Plenty of vets and pet owners have taken a liking to the use of titers because it helps them to decide when they should revaccinate their dogs. The understanding in this procedure is how dogs with a lower titer equal having a low immunity system. This system measures one part of the immune function within the body. Because viruses don’t have the ability to replicate by themselves, they will have to invade the body to hijack the cellular machinery and the cells. Once the virus gets past these defenses, it becomes part of our cells. We do, however, have a defense against viruses where you have both humoral immunity and cellular immunity.
Cellular Immunity and How It Works
As how the name would imply, cellular immunity takes place at a cellular level. For example, the T cells will detect which of the cells contain the virus that has attacked the system. Once the virus has been identified, everything snaps into action to destroy the virus. When T cells activate against viruses, they will file away the information, and they will use it in the future. In addition, this will let them respond to it much faster the next time the virus chooses to attack the immune system. Cells often reproduce, and they pass the memory over to their immune system to many viruses.
Humoral Immunity: How It Works
On the other hand, humoral immunity could be said to be the first line of defense, and these soldiers work on the outside of the cellular level. These is the frontiers of the battle. Humoral immunity will first take place with the body fluids, which is where the B cells float around as guards for the rest of the system. As the B cells contact the antigens, they will activate the antibodies. This will then help them to look for foreign proteins to neutralize them before they have the chance to materialize. Every antibody will be responsible for different antigens, and some of them might even be responsible for parvovirus and others for distemper. Once an antibody has become successful at neutralizing the antigens, it will float around the body to act as the guard, and they do this for years.
Similar to T cells, B cells will develop memory, and this lets them act fast and with much greater force when they come across another virus like it. In addition, they will be able to fight against these things much better than if they did not have the titer. One of the advantages is that once they have been vaccinated properly, it usually only needs to be done once.
What Happens When a Protection Dog’s Titer is High?
When the titer is high, you can safely assume that the immune system will have the perfect response to antigens. Personal protection dogs that have had the titer measure their immune system will find it highly unlikely that they will suffer from any kind of disease, and you will have a stronger and healthier protection dog. Even when exposed to the parvovirus, the parvovirus might circulate throughout the protection dog’s system, but he will be fully armed and protected against sickness.
A low titer means your personal protection dogs for sale will have enough immunity that you don’t have to worry about him getting diseases. He will either be immune to the parvovirus, or he won’t. Dr. Ronald Schultz says that no matter what amount of titer your dog has, it means your dog will have protection. There’s no room for gray areas when it comes to these things. When you measure zero titers, you have zero predictive value. The memory cells might exist for the lifetime of the protection dog, but the circulating antibodies might not. Still, as long as you have the memory cells there, they will be waiting to launch a powerful attack against the parvovirus antigens, and they have the ability to neutralize all types of threats.
Circulating Antibodies
Whenever the protection dog has circulating antibodies, he will either suffer from the disease, or he fought against it successfully in the past, and you can expect him to do the same in the future without a further need for vaccination.
When Should You Do Titers?
You want to avoid even the possibility of a negative titer. Your best bet is to titer the puppy immediately after the vaccination. For example, if you vaccinated a puppy and ran a titer three weeks later, you’d find that you had excellent predictive value. Any amount of titer will show how there are circulating antibodies working to fight the parvovirus. Should this be the case, then you can rest assured that your furry little friend has been vaccinated, and it will almost guarantee that your personal protection dogs won’t need further vaccination. In these cases, it is quite unlikely that you will have to get a further vaccine.
A Better Way of Vaccinating Personal Protection Dogs for Sale
Unfortunately, not everyone vaccinates their protection dogs in this way, but it’d be nice if they did. If more breeders, vets, and pet owners used titers like this instead of vaccinating in three to four-week intervals, most puppies would only need the vaccine once instead of multiple times to help them fight against diseases. In addition, it would remove the guesswork from the equation of vaccinating, and it would eliminate the ongoing need for possibly dangerous vaccinations.
One of the biggest goals with titers is to eliminate the need for dangerous vaccines that could hurt your dog and to help build up his immune system so that he doesn’t have a problem with the parvovirus when he encounters it. Titers can accurately measure when a protection dog needs to be revaccinated, but if you have vaccinated him correctly, then you should have to worry too much about having him vaccinated. One of the advantages of using a titer is that it ensures that you aren’t over-vaccinating your protection dog.