Titre testing for DHP

How to Titre test the dog, to see if the dog needs a booster vaccination for Distemper (D), Hepatitis (H), or Parvo (P) diseases. Also simply known as DHP.

A Titre test, pronounced Tight-er, is a test of the dog's blood against Distemper, Hepatitis and Parvo, to see if the dog has built up enough antibodies to protect it from those diseases.

In days gone by, the vet would draw the blood and send it to a laboratory, such as Glasgow University. Glasgow would then conduct the test, and send the results back to your vets.

But we now live in a world of large organisations buying up independent vet practices, and of these organisations opening up new branches in every town. These chain vets are often tied in to large laboratories, such as IDEXX, who charge in the region of £250 for a titre test.

Vacci-check is a company that set up an "in-house" test kit, so that vets can conduct tests in their practice. These in-house tests are around £45. But it has come to light that a number of chain vet practices registered as being Vacci-check locations, but enquires for a Titre test recives prices for using IDEXX rather than the in-house Vacci-Check kit.

Thankfully, there are a couple of labs who do tests, and it just requires the pet owner to order the kit, arrange for the vet nurse to draw the blood, post the tube of blood back to the lab, and wait two days for the result.

Personally, I used Glasgow Uni for a number of years, as a part of my research into dog vaccinations. My independent vets would draw the blood and post it off, and then Glasgow would send the results back to my vets.

Sadly, Glasgow University refuse to engage directly with pet owners, and insist that vets register an account with Glasgow. I moved, and changed to the local Vets4Pets. Vets4Pets branches are not allowed to engage with any diagnostic laboratory other than IDEXX, due to a contract between Vets4Pets head office and IDEXX. So whilst my Vets4Pets can draw the blood, they cannot send it to Glasgow. And I cannot send it to Glasgow either.

I saw an advert for Dragon labs in Wales, and purchased the Titre kit for £44.99 in May 2025.

https://dragonlab.uk/product/titre-test-for-dogs-and-cats/

The kit consists of

• Letterbox friendly box

• Instruction sheet

• Grey Postage paid return bag

• Large gripper seal bag with form label

• Small gripper seal bag with blood tube

Titre test works by challenging antibodies in the blood to the three diseases. In order to get the best result, it is desirable to take the dog to well used dog walking locations, so that any DHP disease in the local area can challenge and raise the relevant antibodies in the blood, prior to drawing the dog's blood.

With the above in mind, I took Katie to two well used dog walking areas on the Friday afternoon. We walked, and Katie sniffed for around 20 minutes at each location.

On the following Tuseday morning, we went in to the vets and the blood was drawn for £28. We were there for other reasons as well, so had to also pay the vet consultation fee. But I believe that booking an appointment with the nurses removes the consultation fee.

The blood is placed back in the small gripper seal bag. The form on the label of the large gripper seal must be completed. The small bag with blood is then placed in the large gripper bag, which is placed in the cardboard box, which is placed in the grey Postage paid Return bag. The bag was posted before the Tuesday collection.

On the Thursday afternoon I received an email from Dragon labs with Katie's results. The email also contains information on how to read the results. 

Katie's 2025 results suggest that whilst she may have been challenged for Hepatitis and Distemper, there was clearly a strong challenge for Parvo