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Puppy with Parvo

7K views 36 replies 33 participants last post by  Pat Puwal 
#1 · (Edited)
It wasn’t that long ago that I posted my interest in acquiring a puppy so that I could try my hand at training a new hunting buddy and possibly some hunt tests. I was fortunate enough to receive several replies with advice and recommendations. After some research I settled on a black lab male from a breeder in Kansas City and literally could not sleep the night before picking him up.

Once we got him home, the pup was everything I hoped he would be. He was house and crate trained within days and seemed to soak up every bit of training as we started to work through Hillman’s puppy training DVD.

On Father’s Day, my little buddy, Cash, began vomiting out of the blue. The diarrhea kicked in the next morning and I had him at the vet by 7:00 AM. A couple hours later the vet called to tell me that he had tested positive for parvo.

I couldn’t believe what she was telling me. She had warned us about parvo when we brought him in for his second round of shots. I made sure to not bring him to any public areas and to generally restrict his exposure to anywhere but our yard. I did bring him to a ranch one weekend and to some friend’s houses with vaccinated dogs, but that was really it.

The vet thought he would recover, but Cash just got worse as the week progressed. On Thursday night he started having seizures. I got thecall that next morning that he didn’t make it through the night.

I just wanted to share my story so that other new puppy owners understand how dangerous this virus can be. I just keep going over and over the places Itook him trying to figure out where he might have picked it up, which has obviously proven fruitless.

Its crazy how attached you can get to a pup in a month and a half. I really miss coming home and working with him in the evenings. The kicker with parvo, is that I will have to wait another eight or so monthsbefore I can get another puppy since my yard is now contaminated.

I’ve visited with the breeder and am hoping he will have another litter around that time. He has been very supportive and even offered to loan me a trained dog through hunting season. If he doesn’t end up with another litter in the right time frame, I will come back to this forum to seewhat is available. I would like to find a breeder who is willing to keep a puppy through his third round of vaccinations, just to try and play it as safe as possible.

Thank you for everyone’s support in getting newbie going. I’ll keep reading and soaking upinformation in anticipation of my next little buddy.
 

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#28 ·
Several year back we had a puppy buyer who had lost a puppy to parvovirus. He asked if we would keep the puppy until all the initial shots were given. We discussed this with our vet and figured out that the best time would be about a week after the 4th Parvovirus vaccine. Our vet said she likes to give 4 puppy shots because of the possibility that the first one may not be effective because of the mother's immunity. Anyway, we agreed to hold on to the puppy until a week after the fourth vaccine was given, the buyer of course agreed to reimburse us for the additional vet costs and even gave us some extra money for our trouble. His puppy grew up healthy....unfortunately a few years later due to some unfortunate family distractions, he forgot to get the annual booster and the adult dog died of parvovirus.
 
#29 · (Edited)
So sorry for the awful loss of your pup, Cash.. Not taking a puppy places to help prevent something like Parvo...in my mind would be like a dog park (to play and socialize), or places like that..

Keeping a pup isolated though is not really good as they imprint and exposure to sounds, rides in car/truck, children..training sessions to hear all that goes on there, including gun shots out in the field while safely in their crate or on leash or an x-pen so they can watch ..even just off line, a gallery location etc...

He visited the vet for his checkups as he should..even there is a place, I guess, he could have been exposed..

So, a very sad story..nothing that points to a place that pup should never have gone..

Godspeed, Cash...sweet pup, and my most sincere condolences to your family..

Judy
 
#30 ·
I don't want to freak you out but I had a ylf who had all her puppy shots on schedule and still got parvo. The good news is that though she was deathly ill for about a week, she came out of it and went on to a successful obedience and hunt test career. We cleaned up the house and spots in the yard where we knew that she had relieved herself.
 
#33 ·
Please ask your breeder to consider using Neopar vaccine. It was developed for use initially by the "commercial" breeders (aka puppy mills) and works VERY well to override maternal antibodies and get that vaccine response to work. I've used it for ~10 yrs now after another friend brought parvo home from a vet's office. The vets I use have told me they've not seen another outbreak where the bigger breeders (who used to have issues) use it. I think it is WELL worth it.
http://neotechvaccines.com/neopar/
http://neotechvaccines.com/
 
#34 ·
organic material- dirt, grass, feces, rotting leaves in your yard, etc... So, spraying down your lawn with bleach really doesn't provide a disinfectant effect because of the dirt, grass, debris, etc that is present.

Appropriate contact time with bleach, at an appropriate dilution rate, on the right surfaces, makes for good disinfection.

FWIW, some vaccine companies guarantee their vaccines if you can document that vaccines were given at an appropriate frequency, by a veterinarian, with lot numbers recorded. I believe their guarantee covers puppies >16 weeks, and I forgot what the limit is that they pay for treatment. I consider it uncommon for an appropriately vaccinated dog to develop parvo because of the documented long standing immunity to the vaccine. However, we often make the assumption that every dog responds perfectly and develops fantastic immunity, and that's probably not true.
 
#35 ·
Cash was a beautiful boy and I am very sorry for your loss. I too lost a wonderful puppy around 3-4 months of age to that miserable virus. This was back in 2004 and it still sucks. Like you I had been very careful and like you, I never figured out where he contracted it. There is absolutely no good time to lose one, but when you lose one young, they are all potential and zero faults and it really hurts that you never got to see them do what they were born to do, that you never shared a sunrise in a swamp or rice field, that you never saw them tremble with excitement as mallards circled...it's just a bitch. Again, I'm very sorry.
 
#36 ·
Thanks again for everyone's kind words. WindyCanyon - I will definitely ask about the Neopar vaccine next time. Trifecta - My vet mentioned that the vaccine manufacturer may have been able to pay for treatment, but the first vaccine was given by the breeder. The vaccine manufacturer did pay for a necropsy though which helped dispel worries about distemper or some other neurological disorder that the vet had suspected might have come into play along with the Parvo. The only other issue was a lung infection that I am told was likely developed due to Cash's suppressed immune system.
 
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