Zack had titers and bloodtests

Zack had parvo and distemper titers measured and he had a complete blood chemistry panel, on Wednesday. I got all the results and they are all normal. It's a very complete chem panel, it has everything on it, including a full thyroid panel, and every single value on it is exactly normal, not even borderline. In fact, when the vet left me a voicemail with the results, she said his results were "perfect." And on the printout of the tests which they faxed me (without my having to ask, which i really appreciate) she wrote that his thyroid results were "very good." The only thing that wasn't "normal" was platelets which were low, but on the printout it said "normal for breed," which is true, and the vet also wrote on the print out, "For this breed, lowered platelet counts in the absence of a bleeding tendency is a normal phenomenon."

I'm happy that everything is very normal and there are no hidden abnormalities that showed up at this point. Zack had bloodwork two other times, each time he was sick and he had some abnormalities, but now he's not sick, and everything is normal. I'll have this done each year as a wellness check up thing.

There's going to be a breed club sponsored cardiology clinic with board certified cardiologist in May which i've contacted them about signing up for. I'll have that done once a year too, if available. And there will be an eye clinic at the same time.

Unsurprisingly, the titers for parvo and distemper were "adequate," so one of his puppy shots definitely worked to immunize him. For now, i won't get boosters but will keep researching. The test printout says "serologic/vaccine titers for parvovirus and distemper show adequate/adequate humoral immunity indicating that this dog should respond with a boosted anamnestic effect to afford memory response against these agents upon exposure. Recheck serologic/vaccine titers annually." It gives the actual values of the titers.

The vet i went to was Jean Dodds, the vaccine researcher. i made a 40 minute drive rather than go to my local vet, because of the controversies about titer reliability--i felt most confident in Jean and her lab for titers. Another reason for the choice is that Dodds's clinic, Hemopet, is a nonprofit. The complete blood chem panel and thyroid panel cost $87 while the less extensive bloodwork Zack had done in late June at my regular vet was $187.
:yikes

Both vets use the same lab for blood chem panels, Antech.

Titers at Hemopet, for parvovirus and distemper combined were a total of $35 plus $15 for drawing the blood, so $50. At my local vet, the total is $72.

That's wonderful Judy! :jmp: Zack is perfectly healthy at this point, you must be so pleased. I wish i could have that bloodwork done at Jean Dodds clinic, no wonder the results were so thorough. I think it's a great idea to do that every year, then you can decide if you want to do any boosters or not. Gives a much better idea of the immunity Zack already has. I wish all vet offices would do this as a regular practice.

Hey Judy,

Just checked the board this morning. That's great news about Zack! cl*p
Glad to hear you went the extra mile with the titer testing. It sure makes a difference when you are dealing with someone who is thorough. It gives you such a sense of relief. Kudo's to you for being a good doggy mom
By the way, I'm curious what was Zack's platelet count?

Excellent news Judy!

LauraD said:

..I wish i could have that bloodwork done at Jean Dodds clinic, no wonder the results were so thorough. I think it's a great idea to do that every year, then you can decide if you want to do any boosters or not. Gives a much better idea of the immunity Zack already has. I wish all vet offices would do this as a regular practice.

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yes, in the 2006 American Animal Hospital Guidelines, they talk about technological advances that are in process, and one is for there to be a low cost in office titer testing kit with quick results.

Jean Dodds actually does bloodwork analysis for people from all over the place. when i first emailed her, she didn't know where i was and she directed me to the test request forms on her website, you go through your vet, they draw the blood and ship it to Hemopet. The form shows the prices for all the different tests. zack had the 7200 Profile and the Parvo/Distemper titer. There are detailed instructions for sending the sample. she calls you on the phone to discuss the results.

http://www.hemopet.com/services.html

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Doggymom said:

...
By the way, I'm curious what was Zack's platelet count?

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On 11/8 the platelet count was 48. The reference range is 170 to 400.

On his 7/1 blood panel printout, it doesn't list platelet count. It just has "platelet estimate" and it says "Adequate." Under that it says "frequent platelet clumps are present on the blood smear. platelet clumping is a common in-vitro phenomenon and prevents accurate automated or manual platelet counting. The platelet estimate is the best indicator of the adequacy of platelet numbers. Any reported platelet count indicates only the MINIMUM platelet number."

but there is no listing of platelet count, that's all it says. Not sure what it means in terms of zack's breed, large platelets, etc.

On his May test when he got neutered, it looks like it's from a different lab, it's very abbreviated results, just a few things probably most relevant to the surgery (but still cost $110!! :x) and the closest thing to a platelet count is where it says "PLT= 198 x10 to the 9th power/L" I'm not sure what the L means, at first i thought it meant Low, but there is a graph next to it with low, normal and high, and his result is plotted in the normal range though right on the border of Low. the reference range is 175 to 500. I don't understand the way it's expressed with the exponential. I don't know what it means. The reference range looks like a platelet count reference range, but it doesn't just give a number for comparison.

Back in February, he had a blood panel and it has PLT on a list of counts of different kinds of blood cells, and it has 200 to 500 as the reference range, and next to PLT, it says "=L" meaning Low, and for the value it says 25FD and it says "10 to the 3rd power/mm to the 3rd power." there's a little graph showing the platelets being very low, and below that it says "FD PLT Poor RBC/PLT separation, see User Manual Sec. 5"