Raptor5,
Titers do indeed show you the level of antibodies, not just the presence or lack thereof.
The titer, by definition, is the level of antibodies present. The "resolution" as you put it, is the whole point of a titer.
When looking for immunologic protection, the level of antibodies present matters quite a bit.
The fact is, once an adult animal has been vaccinated once, you can probably find the presence of some antibodies in his system for the remainder of his life.
That level will diminish over time however and eventually may get low enough to no longer confer any meaningful protection to the animal. It is even possible for the level to reach zero.
The point of boosters is to re-stimulate the immune system to ramp up the defenses against the bug.
Yes, you could have titers drawn to all the bugs you are vaccinating against. I've never done this in clinical practice, but I'm sure it can be done.
What you want to do is conduct a lot research, perhaps contact the vaccine manufacturers as well to get info regarding what level of antibodies (titer) is considered to confer adequate protection against each individual virus being vaccinated against.
You would then need to have blood drawn yearly and sent off to the appropriate laboratory or laboratories (you will have to contact various labs to find out who actually runs these titers. You may likely find that no one lab is set up to run titers for each individual virus of concern. Buy hey, you may get lucky).
Then, based on the results of the titers, you could make a better informed decision whether a booster is appropriate at that time.
Here's where things get a little more complicated however (assuming the above isn't complicated enough for you).
When I was in veterinary practice (I've been out for about 7 years now), the typical adult canine booster I administered was DA2PLPC and rabies. The first was a combination product containing antigens for Distemper Virus, Adenovirus, Parainfluenza Virus, Leptospirosis (not a virus actually...though most vaccines are for viruses), Parvovirus, and Corona Virus.
I also would give an intranasal vaccine for Bordatella Bronchiseptica.
Suppose you get your titers back and they show adequate protection for everything except distemper and leptospirosis. I'm not aware of any product available that contains only antigens for distemper and/or leptospirosis.
This is just one example off the top of my head.
For the most part, canine and feline vaccines come as combination products like the one mentioned above. There are a few individual products like the rabies vaccine, but these are the exception rather than the rule.
So, in order to bring the dog in the example above up to date on his lacking distemper and leptospirosis, I don't think you are going to be able to do it without using a combo product which also contains antigens to the other bugs.
I suppose the main value of running titers first would be in the event that all titer come back with adequate levels, then you could avoid the entire vaccine that year.
Another caveat however, in case I wasn't clear about this. Titers will have to be run for each individual bug. This may involve a signigicant amount of blood being drawn. I don't have any numbers, but off-hand, I would guess (this is only a guess) that you would be looking at spending at least several hundred dollars (probably close to a thousand) to have these titers run.
Not saying it can't be done. It's just not as easy or as cheap as one might think at first glance.
If this were to become a more commonly done thing...i.e. standard practice in vet clinics....which I think is highly unlikely anytime soon....then perhaps costs would come down some. Who knows, maybe some day in the future there will be some sort of simple cheap in-house test that could be run to test for adequate immunity. Doesn't exist right now however.
Hope this helps some.
My personal recomendation at the present time is to get your dogs boosters yearly. If he is a little tired and worn out for a day or two afterward, pet him a bit more, give him a treat, make him feel more loved, and tell yourself, "Gosh just imagine how fatigued he'd be if he just had two pints of blood drawn to run a bunch of titers, and then had to be vaccinated anyway because his distemper titer was too low. And damn, I'd be too poor to afford any treats for him at that point as well."
Cheers,
Sam