Parvovirus

[english.springer]

Saw this today and thought all might like to know.


"Pockets of canine parvovirus have recently been discovered nationwide. Parvovirus is a highly contagious infectious viral desease of sudden onset, which can attack dogs of any age. The virus can be carried on clothing and has an incubation period of 3-12 days. Signs of the disease include vomiting and bloody diarrhoea accompanied by fever and obvious illness. Success of treatment is dependent on early diagnosis as death can occur within 2-4 days after onset. All dogs should be immunised against the vrus from puppy with regular boosters thereafter. Ensure all kennels and boarding areas are also thoroughly bleach-cleaned and disenfected on a regular basis. The virus is very resilient and can exist outside the body for long periods."


A short article taken from the shooting gazette jan2004 issue.

I'm not saying that every dog with sickness and diarrhoea has got parvo but posted it as a general info as there is alot of it going around, and as a prompt about why boosters are important.

all the best and keep safe

ian                    

[PennyB]

Cardiff's one of those pockets so thankfully I'm well aware of the risks. A lot of dogs here died from parvo because their owners didn't take them to the vets in time! There's also a lot of HGE (heamorrhagic gastroenteritis) going round that mimics parvo so beware. While I'm a great believer in vaccinations I am now concerned about them as I have a pup who's had cancer so am in discussion with my vet about my dilemma (who thankfully has been willing to listen probably because he knows how well I look after my dogs in the 1st place and if they so much as sneeze they're off to the bottom of the road to see him!).

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/git-hge.htm                    

[*Jay*]

We have had a couple of cases of parvo here in the last few months which were originally thought to be haemorrhagic gastroenteritis but was confirmed by autopsy. Even one of our vets, who doesn't routinely vaccinate, vaccinated his dog after this outburst.                    

[Mary P]

Hi Penny,
Tia and I have recently spent some time in Cardiff and will be going again soon. Is this virus caught through direct contact with another dog, or could she catch it by sniffing wee etc?
Since I read this I have kept a close eye on her, but it would be great to have a little more info.
Thanks,
Mary.                    

[PennyB]

Hi Penny,
Tia and I have recently spent some time in Cardiff and will be going again soon. Is this virus caught through direct contact with another dog, or could she catch it by sniffing wee etc?
Since I read this I have kept a close eye on her, but it would be great to have a little more info.
Thanks,
Mary.

I wouldn't worry too much about it as I'd just got Wilf (he was 8 weeks old) when this all started and a friend lived in the middle of 2 houses who's dogs died over the summer from parvo or parvo like illnesses and she had a pup same age as Wilf at the time. If your dog's vaccinated then that's the best you can do (my vet nurse told me that she used to nurse parvo dogs and go home and greet her dogs and they didn't get it)!.