What is Parvovirus and what should I know about it?
What is Parvovirus and what should I know about it?
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Pepper came to me when she was just 8 weeks old. She was soooo cute! I loved her instantly. I actually cried when I held her for the first time. We had an instant connection. I knew we were going to be best friends! I quickly took about teaching her how cool life is and all of the fun things she can do. I gave her toys. I taught her to play fetch. I took her to the park. She shredded things in my living room. We had lots of snuggles! It was the best! I loved having such a sweet puppy in my life and I still do!
See how cute she was? Wouldn’t you fall in love too?
On Valentine’s Day, when she had only been a part of our family for two weeks and she was just 10 weeks old she was acting significantly less spunky. She wouldn’t eat or drink. It was very strange for her since she was ALWAYS getting into trouble. I felt like I couldn’t leave her alone for a second. But on this particular day, she was just sleeping a lot and lying around.
I called my mom and asked what to do. She said that puppies will eat and drink when they are hungry and thirsty, so I should just watch her closely. Since she was still so new, I didn’t have a veterinarian picked out for her yet. I did some research to see available veterinarians in the area, but since it was a weekend most of them were closed.
This is a picture of my husband with Pepper at the hospital. He had a cold.
As the day went on, she wasn’t making any improvements, so I made a call to the University where the pet emergency department is. They told me their fees and asked if I wanted to bring her in; I told them I would be there soon.
Going to see the veterinarian
We met with a veterinary student whose first reaction to seeing her was “aww she’s so cute!” even though he sees pets all day. I knew that she was cute, but I love hearing that he thought she was too. He took us back to the exam room and performed an exam. He also took some tests. He told us some things it might be and then left to have the tests run and to consult with the resident veterinarian. One of the things he told us that might be the problem was Parvovirus.
What is Parvovirus?
Parvovirus is something I had never heard of before, despite having grown up with dogs. I did some research on my phone while I was waiting for him to come back. It seemed pretty bad and I was really hoping that wasn’t the problem. When the student came back, he brought the resident vet with him. They confirmed that Pepper had Parvovirus and proceeded to explain what that meant for us. I will try to give you the best explanation that I can.
There are two forms of Parvovirus. The most common is Intestinal, this is what Pepper had. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, lack of appetite, lethargy, and fever. It affects the body’s ability to absorb nutrients and the puppy will become dehydrated very quickly. The less common type is cardiac which attacks the heart muscles of fetuses and very young puppies. This type is often fatal.
Here is more photo evidence that Pepper was cute!
Puppies are usually diagnosed with Parvovirus between 6 weeks and 6 months old. It can be transferred by direct contact with an infected dog or indirectly through an infected dog’s feces. The virus can even live in the soil for up to a year. This can happen in simple ways such as playing fetch with a muddy toy that has been contaminated by the ground, or nearly any contact with other dogs, or dog feces. The virus is resistant to most cleaning products and weather changes. For some reason unknown to veterinarians some breeds are particularly susceptible. They include Rottweilers, Pit Bulls, Labradors, Dobermans, German Shepherds, English Springer Spaniels, and Alaskan Sled Dogs.
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Treatment
There is no cure for Parvovirus and treatment usually focuses on treating the symptoms and preventing a secondary bacterial infection. The puppy will usually receive an IV to ensure that they are hydrated and are getting adequate nutrition. The survival rate is about 70% for puppies who are treated in a hospital. Even after recovery, they will likely still have a weakened immune system for a while.
There is a vaccine for Parvovirus that is given at 6 weeks and then two more times after 10 weeks old.
I don’t have any proof, but I believe Pepper contracted the virus through the soil at the dog park. We would take her to the dog park, and she would play fetch with us. There was a lot of mud there due to it being late winter/early spring and even though I’m sure most dog owners picked up after their dogs, even if just a little bit of contaminated feces was left, she could easily be exposed to it.
The vet told us that she would need to stay at the hospital for a few days in quarantine to be supported through fighting this virus and that we needed to prepare our home for her return. The only things that kill Parvovirus are bleach and UV light. She would also need to stay inside and avoid contact with other dogs for two weeks.
This is from the day she came home from the hospital. You can see she is very sleepy.
They showed us where Pepper would be staying in quarantine. We could see through a window, but no one could go in without a protective antiviral suit on. I cried as we left her at the hospital and drove home.
Preparing for her to come home
I remember thinking that it was a good thing I didn’t need to keep Pepper out of trouble while I completely disinfected everything in my house. It was a lot of work. I cleaned all of the hard floors with a bleach solution and I even put some in a shallow pan to soak the bottoms of our shoes in so that we wouldn’t spread the virus. We washed all of her bedding with bleach too. For all of the surfaces that we couldn’t clean with bleach, I went over with a UV sanitizing light. It took a very long time and it was a lot of hard work.
Pepper in the kitchen while she is sick.
We completely re-organized our house so that Pepper could stay on hard surfaces that would be easier to sanitize until she was better. We moved the kitchen table into our living room and a couch to the border between the living room and the kitchen, with a baby gate covering the rest of the area so that she could wander and play in the kitchen.
Coming home
Luckily, we only had to leave Pepper at the hospital for about 24 hours before we could bring her home. I called in sick to work the day after she came home to be with her and make sure she was ok. She just slept a lot and cuddled a lot (which was very unusual for her) because her body was so busy fighting the virus.
This was a really hard time for us because we were working on potty training Pepper at the same time and that had to go on hold until she was better. We brought home puppy pads and I even sent my husband out to get diapers for her. *
My husband stayed home with her the next day and she started to do much better. She was playing and eating again. Some of her friends (my husband’s friends) who were our neighbors wanted to come by and see her. We asked if they were sure since she was contagious and since our house was set up so weirdly. They agreed and came to play with her for about an hour. It was so nice of them, but we had to remind them to wash their clothes and shoes before going around other dogs.
This is the first time she got to go outside after getting sick.
Recovery
Pepper gradually recovered and got to go outside like a normal dog. We celebrated! It took us a little longer to potty train her after that since she hadn’t been able to go outside at all for two weeks.
All in all, the whole fiasco cost us about $1000! It was super unexpected for us and it was tough to come up with the money so quickly.
After that, we got Pepper some health insurance so that we wouldn’t have to do that again. I just want to be able to say “Yes” to any care that she needs without having to worry about how I am going to pay for it. Now we have insurance through Figo. It costs about $50/month and we have a $250 annual deductible to meet. It’s not a perfect system, but it saves us from having a very large unexpected bill again.
As a result of the Parvo Pepper is also a little bit smaller than she would otherwise be. Her regular vet (now) told us that Parvo can stunt the growth of puppies. It’s not that the virus itself stunts them, but they usually get it when they are very young and growing very quickly. Because their little bodies are spending so much energy on fighting the virus they can’t grow as well during that time and will sometimes be smaller.
We don’t mind her being small. She’s about 50 pounds, which is small for a lab mix. I think she was probably the runt of her litter and had Parvo on top of that. We consider her a custom order. We call her a dark chocolate miniature lab.
Another picture from right after she came home from the hospital, again, she is very sleepy.
Prevention
Recommendations for protecting puppies from Parvovirus include the vaccine of course, but you should also be careful when socializing your dog. Only socialize your dog in a private area with healthy fully vaccinated dogs. Avoid public areas including dog parks, pet stores, and other dog designated areas. If a dog has had Parvo in your home, it is best to not have puppies in the home for several years. A dog who has recovered from Parvo can still be contagious for up to two months after recovery.
You can help to prevent the spread of Parvovirus too. Even if your dog has had the vaccine it is important to always pick up after your dog to protect other puppies!
I hope that this story has helped you understand more about the Parvovirus and how destructive it can be. Please keep your young puppies away from the dog park and other older dogs as much as you can until they have been vaccinated.
Stay happy and love those pups!
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*This is a funny story because he called me from the store and asked me what size to get her. Since we didn’t have any kids yet, I really had no idea what to tell him. I just told him how much she weighed, and he went with that. Luckily that worked and the diapers he brought home fit. We just had to cut a hole for her tail.