Parvo!

[call2arms]

No, Jessie doesn't have Parvo.

But damn... This week, during my internship, we had a 2 year old Rottie DIE from it (never eben vaccinated) and we just had a month-old puppy with it coming in on thursday night, and we had another lab puppy with it the week before (he pulled through).

I got to work today, they had a female (who had her first course of vaccine only) boxer who came in last night, her albumin is low, and her white blood cells are waaay down. She's not eating, she's vomiting, and she's pooping water. She's on the verge of going to an e-clinic/24 hour care (maybe I'll see her at my internship), but the owners are concerned for costs... Their other (same age) puppy, a grey x pit bull, was sick for 2 days and is now running around and being completely normal.

I don't know what the hell is up, but in my short time in clinics, this is the first time I see so many parvo cases at the same time! Does anyone notice a sharp rise in cases (I know it's spring, there's dogs and poop everywhere, but still... compared to other springs)?

[SisMorphine]

I only ever saw 3 cases total in the 3 or 4 years I was working in vet hospitals.

[Marinepits]

I've seen a couple dozen cases over the years and most of them have been in the spring/early summer. We rarely had just one parvo dog in isolation -- it was always a few at a time.

[pocketpit]

We get them year round but spring and summer is alwasy the worst time of year. So far I haven't noticed an difference in our case load but it's not uncommon around here either. Just since Jan. we've treated or seen somewhere between 10-20 cases.

[call2arms]

I don't know, maybe our clinics sent those cases to 24 hour care clinics, but I've only seen one or two in the last two springs, and now, poof! 1 week and there's like 4 at the same time, from completely different areas. I'm just baffled I guess.

The guy with ther Boxer pup was going to give hell to his neighbors for n ot picking up their dog poops all over the place, he thinks his pup got it there... He's the kind of tough guy, all leather coat and piercings and beard, but he cried so much when the vet told him his pup took a turn for the worse, that he emptied half a kleenex box.

I hope she pulls through...

[Patch O' Pits]

I hope no more cases pop up and everyone's dogs stay healthy.... poor pups

[Malli]

nothing moreso here

Parvo always comes with Puppy season

I think we've maybe had one so far this year, but there will be more, there always is.

when we see them, its probably 50/50 that, 1, the people will have money to cover plasma transfusions, and 24/hr ISO care, and 2, that the puppy will actually live...

[LMM]

Poor pups

Now that I've actually gone through it with Junie, it always makes me cringe to hear about another pup having it. I hate that it costs so much to get them through it.

[call2arms]

For the dog at my job (don't mind the prices for the e-clinic at my stage, people get credit with wells-fargo for that) for 2 days was a little under 500$, and that was only hospitalisation, IV fluids, cerenia and a couple other things, but no plasma yet...

It is ridiculous how LITTLE you can do about it.

[Malli]

have you seen Tamiflu used?

probably 2 days would run $1-2000 at my work, maybe more. But we tend to only see the really sick ones. I've honestly never seen a dog that wasn't extremely ill from Parvo, probably would have a better perspective if I worked in a general practice place.

Unfortunately, it costs so much because they require so much medical care to get better

[pocketpit]

We used Tamiflu on one or two cases but it didn't really seem to make a difference.

[Malli]

I've heard that, too I think we use it "just in case" it works....

[plebayo]

We've actually seen quite a few cases of Parvo this year.

We just dealt with a puppy that had parvo. His owner's posted a Friday share on craigslist so here's his story:

We were ready to add another puppy to our family. We searched for almost a month to find our special guy. We adopted him from a small shelter in Eastern Washington. His name was Dexter. In the shelter ad, they listed his age at 10 weeks, to only find out it was really 6. We had a wonderful, happy week together before he got sick with parvo. Already having experience with parvo from when our other dog was a puppy 7 years ago, we didn't expose Dexter to anything during that week. On the way home from getting him we didn't stop at rest stops. Dexter was such a good boy during the first week. Already accepting the crate, being vocal when he needed to potty and chewing on chewys instead of other things like shoes or furniture. He romped around the yard and played with our other dog so well. They really liked each other..

On Saturday he woke up with diarrhea and vomiting. We immediately took him to the vet and after a few tests they confirmed he had parvo, but it was caught extremely early. We admitted him to Tualatin Animal Hospital for overnight care. He bounced back really fast and we took him home Easter Sunday night (just one day). He became ill again the following day and we admitted him to our wonderful veterinary clinic. Everyone took such great care of him and we visited him every day. We all were so attached to Dexter, he was a very special puppy. Dexter got better and came home 3 days later on Thursday. He was playful, eating and drinking. He was oh so happy to be home. Unfortunately, it would be his last time home. He fell ill again the following day and had to be readmitted to the veterinary clinic.

Dexter gave the fight of his life. While he was trying to recover from Parvo, the deadly virus caused a secondary infection of severe bronchitis. While fighting this he was losing blood through his stool and had to have a blood transfusion. While he was having the blood transfusion they felt a tube in his stomach. Parvo can cause intussusception, which is where their intestines will fold over into each other, like a telescope collapsed This has to be surgically removed or the puppy will die. With everything against Dexter, he shockingly made it through the surgery. Everyone was so excited! The day following surgery he seemed to be getting better, drinking and eating. We actually got to feed him his first food! He wagged his tail at everyone who walked into the quarantined room. He was a sweetheart.

The following day his temperature dropped. The vet was concerned about the possibility of infection since his temp had dropped. They had Dexter on 3 different antibiotics to combat / prevent any infection he might get. The following day we found out he had an infection in his chest cavity. The only possibly way for it to be there was an infection had entered in his blood stream. Our hearts sank as our vet explained the infection would enter his kidneys and liver since the antibiotics were not working and he was going to die. They brought Dexter in the room. We stayed with him for a while visiting knowing we had to have him put to sleep.

He was such a WEIRD parvo case. The first time he came in and we diagnosed it he was lethargic. He went to emergency and in two days care chewed out 3 catheters and was barking and carrying on. He came back on a Monday because he was ill, we placed another catheter and put him on fluids for 3 days, he was barking, he chewed out 3 lines, ripped off his e-collar every day. He went home and ame back the next day with a fever of 106. Over that weekend he got the intussuseption. Our doctor did the surgery for free and removed a foot or so of intenstine but he just didn't thrive. By the next friday he was super weak and just wasn't recovering. Their bill was like $1300 or so and that is all in medication and treatment since we no charged the surgery.

We hardly saw any parvo cases last year and the ones we saw were from the rescue we work with. We saw a TON of feline distemper though. This year we've seen a lot of FIP and bad upper respiritory cases as well as several Parvo cases, two so far resulting in deaths - the puppy and a 2 year old Basset Hound. We've gotten a bunch of yellow cats too.

[Marinepits]

Oh, that poor pup! What a heartbreaking story.

[LMM]

That is just so damn sad RIP Dexter

[call2arms]

Weiird, poor Dexter. At least he got the care that he needed, right?

On a lighter side, Miss Fergie from work is doing a lot better (no trip to the e-vet) and the pup from my internship is now back at home. Yay for recovery!!

[plebayo]

Weiird, poor Dexter. At least he got the care that he needed, right?

On a lighter side, Miss Fergie from work is doing a lot better (no trip to the e-vet) and the pup from my internship is now back at home. Yay for recovery!!

No for sure they did everything they should have... parvo just seriously sucks.

MAJOR yay for recovery for sure! I think we really have come a long way with Parvo treatment... back in the day they'd just send you home with some meds and sub q fluids so the care has come a long way.

[katiek0417]

Ya know, there has been a rise in parvo cases is this area lately...I heard it on the news one night...they said that they always see cases....but they said the cases have greatly increased this year....

Poor puppies...

[Robin B]

poor babies parvo is such a nasty thing.

[Malli]

I just had my first Parvo case of this year...