer testing Toby for Rabies in place of vaccinating for the past several years due to Toby’s advanced age and compromised health. I have retyped the results from the HEMOPET Rabies Titer Test below as the scanned image is a bit hard to read. FYI…Titer tests can be conducted for many viral and/or bacterial diseases (i.e. Parvo, Distemper, Lyme, etc.). The cost of titer testing is a bit higher when compared to just vaccinating, but titer testing is much safer, will prevent unnecessary vaccinations and possible adverse side effects… Your beloved pet’s good health is surely worth a few extra dollars !
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TEST RESULTS:
2.70 IU/ml
Rabies Virus Neutralizing Antibody (RVNA) Concentration: VERY GOOD LEVEL
Although there is no established protective rabies titer for dogs or cats, the CDC considers 1:5 (or 0.1 IU/ml) to be adequate in people. Some countries use titers to qualify animals for reduced periods of quarantine. Refer to state guidelines for rabies vaccination requirements in animals.
TEST PERFORMED AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Note: reporting unit now in International Unit per millileter (IU/ml)
Vaccine Titer Serology:
- Serologic/vaccine level for Rabies Virus show very good level of humoral immunity indicating that this dog/cat should respond with a boosted anamnestic response to afford protection against the agent upon exposure.
- Recheck serologic/vaccine level annually, or as required by law.
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Comments on Toby’s Titer Test results from two experts in the fields of Immunology and Hematology respectively, Dr. Ronald Schultz and Dr. Jean Dodds:
Dr. Ronald Schultz’ comments: ”Your cat’s titer is very protective!”
Dr. Jean Dodds’ comments: ”As a rabies titer of 0.1 U/mL or higher is equivalent to the CDC’s accepted level to protect a person, Toby is still very well protected.” AND… “If Toby were ever exposed to live rabies virus (God forbid) he would mount an even higher (anamnestic) response which would be even more protective.”
Smudge (left) Toby (right) is our Kitty Elder Statesman!
NOTE: I prefer to have my pet’s blood work sent out to HEMOPET (Dr. Jean Dodds): Phone: 714-891-2022 | Fax: 714-891-2123 | hemopet@hotmail.com | 11561 Salinaz Avenue, Garden Grove, CA 92843. My conventional and holistic veterinarians have been accommodating my request to draw blood, package the blood sample and fill out the HEMOPET test request form so I can send it for testing, via UPS, to HEMOPET in California. Amazingly, it doesn’t cost any more to send blood samples for testing to Dr. Dodds lab even with the added shipping cost. Just an extra step to stop at the nearest UPS store… well worth it to have Dr. Dodds lab run the blood work. :-)
Nutriscan may work for many dogs, but not all of them.
We have not been able to treat an itchy dog and wanting to stop steroids for the itch did the saliva test thinking it would help. Trying to get answers as to why the test were negative when are sure some of the foods are the cause was terrible.
The web site doesn’t say you need to be feeding your dog for 4 months or more for it to have a reaction. If you have been doing an elimination trial and the dog hasn’t had it for a week the test is negative.
We are no better off than before we sent the kit away. Waste of money for us.
Hi Kelly- I was just reading some of your comments. I do believe there is some mis-information in some of them, such as sending bloodwork to Hemopet. Dr. Dodds’ lab does not perform the titers- Kansas State does. They are the only lab in the US that can do the titers. Dr. Dodds has nothing to do with it. She is probably charging you for her interpretation, of which Kansas State has already provided. I have found several articles and some inside info about some of her “products” that are not so factual. Her food allergy saliva test did not pass muster, for one. I think your regular vet considers it a bit of a slap in the face that you are circumventing them for these types of tests when in all reality, there is no reason why they cannot do it themselves.
I realize that you are not privy to a lot of the inside medical information that we veterinarians have at our disposal , and that is why I encourage you to keep an open mind about vet medicine, as the game is changing very quickly, and what I am finding is that sometimes the old ways are good, sometimes the new ways are good. As for vaccines, I think it depends on what brand vaccines are used and HOW they are given. I know that you just hosted a vaccine seminar. I hope that the take -home message was not anti-vaccine, but I fear that the folks that attended may have already been biased against vaccines and were looking for a reason to continue that bias. Many people that come to our clinic state that they don’t want ANY vaccines, and that is not really what Dr. Schultz is getting at. I saw that your dog developed Lyme disease. Was he vaccinated prior? Would you now tell your friends to vaccinate their dogs for Lyme disease? We are seeing more and more Lyme disease (due to better recognition and testing), yet when I recommend vaccines for this, people shake their head and state that vaccines are poison. I bet your own dog would have rather been vaccinated than to have gone through all that in the first place.
I also saw your article about a mutual pet friend of ours, Race Giambra. In it you had stated that it is better to wait on surgery and do holistic remedies for cervical disc problems. THIS IS FALSE. The faster a dog can have his spinal cord decompressed surgically, the less damage done and the higher chance of return to function. The client made a bad decision to wait on the surgery. Regardless of whether the lesion was a cyst or a disc, surgery was still warranted and the owner made the decision AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE to wait on surgery. Your article does not reflect these negative owner decisions, just seems to bad- mouth the veterinarians involved without an alternate opinion. I’m sorry if I am ranting, but it seems that anyone can bad mouth anyone on the internet, and there are no repercussions, and there is no other opinion stated. Most cases of folks blaming the vet, or the doctor, or somebody else end up as mis-informed or owners making bad decisions themselves.
There is more MIS information on the internet than there is factual information. I recommend that owners seek medical advice from doctors rather than non-medical personnel. Yes, we are not perfect, but there are NO vets out there that are purposely mis-informing people. We are not wealthy, we make no money trying to keep pets healthy with vaccines (just the opposite, we make more money from sick pets) , and there are no conspiracy theories out there that we subscribe to. Medicine is changing on a daily basis, and we are trying to keep up with the newest information out there.
I hope you don’t take this negatively, but I do cringe when I see people write incorrect vet advice on their websites….
Thanks for listening. If you have questions, please feel free to call me for further discussion.
Mary Lee Fornes
Hello Dr. Fornes… Thank you for your time and I do appreciate ALL comments as that is really the motivation for my blog… an open exchange of information. As you’ve made many comments on several different points, to be fair, I would like to provide my feedback on each point as well.
Regarding where I have elected to send my titer and thyroid blood work it is, indeed, to Hemopet (Dr. Jean Dodds). As you can see very clearly and it capital letters, TEST PERFORMED AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY is listed on the rabies titer test results, so I’m confused as to how I am being misleading. However, to clarify, I have decided to send my pet’s blood to Dr. Jean Dodds (titers and thyroid) for several reasons: (1) I like to support Dr. Dodds as she established Hemopet, as the first nonprofit national blood bank program for animals. (2) She also donates much time to the Rabies Challenge Study, along with Dr. Ronald Schultz, and (3) Hemopet does do all of the other titers in house and I believe they offer the rabies titer as a convenience as many people have requested it.
And, I must add that Dr. Dodd’s has vast experience in the field of veterinary hematology and specializes in thyroid disease…just review her bio which speaks for itself. I prefer to use a veterinary researcher who specializes in the areas of blood and thyroid disease for all of my blood titer submissions. Here’s my question to you… if you required surgery on your brain, would you rather have a neurosurgeon perform your surgery or a general practitioner? And, who would you rather have providing opinions and recommendations?
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In response to your comments pertaining to Dr. Dodd’s Nuristan Salivary testing… here is some relevant information to consider:
NUTRISCAN UPDATE by W Jean Dodd’s, DVM (January, 2012):
Our test is novel and patented and is not testing for food allergies, but rather tests for food sensitivities and intolerance. These are different body immune responses. Food allergy is a more immediate reaction mediated by production of I.e. and Iggy antibodies. Food sensitivity and intolerance, by contrast, measures a more delayed body response to offending foods by measuring production of IgA and Gimp antibodies primarily in mucosal secretions from the bowel.
Since starting the Nuristan clinical testing in May 2011, I have personally compiled and analyzed 566 sequential canine case samples plus 29 other canine controls in preparation for formal refereed publication. This analysis compared results from 208 healthy control dogs, 289 suspected food intolerant dogs and 98 proven food intolerant dogs and unequivocally showed a progressive increase in the reactivities measured in each group, respectively. Statistically significant differences were found, as would be expected based on the clinical classification of these three case cohorts. These data clearly affirmed the validation of our results and the clinical utility of the test.
As with any new testing, there will be skeptics. This is especially when the existing serum-based food “allergy” testing is well-recognized to be fraught with errors both in the test systems used and their clinical applicability to human (or animal) patients.
Review of a Blinded Trial on Samples from a DVM, Dipl. ACVD practitioner
In a First Trial, 11samples were saliva; one was tap water. Seven dogs had proven food reactivities; one was a suspected case, and the remaining 3 were healthy. Six of these cases were subsequently retested. In a Second Trial of the 20 samples, two cases had invalid results with Wheat [IgA only] and Soy [IgA and IgM], respectively, as the CVs were above 15%. In a Third Trial, 16 of the 23 samples had insufficient saliva to complete the testing and had to be diluted with saline. Two samples were later disclosed to be from humans with no known food allergies. Three other samples were tap water, distilled water, and a dry dental cotton rope.
Findings:
Samples with acceptable CVs 26 of the 43 samples in the second and third trials had acceptable CVs of < 15%. Of these, 16 cases had no significant food reactivities for any of the 6 foods tested, 3 had reactivities to Soy (one case), Corn (one case) and Beef + Milk (one case), and of the remaining cases, 5 had to be diluted with saline, one was a human sample, and one was distilled water.
Samples with unacceptable CVs 12 of these samples had to be diluted with saline which compromised the buffering capacity of the samples and created reproducibility errors in the mobility of the specimens during electrophoretic analysis by ELISA.
Conclusions:
Results indicated that the majority of these specimens were unacceptable as they included insufficient volume, non-bodily fluids, and non-canine saliva specimens. Invalid results were caused by alteration of pH of ELISA immunoassay plate by submission of non-body fluid samples, which caused unacceptable coefficients of variation (CV) on ODs of replicate sample wells. As many of these samples had insufficient saliva volume to assay, they had to be diluted with saline, which further compromised the buffering capacity of the saliva samples, and the accuracy of the OD assay readings.
Note: We have completed 3800 Nutriscan tests worldwide since the fall of 2011, when we had completed the initial clinical trials. We hope to start cat Nutriscan testing this summer (2013).
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On the “slap in the face” comment…NO, my veterinarians should not feel slighted in any way, shape or form for my decision to send some of my pet’s blood titers to my preferred lab. I have been working very well with my veterinarians for over 11 years and let me assure you that it is not uncommon for me to spend several thousands of dollars (no exaggeration) annually for all of my (five cats) and one dog. And, I am a firm believer in annual vet visits that include CBC’s, stool testing, heartworm test, and urinalysis all done through their office. A position I do advocate all the time. And, by the way, I am charged for the blood draw and packaging, so there is still money to be made there. We may not always agree 100%, but my veterinarians will work with me and we have open communication…this is the way it should be with any doctor/patient relationship. As, the late, dearly missed and highly respected veterinarian, Dr. Sue Leitzen used to tell me, ”Kelly you will not offend me by asking questions or disagreeing with me… ultimately, you are your pet’s only advocate and must make the final decisions for their care!”
On the topic of vaccines… If you read any of my other posts presented on my blog, addressing my vaccination practices, you would have seen, repeatedly, that I DO BELIEVE IN VACCINATING. However, I draw the line on unnecessary re-vaccinating, hence why I titer test to see if it is necessary first. Any questions I have on this topic, I will confer with the immunology expert, Dr. Ron Schultz.
I was very disappointed that only two veterinarians (one was our event sponsor), and not one of the 40+ veterinarians (clinics) that I spent hours sending email invitations to and dropping off posters over the past two months attended our recent seminar featuring world renowned Veterinary Immunologist, Dr. Ronald Schultz. Schultz has his PhD in Immunology and Veterinary Pathology and established the first Veterinary Clinical Immunology Laboratory in the US while on the faculty at Cornell. And, he has over 40 years of experience in this field. That is why I choose to follow Dr. Schultz’ recommendations… I really liked an analogy Dr. Schultz presented, “Vaccines are like water, you need them to survive, but too much of anything is not a good.” This was the second lecture I attended by Dr. Schultz and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is seeking a scientific based and unbiased presentation on everything vaccines and DOI.
On Lyme Disease… After my dog experienced a pretty severe reaction to Advantix many years ago and having known four different people (NJ, PA, CT) who used chemical preventatives and the Lyme vaccine and their dogs still contracted Lyme Disease… NO, I would not change how I proceeded. Many people and animals are exposed to the ticks carrying the Lyme, but many don’t get the disease. I am extremely careful on where we hike and refer to the tick concentration maps often. It’s knowing what symptoms to look for and when to treat with Doxycycline… In my particular case, even though I felt strongly that Gus had Lyme and asked that he be given the antibiotic (he had presented many symptoms for several months and had an engorged Lyme carrying tick identified), my vet at the time would not treat with Doxycycline as the Lyme test came up negative several times… which is very common! In my opinion, early detection and treatment are critical based on real personal experience with my dog. I would consider using a chemical spot on product if I were to go into a high tick concentration area. I’m still torn on how to proceed with other bacterial disease vaccines honestly…
Regarding Race, there were several factors that went into how this dog was treated. My understanding was that the diagnostic interpretations may not have been entirely accurate initially, hence why the owner decided to utilize less invasive therapies to improve the condition in the beginning. This reinforces the importance of getting a second opinion which the owner did. And, I don’t necessarily agree that every dog must have surgery immediately without trying less invasive therapies. I have some personal experience here in that I had two herniated cervical discs and one was pressing on my spinal cord and causing serious pain, numbness and loss of function in my left arm/hand and debilitating headaches. I did try several different alternative therapies for many months before having ACDF surgery in 2012. It is a huge decision to have a neurosurgeon working near your brain and/or on your spinal cord and it should not be taken lightly. Everything comes with risks and there are no guarantees with regard to outcomes after surgery. I know a plethora of people with similar spinal injuries that had very positive outcomes without surgical intervention. I would have proceeded the same way the dog’s owner did in this situation. I have known over a dozen dogs that had similar symptoms to Race and incredible improvements were achieved after receiving chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture and not surgery.
In my nearly 13 years owning The Animal Kingdom retail store, I came into contact with thousands of people with many different accounts of very positive and very negative experiences with conventional and holistic approaches. And, the same goes for veterinarians… I am a very reasonable person and know that there are always two sides to every story. I am very careful not to disparage anyone. Further, I work hard to maintain a reputation as a rational level headed person who does not force my opinions, rather encourages people to conduct their own research using credible resources.
And, to be clear, (please refer to the first paragraph on the Home Page) I have a lengthy disclaimer that “Any information or opinions presented on this website are not intended to replace a relationship with a veterinarian and are given only to provide information to the reader. Further, the information presented in this website is not intended as medical advice, rather it is to share information based on the experience and research of Kelly Bebak and other well-versed pet professionals. Kelly Bebak encourages you to formulate your own opinions and sound decisions for your pets based on your own research and with the assistance of your veterinarian(s) and other qualified and experienced pet health care providers.”
Please check out the Our Story Page and you will see that I am a huge proponent of using both, conventional and holistic, medicine and like to determine which approach is best in each individual situation whether that be using antibiotics, herbs, steroids, medications, acupuncture, etc. There always needs to be a balance and both approaches have their place.
Thank you for listening and for sharing your opinions. I am very pleased to see that we have more veterinarians participating and open dialogue is strongly encouraged here.
Mary Lee Forne said :I realize that you are not privy to a lot of the inside medical information that we veterinarians have at our disposal :
And why is that? Do ‘vets’ not think the general public can handle actual scientific information? Or do you think we do not know how to properly research a topic we (being the general public) have interest in.
I know many vets who are woefully misinformed on a whole host of topics, so I would NEVER suggest a person blindly follow any one veterinarian’s advice, not should they follow any one blogger. I am a huge advocate for reading the information out there and making your own informed choice.
I concur! It’s up to all of us pet owners to stay informed and make sound decisions for our pets. I do not have a DVM degree and don’t ever pretend to, but I am a reasonably intelligent person who can read and disseminate information. I also know when to seek out advice from the experts when I need to and trust me I do!
I believe that there is much distrust of vets because of the continued unnecessary vaccines recommended. When concerned pet guardians have an animal die or have adverse reactions to vaccines they start reading the info available and realize that their animal did not need the 12 or 15 vaccines every year. They feel BETRAYED by the person they trusted to help them keep their beloved animal safe. They were never offered titers. They were never told that the recommendation is initial core vaccines and then titers every three years! They were never informed that vaccines can cause potentially deadly adverse reactions.
The unfortunate result is that then they totally distrust vets and are open to believe unreliable information. And there is plenty of it out there!
How do I enroll?