Parvo

[sandymere 8,263]

As parvo is increasingly raising its ugly head once more I thought I would do a bit on it after all the more who know how to avoid this curse the better and it is avoidable. In truth we could have pretty much eradicated this but unfortunately carriers in the form of unvaccinated dogs and urban foxes are increasing common. Until the advent of vaccinations this was the scourge of puppies killing litter after litter, then with good vaccines and high vaccination rates herd immunity protected pups but alas we seem to have became blasé with vaccination rates dropping and infection rates increasing.

 

Canine parvovirus is an extremely contagious viral disease that attacks the dogs digestive tract and blood cells, with puppies it can also damage the heart leading to survivors having longer term cardiac problems. It is spread by virus shed in the stool (poo) and can remain viable for months; it is common in urban areas. Puppies are at high risk from 8 to 20 weeks as they lose the antibody protection they got from their mothers and haven't cover from thier vacinations. With proper vaccination the disease is unlikely to be caught once they have become active but as the maternal antibodies can block the early vaccines and the pups own take time to develop they are at risk. There needs to be a proper set of puppy vacs and a booster at one year later to ensure cover. The one year booster catches any that didn’t get full cover due to maternal antibodies. When administered properly the vaccination is about 99% effective, when not administered properly its pretty useless so get it right.

http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/06/veterinary-vaccines-fact-and-fiction/

.

 

Symptoms are vomiting, bloody foul smelling diarrhea, loss of appetite and lethargy. The diarrhea leads to life threatening dehydration. The vet is needed

Clean infected areas with bleach and water once all vomit, diarrhoea has been cleaned up, clean/soak all bowls etc in this or similar cleaning fluids, personally I’d just throw out all vessels, toys, bedding etc. Even grass will hold the virus so keep animals suffering any symptoms that could potentially be parvo off grassed areas or you may end up re turfing, that goes for carpets as well, trying to bleach a carpet???

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/dogdiseasesconditions/f/ParvoDisinfection.htm

.

If everyone got their dogs vaccinated properly and then the year one booster this would lead to heard immunity so that puppies wouldn’t come in contact with the virus alas a few idiots don’t bother and so put the rest at risk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

Edited May 21, 2014 by sandymere

[neil cooney 10,416]

A lot of folk would argue that the once a year booster is more for the benefit of the vet than the dog !

[sandymere 8,263]

Not the first one, As I said the 1st booster catches any that didn't respond to the puppy vaccination due to there being active maternal antibodies at the time ! Once they have had that 1st booster they should be covered for parvo for a number of years. I go for the1ist then get em re boosted once they are getting on a bit as older animals may become less immune with age. One booster at a year old to be sure, not a lot to invest in your own dog, 20% of adults die if infected with parvo and survivors may suffer long term effect. % of puppies die and these are going to be infected by someone who thought that a single booster was to expensive at about £30 from the vet.

[neil cooney 10,416]

I agree about the first one.

Someone put up a good article on here a while back about the first pharmaceutical company who said that dogs must get a yearly booster.

They were nearly charged with fraud as there was no truth in it.

Vets over here charge between 50 and 65 euro to inoculate a pup.

The same injection is 11 euro in a chemist.

But now the law states that you must first get a prescription from your vet before going to the chemist.

So the vet still gets his cut. It's a joke.

Also it must be remembered that an inoculation is a precaution not a sure fire 100% preventative.

Also in your information there it says about using bleach to disinfect anywhere infected with parvo.

Some will tell you that bleach is not strong enough and that the only way is to burn all timber and wash all other areas with Parvocide.

Is it still available ?

[jennym 39]

Good post.

 

I do puppy jabs and then first year booster then stop. Right or wrong thats what I do but I have looked into it. However I am prepared to be proven wrong if someone can tell me that later boosters are beneficial to the dog and not just the vet!

 

My first lurcher was a pup that my mum picked up dumped in an urban park whilst she was working as a dog warden. Bracken was bad with Parvo, bloody shame. She was hooked up to a drip and made comfortable but vet didn't hold out much hope, my mum called back in morning fully expecting to be told she'd passed away but needed to call to complete paperwork but Bracken had rallied and my mum felt that if a pup could fight back from that then it deserved a good home and she came home to us. Mum said the stench from the pup when she picked it up was indescribable, my mum couldn't believe that something could be passing stuff like that and still be alive. Bracken was in veterinary hospital for a good few weeks and only reason they persevered was because my mum as a dog warden said she would defo take her, plus it was a training centre for vet students so think they agreed to keep her on for that purpose as well.

 

Mum never came across the rest of litter, the areas that my mum worked in, litters like that would usually be dumped or perhaps Bracken didn't catch it until after she was rehomed but she was really to young to be away from mother so I think she had it from where she was bred.

 

She was a great dog, a great pal but she was undoubtably damaged from the parvo virus. She was a happy dog but she developed arthritis in later life, couldn't tolerate metacam, poss from damage done to her insides from parvo so we kept her comfortable with green lipped muscle capsules and later on a natural pain killer which the name of escapes me. She was hard to keep weight on (again from damaged insides from Parvo) but it was a waste of what could have been a great dog if she had had her puppy jags. Bracken had to be put down at 8years old,

 

She developed Leukaemia, so I opted to treat it with pills to give her comfortable few months and then had her quietly PTS. The dog was always comfortable and had good life but its still a shame that the dog had to go through that at such a young age as undoubtably it affected her long term health and she could have quite easily not survived.

 

Sorry turned into a small novel, I don't need much prompting to reminisce about my dogs, been 10 years since I lost Bracken and I still miss her, great dog.

 

J

 

P.S. Edited to update poor spelling

Edited May 22, 2014 by jennym

[obi2 239]

Was speaking to the vet tonight and she was telling me something similar. Because I jagged my pup at 8 and 10 weeks she said that I should at least do the 1st year booster incase the mothers antibodies hadn't worn off before her jags. She said the now recommendation after doing tests is 10 and 12 weeks.