Titer Test

Last week I took Maggie for her yearly check-up.  This was the first big check-up she has had since her Mast Cell Cancer treatment last year.  I asked the vet to do a full blood panel work-up as well as titers.

I am very conservative when it comes to vaccinations in my dogs.  Both Maggie and Bosley have had their puppy series and a one year booster  and nothing since (following the Jean Dodds vaccination protocol). Maggie has not had any vaccinations for over 4 years.  Her titer levels came back great!

The rest of her blood work came back good as well.  The vet was worried about her kidney values (creatine specifically) as last year it was on the high side.  The vet was pleased to see that the creatine value had dropped a bit and stabilized although it is still a bit high but within the normal range.  She figures the higher value has a lot to do with Maggie's water drinking habits - she drinks very little.  If she was drinking a ton of water and peeing a lot, she would be more concerned.  I worry about Maggie's kidneys because when she was a puppy she knocked a bottle of Ibuprofen off the counter, the lid popped off and she ate a bunch of it. Ibuprofen can cause kidney damage in dogs and although there were no signs of damage when she was released from the hospital at the time, I still worry.

Maggie's glucose was a bit low, but both the vet and the pathologist think it was because the blood was shipped to Calgary for testing and the blood will use up it's own glucose (or something like that).  She has to go back for a quick glucose test later this week, as a precaution.

I am always nervous waiting for test results to come back - even if it is just routine blood work.  I am very glad that the vet gave Maggie a clean bill of health.