Canine parvovirus is a contagious, often lethal, dog disease, that is frequently found in young puppies, particularly those that are suspected to come from large-scale breeding facilities, like puppy-mills, or that are bought from dog stores and online dog sites.
This is my complete guide to parvovirus for every dog owner: everything you wanted and needed to know about parvovirus and
how to handle it with your dogs.
Disclaimer: if you feel your dog might be sick with parvovirus, you should visit your veterinary immediately instead.
The disease
How lethal is it and how it is treated?
Mortality for untreated cases is around 90%. However,
effective treatment, with a quoted success rate over 80%, exists and can recover most parvovirus infections.
The treatment usually requires hospitalization for 5-7 days and an intravenous infusion of liquids to maintain adequate hydration in the dog's body. Dog owners should understand the high cost involved and that, if their dog is hospitalized on the late stages of parvovirus, treatment will most likely be very expensive.
How is it spread?
Parvo is spread through feces and contact with them, either directly or indirectly. Since the virus can live in non-organic matter, like clothing, for up to five months, disposing quickly and effectively of all feces of a parvo infected dog, and cleaning all areas that could have come in contact with them with bleach, is the best way to prevent further spreading parvo. Bleach effectively kills the virus is the most effective household product to decontaminate a house.
Who is susceptible to parvovirus?
Every dog that has not been vaccinated against parvovirus is susceptible to the disease. In reality, since dog owners are fairly up to date in their dog's yearly vaccines, parvovirus is a problem that mostly affects new dogs. If you are getting a new dog, make sure to get her tested and vaccinated against parvovirus very soon.
In terms of breeds, and dog characteristics. Black and dark dogs are a little more likely to be infected with parvovirus than clear colored dogs. For no particular reason, aggressive breeds like Pilsners, Rottweilers and Pitt Bulls are more prone to get infected than other breeds.
Which places are likely parvovirus hot spots?
Parvovirus is spread through dog feces and contact with them. Though parvo can potentially be found anywhere, and dog feces tend to make themselves present in many unexpected places, the biggest parvo hot spot is puppy-mills. Since many puppy mills have very young puppies that have not had their vaccines yet, and other mills are not as diligent with all the vaccinations as we'd hope they were, it is easy for parvo to catch on in a few unvaccinated puppies. With the close contact most puppies maintain in puppy mills, others get infected , which leads to a general infection.
Because the virus can live in inert objects like clothing or boxes for months, once parvo has made its way into a puppy mill, it is bound to make its way back when new puppies come, even if the facility has not had any infected dogs for months.
If your have a new dog and it was not from a reputable breeder or you suspect it could be from a puppy mill, you should go and check and vaccinate her as soon as possible.
How does parvo attack and kill a dog?
Parvovirus is a viral disease. Once a dog is infected, the virus replicates in the lymph nodes and bone marrow, causing white blood cell numbers to drop drastically and the intestinal crypts to be destroyed. With the destruction of the intestinal crypts, bacteria that would regularly live in the intestine is able to get into the bloodstream and reproduce. This leads to acute respiratory illness and sepsis, also known as blood poisoning, which could finally lead to organ malfunction and a septic shock (the blood is so contaminated that it cannot take enough oxygen to the body's organs, causing them to fail).
Symptoms and diagnosis
The symptoms of parvovirus are
vomit, bloody and very liquid diarrhea, fever, and lethargy.
To panic or not to panic
The symptoms of vomit, diarrhea, and fever, are common to many dog diseases including the canine flu. Before assuming
your dog has parvovirus, make sure you are not confusing the symptoms for another less serious disease. Keep the following tips in mind:
- In most of the world, if your dog is up-to-date with her yearly vaccines, then your dog has been vaccinated against parvo. The parvovirus vaccine is very effective and the cornerstone of prevention. If your dog has been vaccinated against parvovirus, it is very unlikely for her to develop the disease. In most countries, including the United States, the parvovirus vaccine is part of the yearly boosters provided by veterinarians.
- Vomit must be severe, diarrhea should be bloody and both must be present. Vomit should be severe enough to feel that the dog "cannot hold anything in". Diarrhea needs to be bloody. Finally the illness needs to present both vomit and diarrhea. If you see vomit or diarrhea in milder forms than described, or without blood, or you see only one of them instead of both, then the disease is probably not parvo, but something else.
- Your dog should have a fever. A parvovirus infection includes a fever, if your dog does not have a fever, then it is probably not a parvovirus infection.
Treatment and prevention
How to prevent my dog from getting parvo: vaccination
The parvovirus vaccine is the most effective way to be prepared against this deadly disease. New puppies receive three vaccines before they are 15 weeks of age. The first vaccine is administered at 6 weeks, a second one at 10 weeks and a final one at 14 weeks. If you get a new dog that is older than 6 weeks, make sure that you are fully explained which vaccines he's been administered up to that point.
Veterinarians will provide a yearly booster for parvovirus as part of their standard yearly vaccines and this yearly booster is all that's necessary for prevention in adult dogs.
What do I do if I suspect my dog has parvo?
Get a fecal sample and take her to the vet as soon as you can. Diagnosis is done through a fecal antigen test where veterinaries look for the virus and antibodies that dogs create to fight them.
If you are unable to produce a fecal sample, the veterinary can also perform a CBC and provide a white blood cell count. A low white blood cell count that is accompanied by vomit, bloody diarrhea and fever, would strongly suggest a parvovirus infection.
What can I do if my dog has been diagnosed with parvo?
If your dog has been diagnosed with parvovirus, there are a few important things you should do.
- Take her to the hospital as soon as possible - if you have a positive diagnosis, parvo can very quickly advance, deteriorate and kill your dog. Take her to the hospital now.
- Provide lots of liquids - parvo causes severe dehydration through vomiting and diarrhea. Dehydration related infections are then in a good position to set in, and can then compound the problem.
- Let your neighbors know - if your dog gets parvovirus, and your neighbors has dogs or cats, it is only responsible for you to let them know so they can take adequate preventive actions to protect their dog from getting infected.
- Use bleach - Use bleach to clean any place that dog's poop could have come in contact with, either directly or indirectly. Bleach is the best household product to kill parvo.
- Talk with your spouse and family now - The best treatments for parvo are, in fact, very expensive. Talk with your family now on what are you willing to spend on the disease and how will that affect the rest of the house's finances.
Unconventional treatment
Given parvo's extremely high mortality rate, it is strongly advised that the disease is treated at a hospital. However, if you are unable to get to a hospital, the home treatment that has worked best is using the antiviral
Tamiflu. If you're unable to find Tamiflu, other antivirals used for flu might prove effective as well.
Preventing parvo in newborn puppies
Keeping puppies out of parvo is particularly important, since they don't have protection against the disease at the moment of birth. Puppies get three parvo vaccines before they are 14 weeks of age, at which point you can safely assume that they are protected.
Before your puppy gets his first vaccine at six weeks of age, the only prevention possible is to have clean habits and doing your best to make sure your puppy does not come into contact with any feces.
Kids and family are safe
Canine parvovirus is a disease exclusive to dogs and humans cannot get infected by it regardless how much contact they have with either the dog or her feces (the same is true for feline parvovirus). If you have a parvo-infected dog, rest assured that you can devote all your efforts to her recovery without having to worry about any risks to your health.
Your house is equally safe. However, you should not have any new animals visit while your dog is infected. Clean with bleach every place where the dog poops and anything else that you believe could have come in contact with that poop.
A word on cardiac parvovirus
In reality, there are two types of parvovirus, the one described above, which presents vomit, fever and diarrhea is called intestinal parvovirus. However, there is also another one named cardiac parvovirus. For the most part, this type of disease affects puppies younger than 8 weeks old. This guide does not cover cardiac parvovirus. If you have a dog under 8 weeks of age, I strongly suggest you research this disease and its symptoms online or with your local vet.
, with an explanation that it is not cruel and it is very effective. However, most new owners still feel it's wrong to put their new lovely dog in a cage for a number of continuous hours. So here it goes once again hoping to convince someone: trust me, create training it is not cruel and it does work. At least give it a try.
