[1969pepgirl]

We took my sons dog to the vet and she tested positive for parvo.
The vet gave as some medicine for her told us to give us to give her gatorade to keep her hydrated,and just wanted us out of his office fast,he could careless if she lives or dies,he got his money,and they were cleaning around us as we were still trying to ask questions.
I asked him if she started getting worse if we should bring her back,and he said they did not want her back in their office(because of the contamination).

So what's the reason to pay a vet when he could care less.

Can anyone help me(already been to the vet)

We gave boots her medicine and have forced gatorade down her,the vet told us not to feed her for 24 hours,when the 24 hours was up and we gave her(forced)a few small bites of baby food(turkey&rice)she vomited for the first time since going to the vet.

Does this mean there is no hope for her?(we can't go back to the vet)(he will not see her again until the parvo is gone)(so at least 3 weeks from now).

I really need some good advice,I want to make sure we give her every fighting chance to live.(please do not tell me to get her to the vet asap as I did that already,some small town crappy vets just don't care).

She won't eat the baby food or her wet food made into a slurry,she also refused real chicken&rice so I don't think she's going to want to eat anything else like yogurt.

She does however once in awhile take a small drink of water on her own,the gatorade and the Pedialyte by force.

She only perks up if we take her outside,she has a fever of 103.6

We went to the vet at 9.00a.m. on January the 4th 2008 and today is January the 5th at 3.26p.m. so she is only in the first few hours of treatment.so does this sound normal?

If anyone has some helpful information I'am all ears.

My son and his girlfriend just resently adopted boots for our local pound and had not yet made her vets appointment for her shots.

I've called the vets office several times and they just act like I'am bothering them because they've already been paid.(so they don't care).


Please help us keep boots alive.


Thanks

[twinkiedooter]

Contact the pound IMMEDIATELY and report that Boots has Parvo as this is a highly contagious dog disease and a lot of other animals may already have it at the pound! DO NOT DELAY CONTACTING THE POUND AS EVERY ONE OF THE ANIMALS WILL HAVE TO BE TESTED AND PROBABLY PUT DOWN. To have adopted an animal from the pound that has Parvo and take the animal home and introduce it to your beloved other pets and for them to contract this and die unknowingly due to the other animal next to the one say you adopted is horrible.

The vet's office has to be steralized top to bottom - probably the parking lot also. It's not that the vet has no heart... he cares about his patients and does not want this horrible plague to infect the entire dog population of the small town if he can help it. It is not cheap to properly steralize a vet's office and grounds either. He has to do this pronto.

I hate to tell you this but I don't think she has a chance and will pass soon. Be prepared as this is a highly virulent dog disease that has a very high mortality rate. I lost a beautiful German Shepard due to a neighbor's poisoning. We kept her alive for 2 weeks due to expensive vet visits and lots of Pedialite but she still went in my arms.

Be kind to Boots, it was not her fault. Come down on the pound for not properly testing the animals in their facility.

Also, your entire family home and car MAY BE INFECTED WITH PARVO. You need to go online immediately and see what for disinfectant is needed to kill this. Your clothes, shoes, furniture, car interior, kids, etc. and anywhere that Boots was IS INFECTED.

My son used to work with Animal Control, Broward County, Florida, and when I told him about your post just now he had a fit and told me that a freshly dead dog about 60 lbs was picked up and the live animal that was in the back of the truck immediately had to be transported in another vehicle so that the other animal would not get infected. Both he and the other officer had to disinfect each other's clothes and shoes before they even got back into the truck!

This is a very very very serious situation you have at your residence right now and should not be taken lightly. This could result in the death of every single dog in your area if you don't act right away.

Be sure to remove any feces immediately from your yard and disinfect the area. I don't know where to dispose of this but don't leave it in your yard! Any bodily fluid should be considered contagious also.

[aliang87]

Parvo is a very serious disease. One of my dogs, maggie, got it when she was a puppy, which I also got her from the animal shelter. Apparently, it's very common there because I read that it's spread from dog to dog by physical contact and contact with feces. She became ill a couple of days after we got her and we took her to the vet right away.

I'm confused as to why your vet is acting like that, but I do understand that he/she doesn't want to infect others. When we took maggie to the vet, they told us that most puppies die from this disease and that we could either put her down or try saving her (with the knowledge that it still might not save her). We opted to try to save her. If I remember it correctly, the vet hospitalized her for a few days where they treated her with ivs and antibiotics.

What I would do is to find another vet. Call as many as you have to and find one that would hospitalize yours and explain the way that your current vet is treating the situation. That's what I would do in this case.

However, if you do decide to try and treat your dog yourself, then this site might help. But I don't know how effective it is. Amber Technologies - Parvaid

[1969pepgirl]

The first thing we did was contact the pound(they don't have the money there for the dogs will be put down)
And we already know that bleach is the only thing that kills the parvo virus.
I was not asking how to kill parvo in the house and on the ground and outside etc.
And I do not live in my sons house(my yorkie is 3 years old and has his shots)
I'am asking for help to save boots(my sons dog)and his other puppy buddy is only 5 weeks old there for we can't get his shots until he is 6 weeks old. Nor will the vet see buddy because of the chance he has parvo. They said watch him and if he acts sick come in and get medicine but do not bring him in.

I do in fact blame the vet because I told them when I called for the appointment that the puppy most likely had parvo,and I told them all her symptons.
They make sure to get their money before they slam the door shut on you and your parvo infected dog.
If you charge someone for a service than you need to provide that service,if they did not like the fact that the test come back positive then we hated it even more.
Maybe a vets office should have a different entrance and exit for parvo puppies,if they can't afford to build a better building to run their business out of that's their problem,just like the vet bill is mine.a vet is there to save pets!

And if you don't have a helpful answer why would you even bother to answer!that just stupid.

Bleach kills parvo but I can't feed that to the puppy!
And boots is confined away from buddy(but someone is with her all the time so she does not get sad and lonely and to make sure she is drinking.

We have called everyone who's dog may have come in contact with boots.
Gee thanks for the help.

[twinkiedooter]

Call the Health Department if the pound does not have the money to properly take care of their animals. They will promptly close the pound and not reopen it until it has cleaned up it's act.

Gee I'm sorry that you did not include all the above details about having already contacted the pound, etc. I'm not a mind reader or psychic. I was just trying to help and inform you about how serious this disease is. I really don't think Boots is going to make it and stated as such since you are trying to treat her yourself you're not going to be able to properly give her the iv's etc she needs. Only a miracle will save her, I'm sorry to say. God bless her.

[aliang87]

I'm really sorry if my suggestion didn't help. I know what you are going through... the feeling of helplessness. I'm going through that right now. My other dog, beau, is dying from stomach cancer. We've come to the decision to put him down, but it's a matter of when at the moment. We're trying to get as much time with him as possible right now and to make him feel so loved and comfortable.

As I've stated, I've been through the whole parvo process and maggie came out great. Boots needs to be hospitalized and the only way to do that is to find another vet that'll treat her. I'd be furious with the vet too! You're paying for them to do their job, but they're just brushing you off. But I don't believe all vets would act that way... esp. since ours didn't. If you can't find another vet, then maybe you should ask for them to supply you with ivs to treat her with. That's all I can think of and I'm sorry if I can't be more helpful and I'm not one to say that she's doomed. Anything can happen and I do hope that boots will be fine!

[labman]

Your only hope is to get the puppy to a vet that will put it on IV tonight. It is very expensive even if another vet's mal practice didn't force you into weekend rates.

Unfortunately the shelters tend to be poorly funded and often can't keep qualified help. If you do search here, you will find many people have puppies come down with parvo almost as soon as they get them home. All too often expensive treatment fails to save the puppy.

I didn't look at that link. It may or may not be helpful as far as getting fluids into the puppy. As Aling and I both said, the puppy needs IV's and soon. If you would like more and reliable info on parvo see, Canine Parvovirus, What you should know about I trust the AVMA's website. Many dog info websites are terrible.

[1969pepgirl]

Boots is acting like herself today,she is hydrated(her skin goes right back in place,her gums are pink).and she ate food for the first time today,and so far she has kept in down.(she ate on her own with no one forcing her).
We know that its still touch and go from here(for the next week to a month)but at least she is proving to be the strong girl I know she is.
The kids are working around the clock to give her courage,strength and support.I'am so pround of them for not giving up on her(even though its a lot of hard work on top of having to hold down their jobs).

So far buddy is not sick and as soon as the vet will allow we will get his shots.we are praying little 5 week old buddy will not get parvo.(he is so small).(they have been separated from each other from the time we found out boots has parvo).

If anyone has any ideal to help her with recovery or just some incouraging words that would be so welcome.(we know she could relapse).


Thanks for any help.

[labman]

I am always pleased to see positive reports. While it is possible home treatment will save your puppy, I still would like to to see you find a vet that would treat it more aggressively. I certainly would have one lined up for the first sign of problems with Buddy. Even if you manage to save the first puppy yourself, I wouldn't count on the second.

Buddy's best hope is immunity passed on from his mother. It may have saved him from what was most likely already being exposed to parvo. He is still at risk. If you read the AVMA link I posted, you can see there is a window between the mother's immunity wearing off, and when a shot will give him immunity. You need to diligently clean everything you can with bleach. Since parvo can spread by air, it might be best to get him out of the house for now. Perhaps one of the vet techs here can explain it better, but vets can ''check titer'' and see if a dog has antibodies to parvo. Vets seldom do. I guess it is usually easier just to keep giving the dog more shots over its first few months that to check titer. In this case, it might be better for him to be in a different home until he tests immune to parvo. The usual rule is that parvo virus remains 6 months, but may last longer in cold weather. It may even last 10 years. It will be a long time until parts of your yard that Boots eliminated in will be safe for a young puppy or other dog not immune to parvo.

[Sarah_the_vet_tech]

First of all I'm glad to see Boots is doing good. Usually in the case of parvo we tell people to stay in the car and we come out to them. We do the test and the whole nine yards in the car. We gown up from head to toe. We give them an IV set up to take home and they give the pups IV fluids subcutaneously at home. And its very easy. We tell them to not feed the puppy at all. Because the more you feed the more they vomit and the more dehydrated they become. There is also two injections that we give them to take home. One is for vomiting and the other is a gut antibiotic. We treat parvo very seriously. We see about 5-10 cases a week. And we tell our owners every 12 hours they survive without getting worse their chances increase.

As far as Buddy goes he has already been exposed to the virus. It usually takes 7 days from when the first dog started showing symptoms (shedding the virus) for the other dog to become sick. Watch him for any changes in behavior like feeling depressed, diarrhea, vomiting, or not wanting to eat. Then get him to the vet as soon as possible. Preferably another vet considering I don't like how this one handled it. Just pray that his immunity from his mom is still present. Hope this helped.

[aliang87]

I'm so happy to hear that boots is doing better. I would really take in what labman and sarah had mentioned... they really know their stuff. I hope you were able to find a different vet because you would need to find one in case buddy's immune system can't fight off the virus.

Please keep us updated!