Parvo Virus
Parvo virus is a disease that attacks the very young puppy and sometimes the very senile adult, grown adult healthy dogs are scarcely troubled by parvo virus. It can take a variety of forms and even veterinary surgeons are puzzled by the vagaries of the disease. It begins insidiously and the puppy experiences mild gastric troubles but these symptoms are just the beginning of parvo virus. Violent enteritis, severe debilitating diarrhoea and rapid dehydration follow in the wake of such gastric disturbances and death follows fairly rapidly, adult dogs also develop enteritis but while the disease tends to knock the dog about a little, death rarely follows. There are other symptoms. Sometimes a puppy is hale and hearty one moment and the next is looking a little off colour. A few minutes later it may collapse and in moments it can be dead through a massive heart attack. Six and eight week old puppies usually expire in this manner with little or no signs of enteritis. Suckling puppies often dwindle away to dehydrated skeletons and die in days.
Treatment is possible however though in the cases of cardiac failure and infected tiny suckling puppies little can be done. If older puppies are infected they should be kept warm and given saline injections to prevent dehydration. This treatment is usually very satisfactory and a number of vets state that a large percentage of infected animals survive after being treated in this manner after they have contracted parvo virus.
Establishments that are infected by parvo virus should :
- Disinfect all kennels
- Isolate any suspect animals prior to veterinary diagnosis
- Stop breeding puppies until the disease is past and the bitches have built up enough antibodies to cope with the infection. Three to four months of no breeding should follow an infection.
To finish on a sad note. Many puppies simply do not develop symptoms even though their litter mates are fading away through the disease. Unhappily these are not out of the wood yet. Many such dogs get to six or seven months old and suddenly develop heart disorders which manifest themselves suddenly and kill the animal.
Parvo Virus...Truely an unpleasant disease.
