My puppy has parvo and I would like some information on if what I am doing is okay?

Question

I have a 5 month old daschund puppy. She has parvo. She had a brother that we didn't realize he was sick until it was too late and he passed away on Thursday evening. I took the little girl to the vet on Friday morning. The vet gave me nausea meds and antibiotics and told me to give her water and pedialite. Unfortunately the vets here aren't real helpful when you need a payment plan. So I have been dosing her with the meds as instructed. I also give her the water and pedialite every 1-2 hours. She was really hot to the touch on Friday and today she is cooler. I haven't seen her vomitting and no diahrrea but she isn't eating anything either. I don't know how to get her to eat if she doesn't want to eat. I am having to force her to drink the liquids. She does get up and walk to me though rather than just laying there. Anyone have any suggestions or can anyone tell me if the fact that she isn't so hot anymore and has made it through the first 48 hours is a good sign?

Answer 1

Parvo is very serious and dogs generally do not survive. you must be guided by your vet. Don't worry about her not eating but keep up the fluids and antibiotics. Do not leave her alone.....the fact that she is cooler doesn't mean she is out of the woods yet.

Answer 2

it is a good sign that she is alive after 48 hours.

keep checking her skin:to see if she is dehydrated or not:pull her skin on her back, around the shoulder blades, lift the skin gently!

let go the skin:puppies have a lot of extra skin, it should jump/pop back very quickly.If the skin stays in a bunch:go to the vet for I.V. fluids!If she is not vomiting, try a bit of baby food:meat, not the veggie ones!chicken or turkey.Her bowels will recover slowly:any bloody diarrhoea?If not, that's good sign!

The vet can also give her some fluids under the skin.

Keep forcing her to drink pedialyte, use a syringe.

Her bowels are damaged from parvo:buy canned food from the vet, he must have this:Intestinal Diet  from science diet.

Don't feed her kibble now. make the food like a porridge(add some warm water to the intestinal diet, mix it well)

Answer 3

Yes, you right; Vaccination does not 100% prevent virus, its a myth that any vacine is 100%effective of preventing any virus!

Our Vet had put in a very good IV line on Dottie (this is very tricky, and should be done only by a professional, where a small, plastic tube is inserted into the main vein on the front leg to admit fluids and medication), well taped and hard for her to get at.

http://www.netpets.com/dogs/healthspa/pa...

Answer 4

Get some of the nutra stat for her, it is a paste with high calories, if you have to, force feed her to keep her strength up. When sick they don't want to eat just as we don't when sick. So force it on her, no matter how much she refuses keep on force feeding . I wish you luck ,use a turkey baster to force water in her mouth so she doesn't get dehydrated.  

Answer 5

my dog was only sick 2 weeks maybe when she died. i had to get her meds and they wanted to hospitalize her. its hard but this is a painful thing for them. if she is not eating I'm sorry to say she is not getting any better and she is not throwing up or passing anything because she is not eating. she needs to be put down or hospitalized. it is not like a cold it is a disease

Answer 6

hi,

"Parvo" is a word most puppy owners learn, and learn to dread. It's short for canine parvovirus, the most common infectious dog disease in the U.S.

Even though it's a relatively new disease in the dog world, parvo's ubiquitous--present at significant levels in every environment, from home to kennel to park. In fact, trying to shield a puppy from exposure is considered completely futile in this day and age. It's a ridiculously tough virus that can survive for months on living things, and even on objects such as furniture, toys, and carpets.

It's a serious infection, too: it can kill in a matter of days, and it's 80 percent fatal. Puppies less than six months old and older dogs are the most vulnerable. Luckily, a simple vaccine is all it takes to prevent this horrible disease.

here's more info:

http://dogtime.com/parvovirus.html

hope this helps.

Answer 7

As far as I know, she should be put to sleep.  Parvo is similar to AIDS in humans.  It attacks the body in much of the same way.  The puppy will have a hard life.

Answer 8

If you vaccinated the pups in the first place, this wouldn't even be an issue. It disgusts me that you would allow your pups to do through this.

If they were fully vaccinated, they can't "catch" parvo. You obviously didn't make sure they were vaccinated before they were exposed to it.

EDIT: My apologies to you, MY vet told me that my pups couldn't catch Parvo since they're vaccinated. Apparently, from all the people on here, my vet is wrong.

Prevention is the only way to ensure that a puppy or dog remains healthy since the disease is extremely virulent and contagious. It is also extremely hardy and has been found to be present in f***s or other organic material such as soil even after a year, surviving even extremely cold and hot temperatures. The only household disinfectant that kills the virus is bleach.[13]

"It is extremely important to vaccinate puppies and adult dogs against CPV. Weaning puppies should receive initial vaccination of a modified live virus low passage high titer vaccine by a licensed veterinarian at 8 weeks of age, then every 3 to 4 weeks until 15 or 16 weeks. Puppies are initially protected through passive immunity from nursing. These maternal antibodies wear off before the puppy's immune system is mature enough to fight off CPV infection. Maternal antibodies also interfere with vaccination for CPV and can cause vaccine failure. Thus puppies are generally vaccinated in a series of shots, extending from the earliest time that the immunity derived from the mother wears off until after that passive immunity is definitely gone.[23] Older puppies (16 weeks or older) should receive 3 vaccinations 3 to 4 weeks apart. [14] The duration of immunity of vaccines for CPV has been tested for all major vaccine manufacturers in the United States and has been found to be at least three years after the initial puppy series and a booster 1 year later."

EDIT: To actually be helpful (again, I apologize for my comments, I was misinformed by my Vet) here's a website with some great information on home Parvo treatment. Good luck with your pup.  http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/heal_p...

Answer 9

I wipe my own, why are you being so mean? Your vet did misinform you about the parvo. A puppy can get Parvo up to 2 weeks after there last set of shots. Sometimes longer. That is why you should wait 2 weeks or more to walk your puppy or take it around other dogs or puppies after it had it's last set of shots. He may have gotten the shots, but they didn't take affect yet. There are 3 sets of shots that a puppy has to have and in the mean time the puppy could have gotten parvo. You don't know what is going on so why get so rude.

As for older dogs getting it, they say that if you stop getting your dogs shots then yes an older dog may get it, but if you continue to get your dogs shots they usually won't get it.

Here is a website for you.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/canine_p...

Also like dances with woofs says a mutated strain can happen. As for Nutri-Cal that is great stuff. It will give your dog the vitamins that it needs.

I will pray for your puppy.

Answer 10

I am so sorry for you.  All the pups I encountered w/ parvo didnt make it.  Get a food syringe and force feed her oatmeal, broth, anything she might like.  

I will pray for your precious puppy.  

Answer 11

Let me just start off by saying people always like to assume the worst. I'm sorry you have gotten some of the responses you have.

And let me add that my 3 dogs have all their shots and boosters, are on intercept and did have their bordello. Well my dogs were boarded and they all 3 got kennel cough. Your vet is right nothing is full prove, and if they do catch it, it should not be as bad. So because your little girl has the vaccination it may not effect her as severe.

You are doing the best you can with the resources you have available.  I wouldn't worry so much about her no eating, focus more on her fluid intake. And just keep doing what you are doing for her and I hope it all turns out ok.

Answer 12

I think it is a good sign that she's getting up and working. When my dog had puppies one of her dogs got parvo went to the vet gave him some meds during the night he started walking whereas before he wasn't doing anything. He made it through.

Answer 13

this sounds crazy but years ago I could not afford a vet so we gave out pup with parvo raw eggs and pepto (the pink stuff for humans) three times a day. with a large hose or some way for them to get it down.

Our pup made it just fine and vet told us he would die he is 6 now. and hates eggs. Good Luck but it is best to go to a vet if you can.  

Answer 14

Get some meat baby food ( chicken or lamb) and some dry rice baby cereal and mix a jar of the meat with a tablespoon of the cereal and a little water or broth to thin it.You can feed very small amounts with a syringe every few hours.There is also a gel called Nutri-Cal that is great for poor - doing animals.You can get it at your vet or at a pet store. Give as directed. Plain,boiled chicken breast ( no skin or bones) and well-cooked rice or barley is also good,and so is plain yogurt. And keep up the Pedialyte ( unflavored is less likely to make her nauseous.)

Edit: My dogs were fully vaccinated ADULT dogs,and they still caught it! My vet said that it was probably a mutated strain. It happens.

Edit:Parvo is NOT like AIDS. It is a virus which affects the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. My vet has a 95% survival rate if the dogs are brought in to her at the first sign of the disease. I have known quite a few dogs who have survived parvo. Distemper is much worse,believe me.

Answer 15

What antibiotics did your vet give for antibiotics and nausea control? The secondary killer behind fluid loss with parvo pups is sepsis which is a when the infection moves into the blood and becomes generalized. Antibiotics are ineffective orally because the digestive tract is to destroyed/damaged to effectively absorb the meds. You also need to give fluids, you should talk to the vet about administering sub-q fluids. I hope you have been confining the pup to one room, I recommend laying down a tarp with the puppy pen on top of it to contain the home contamination.