How to Recognize the Symptoms of Canine Parvovirus ("Parvo")

Being new dog and now puppy owners, my husband and I were very surprised at the number of dog parvo cases we saw when we took our pregnant dog to an emergency vet clinic recently. This is a very serious virus, but there are a number of dog owners who don't know about it. So I decided to research and write this article for that reason.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• The desire to learn more about how you can prevent canine parvo, or a dog that is displaying symptoms that I discuss in the article.

1. In interviewing the emergency vet, she stated that the dogs that are most in danger of getting parvo have not been vaccinated and are usually in the puppy or young adult stage. Adult dogs are not naturally immune if they have not been vaccinated as puppies.
   
   Parvo is spread by the stool of an infected dog and is picked up through ingestion. Something people don't think about with primarily indoor dogs is the possibility of bringing something in on your shoes or on your hands after doing yard work. This is why vaccinating your dogs when they're puppies is vitally important. The virus itself can be active for months in the environment.

2. The primary symptoms of parvo include lethargy (complete lack of energy), fever, vomiting (even after stomach is empty), and diarrhea. The dog is usually unresponsive and eventually refuses to get up even when assisted. This can happen quickly over the course of a couple of days and is sometimes mistaken for food poisoning. Without treatment however, the biggest danger is the dog dying from dehydration.
   
   If your dog is displaying these symptoms (it may not even be all of them in combination), contact your vet immediately or rush it to the nearest emergency vet. There is a very high mortality rate for dogs that go untreated.

3. A mixture of bleach and water has been found to kill the virus and is used in vet offices and kennels to sterilize high dog traffic environments.

Tips & Warnings

• Canine Parvo is not dangerous to humans, but you need to avoid contact with infected dogs if at all possible because of the potential to spread it to other dogs you're in contact with.
• This is a fairly new virus that was first identified in 1978. I did not grow up with having dogs as pets, so I wasn't fully aware of it until speaking with the vet. Some of the owners had heard of the virus, and others had not. Vaccinating your puppies and dogs and recognizing any symptoms early are very important. We're definitely having our puppies vaccinated as soon as they're old enough.
• If you're reading this, I hope your dog never gets this, but I wanted to take the time to write this however on the slight chance it may save a puppy or dog's life.

[Pixie1976]

on 7/6/2008 Excellent information.