Vaccine Alternatives For Pets

Have you ever wondered if annual vaccination boosters are necessary for your pet? There’s no doubt that vaccines help protect our animal companions from deadly diseases. However, there is definitely room for debate when it comes to determining the ideal vaccine booster schedules. Many people are looking at alternative options. A Dawsonville, GA vet offers some information on this below.

Titer Testing

When speaking about vaccination alternatives for pets, what’s often being referred to is something called titer testing. Titer testing checks the level of virus antibodies in a pet’s system. Titers often stay in a pet’s system for years, which brings the necessity of standard practice of annual vaccinations into question. The determination on if and when boosters are needed would depend on the results, rather than a regular annual or biannual schedule. With titer testing, the idea is to only offer boosters once levels have dropped below a certain range. At this point, your furry pal would again be vulnerable to that disease. 

Benefits

This approach does offer some unique benefits. This in many ways offers the best of both worlds: your pet will still be protected from dangerous diseases, but you won’t need to worry as much about adverse reactions. This method also eliminates concerns about pets getting over-vaccinated. However, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the right method for every animal. After all, our furry friends are all unique, and their care needs should reflect that. Also, keep in mind that this is generally only going to be an available option for adult pets. That said, it never hurts to learn more. If this is something you’re interested in, ask your vet for more information.

Tips

With so much misinformation and confusion on this topic, it’s important to remember why vaccinations exist in the first place: to protect pets from dangerous diseases. The rabies virus is a prime example of this. Rabies is actually the deadliest disease in the world. It has a nearly 100% fatality, and cannot successfully be treated once symptoms start. That’s terrifying! Vaccines have also greatly reduced the spread of other diseases, such as parvovirus, which can be deadly. However, keep in mind that many kennels and groomers require the standard vaccinations, rather than titer testing. 

 Do you have questions about vaccine alternatives for pet? Please feel free to contact us, your Dawsonville, GA animal clinic, today!