# parvovirus



## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

A week ago I was about ready to kill my poor pup....now, I feel terrible for her. She has somehow contacted parvovirus and is really sick. Does anyone have any experience with this deadly virus? How about some advice in saving this poor dog's life?

I have taken her to the vet and have been given some medicine, but it has been really difficult giving it to her because she won't take it voluntarily. We have had to force feed her the medicine. Any advice on getting her to take the medication? Also, has anyone tried the parvoguard medications?


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## bwhntr (Sep 12, 2007)

Do what ever it takes to get the medicine in her. You may need to get some electrolytes in her as well. If she lives in a kennel it needs to be sterilized with bleach.

I use the parvo vac and I think it works...at least none of my dogs have contracted it while on the vac. Good luck, it is extremely hard on them.


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## Texscala (Sep 8, 2007)

I would go further than cleaning anything she has (toys, kennel, whatever) and throw them out and start over. I second giving the dog the medicine no matter what.

How is the dog? Is it eating food? Drinking? Vomiting? bloody stools? 

The vaccine is always a great option but not a sure fix as there are different strands that can always get a dog sick. If you know a dog has parvo keep your dogs away from it. Now that your dog has it do your best to help it out. The first couple days are the most critical. Keep it nourished and it has a chance.

My little brother's pup just fought its way through parvo so it can be done. Good luck


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

She seems to be doing better today; she is fighting the medicines a lot harder. We really have to hold her down and force her to take it. She is drinking, but hasn't eaten now for 3 going on 4 days. The medicine has pretty much stopped the vomiting, and we haven't seen the diarrhea now for two days. But, of course, she hasn't eaten for quite awhile.

I feel like she definitely has more energy today and is a bit more responsive and active, but she still won't eat. I know that keeping her hydrated is the most important, but at some point she has to eat. Would you force feed her? Or, just wait and see if she eats on her own?


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## coolgunnings (Sep 8, 2007)

I had a pup that was infected with the parvo virus. I had to take her to the vet two days in a row to keep her hydrated. They would hydrate her intravenously. She was ok after the second trip. Then I had to give her antibiotics for about 2 weeks. She had her appitite back on the third day. Good luck with your pup. Keep her on the meds.


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

Some vets recommend giving the dog some Ensure to get them back on track with some calories and nutrition. If she is drinking, she'll likely drink the Ensure. I'd try the vanilla flavor. My dad's dog took sick and it seemed like the Ensure was what kept her alive on the final day before she started to recover.


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## DDGuy (Nov 4, 2007)

I had two puppies get Parvovirus back in the early 80's when it first hit Utah hard. I learned quickly that the prevention is much easier than the cure. I understand that there may be a new strain of Parvovirus going around. I haven't talked to a vet about it yet and don't know what vaccines if any are effective against it. I have a friend in Idaho that is a rep for Pfizer and would know. 

When I have a litter of puppies or get a new puppy, they get the best vaccination program I can give them. All puppies get a certain degree of immunity against Parvovirus from their mothers. This immunity wears off sometime between 8 and 16 weeks of age. Until this immunity wears off, immunization is useless. Since there is no way of telling when this immunity will be gone, I prefer to use the shotgun approach to immunization. My puppies get in addition to their other vaccinations, a vaccination of Parvovirus vaccine every 2 weeks starting at 6 weeks of age until they are 16 weeks. I use a quality modified live canine cell origin vaccine. I use either Pfizer or Ft. Dodge. Most vets tell me that my schedule isn't necessary, and that the newer vaccines stay in the system longer. I would rather err on the side of safety.


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## deadicatedweim (Dec 18, 2007)

One thing to try is dip the pill in ketchup or bbq sauce. Let the dog just taste the sauce first then they usually will just lick the pill right up with some of the sauce. My dog is a serious pill popper and loves the liver flavored pain pills, but hates the cephalaxin gel capsule.


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## TAK (Sep 9, 2007)

Parvo shots from a VET ONLY! Next rebuild your kennel and buy stock in BLEACH! 
I am short on time here but Bleach everything, after you take the kennel appart and clean every little spot possible. If the dog lives they don't get it again....??? but it is the other dogs that will.
And what is this pill? Med?
Good luck!


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

Interestingly, my dog was vaccinated....the vet theorized that she contacted a new strain of parvovirus that is actually an airborne strain. But, who knows. Lucky for us--my dog and me--she made it through the ordeal. After not eating for 5 days, she began simply licking canned dog foods; the next day, she was back to normal.

We didn't have too much of a problem keeping her hydrated because she was willing to drink throughout the ordeal, but we used pedialite to help keep the water down. I think her age saved her life...she is about 9 months old. I think her immune system/age helped get her through.

I am not sure how we could ever decontaminate everything....she vomited multiple times throughout our yard and on the grass. From what I understand of the virus, it remains in the ground for months after the ground is contaminated. I would most likely have to decontaminate my entire yard and possibly the neighbors as well. And, who knows what other adult dogs in the neighborhood are carriers....

What a bad virus...I have never felt so bad for an animal before in my life!


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## Artoxx (Nov 12, 2008)

I am glad to hear that your dog is another one of the survivors. My lab caught it when he was about 2 1/2-3 months old. At the time I had not EVER heard of a dog surviving it and was freaking out that he was as good as dead.

In a strange coincidence I was laid off my job the day before he showed symptoms, (except for the fact that he hadn't eaten anything whatsoever), so I had plenty of time to take care of him.
We liquified the pills (antibiotic and anti-nausea) in some pedialyte and shot it down his throat with a basting syringe and a small piece of tubing. That is also how we kept him hydrated as he was not interested in swallowing ANYTHING, even water.

We got a recipe from one of the people that we were associated with through a rescue organization. It basically consisted of ground beef, and/or chicken, ground REALLY fine and mixed with ground rice and lots of fluid in a blender to make a kind of meat/rice gruel. We forced this mixture down his throat with a BIG syringe about 30 minutes after the antibiotic, nausea pill insertion. Burned a blender making it. LITERALLY.
On day one he looked like death warmed over, day 2 he looked like death was only moments away, and I spent the whole day holding him and hoping I could stand it when he died, and thinking I had killed him by not leaving him at the vets. I had lost a pup to another issue about 5 months earlier and couldn't stand that again.
On day 3, I let him out of his kennel and he tore over to the water dish and drank nearly a quart of water in no time and then started in on the food dish. He ate as much in the first hour of the day as he had eaten the previous 3 days put together. 
YAY!
He even ate the antibiotic right out of my hand without any effort at all. It was GREAT!

Today he is 100 pounds or so of the healthiest looking lab you could ever hope to see, and you wouldn't think he had ever had the tiniest issue EVER.

I was also told that there are only two things available to clean with that is effective against the Parvo Virus. Bleach, which you simply cannot use on everything, and detergent with a phosphorus base, which is pretty much any kind of laundry soap that says "whitening" or Brightening. It is the phosphorus that does this.

Mix the bleach fairly strong, but not more than 25%, and use a spray bottle to apply it to any surface that you cannot get to with a scrub brush, this will penetrate and largely kill the virus. On areas where bleach is a bad idea, use the detergent mixed with water. 
For example if the dog threw up on the carpet, bleach might ruin it, but the detergent will take care of the problem. I am not positive, but I am fairly sure that they sell carpet cleaner detergent that has phosphorus in it, that would probably be easiest.

My vet figured he got exposed between the time he was given his first round of innocs, and the second, right at the low point.
My neighborhood has been lousy with parvo for nearly 10 years from what the dog owners around here have told me, so the shotgun effect would have been better, if only I had known. 
OH WELL!, he lived and we have gotten a lot of ducks together so far, and hopefully many more to come.


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## TAK (Sep 9, 2007)

wyoming2utah said:


> Interestingly, my dog was vaccinated....the vet theorized that she contacted a new strain of parvovirus that is actually an airborne strain. But, who knows. Lucky for us--my dog and me--she made it through the ordeal. After not eating for 5 days, she began simply licking canned dog foods; the next day, she was back to normal.
> 
> We didn't have too much of a problem keeping her hydrated because she was willing to drink throughout the ordeal, but we used pedialite to help keep the water down. I think her age saved her life...she is about 9 months old. I think her immune system/age helped get her through.
> 
> ...


Are you sure it was Parvo? I ask because of the age? Some years ago I had 2 GSP pups come down with something I thought was parvo but the test turned up NEG. Also I can smell parvo and I couldn't at this time. They was around that age also. I thought it was parvo also and treated the same as parvo. Kept them both hydrated and both took lots of Chicken Broth in. It was fast reacting for them to get sick, but within 2 days they was back to normal.
I was concerned that maybe they had ate something while out in the field or something, but I was not working them both during this time. I also thought about poison. But the vet thought otherwise.
?????


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## KattTraxx (Sep 10, 2007)

the Corona virus can have symptoms closely resembling Parvo, and the Corona will give a neg on the Parvo test. Treatment for the two is the same for most Vets. Either one is bad news for a young dog. Sounds lik eit all worked out for the best for you though.. I now vaccinate only with an 8 way shot that includes protecxtion for the Corona virus as well as Parvo. KattSkatt


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