What is a Valley Fever test/titer and what does it mean for my dog?
A Valley Fever test, Cocci test, or Cocci titer checks the blood to see if your dog is making antibodies against the Valley Fever fungus. If the test is positive, it means your dog has been exposed to the fungus. If the Valley Fever test is positive, the laboratory then performs a titer. The titer measures how much antibody your dog is making against the fungus. A titer is obtained by doubling dilutions of the positive blood (1:4, 1:8, 1:16, 1:32 . . .) until the test becomes negative. The titer that is reported to your veterinarian is the last positive dilution. In broad terms, a higher titer is equated with more severe disease. However, some very sick animals have low titers, or even negative tests. For these dogs, other diagnostic tests are necessary for diagnosing the illness. X-rays, blood cell counts, biopsies, and microscopic examination of cellular specimens are a few of the tests your veterinarian may need to run. Asymptomatic dogs (infected but not showing any illness) may al
