Doug Robinson
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Warsaw, New York
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Vets Opinion
Just wanted to clear a couple of things up here on Parvo. Giving one vaccination does nothing to protect a puppy from Parvo virus. The first vaccine basically neutralizes (uses up) the maternal antibodies that the pup already has in its system which theoretically makes it even more prone to Parvo virus. The second, third and fourth vaccine activates the immune system to provide antibodies to protect the pup against parvo virus. So there is a big window of opportunity here when vaccinating pups which usually occurs between 3 and 4 months of age. This is why I'm strongly against taking pups of this age to fairgrounds. I've seen so many pups die from various diseases picked up at fairgrounds including coccidia, parvo, and hookworms or a combination of the above.
The other misconception is that giving more vaccinations provides more immunity. This appears to be true up to 4 vaccines separated 3 weeks apart. It is highly possible to cause a weakening of the immune system from over vaccination and challenging the immune system in pups. It is common to see pups coming from breeders that receive vaccinations every 2 weeks and by the 4th vaccination these pups break with a vaccine associated parvo like disease. The ideal time frame for vaccinating pups has been found to be every 3 weeks starting from the time the pup is weaned from the mother. It is also important that the pup receive its last parvo vaccination at or after 4 months of age. Most of the major vaccination companies are currently recommending 4 vaccines , 3 weeks apart starting at 6-8 weeks of age and giving the last one at 4 months or older.
Early detection and treatment of Parvo will usually provide the best outcomes. I don't know any veterinarian that likes to treat parvo cases and it does create a huge risk for hospital born infections to other dogs. I know of many veterinarians who turn them away in this area and send them down the road to someone who will hospitalize them. I've had great success teaching people how to treat their pups at home. The key here is fluids, fluids, fluids. The maintenance fluid rate on a healthy 10 pound puppy is approx. 11 ml per hour or 260 ml per day. A puppy that is suffering from parvo is 2-3 x that level depending on how much fluids are being lost from vomiting and diarrhea. The best way to monitor this is weighing them daily and watching for signs of dehydration ie. picking up the skin on the tops of their head, neck, back and watching for signs of skin tenting where the skin doesn't fall back fast to the body after picking up away from the body and releasing. Mucous membranes of the mouth should also be moist and not sticky or dry. Most parvo cases will require 2 x maintenance or 1/2 liter per 10 pounds of body weight of fluids per day. The only way to achieve that consistently is with either IV fluids or SQ fluids. It is very difficult to get that much fluid into a pup orally and there are many cases that cannot hold anything down orally. Pedialyte is an alternative solution in mild cases, but will not do much in severe cases where vomiting is difficult to control.
If you want to treat parvo cases at home, then get your hands on Lactated Ringers Solution which can be purchased in 250ml, 1 Liter, 3 Liter, or 5 Liter bags. Place an IV set on the fluid bag and an 18 gauge needle on the end of the IV set and hang the bag up high to allow for good gravity. Place the needle under a skin tent created by picking up the skin on the shoulders and running the fluids under the skin to create a large softball appearing mass under the skin. These fluids will absorb fast, usually within a few hours. I recommend splitting up the daily requirement into at least 4 treatments 8 hours apart.
It is also important to treat for secondary bacterial infections in these pups since most parvo cases will have a secondary bacterial ie. E.Coli infection present. I like to use either Gentocin or Baytril antibiotics for the first few days. Baytril is a very safe antibiotic to use in pups for a short period of time (less than 5 days) but extensive use over this time frame has lead to cartilage growth problems in fast growing pups. You can buy Gentocin in farm stores but I don't like using this over 3 days on pups because of the risk of kidney damage. I've mixed up bags of Lactated Ringers Solution along with Baytril antibiotic/vitamin B-complex and B12/ Metoclopramide (anti-vomiting)/ and Famotadine (Pepcid-AC) for my clients who couldn't afford in hospital treatment of Parvo cases. This works really well.
A bland diet of boiled chicken breast and rice ground up and softened works well to enhance eating. You can also purchase prescription diet I/D or Eukanuba Low Residue from the veterinarian which works great for these cases.
New research shows a great benefit of starting Tamaflu on parvo pups early on with significant improvements in treatment success. This has to be started in the first 24 hours of detection of the infection to have much benefit however. The goverment was also hoarding Tamaflu and putting in storage for potential future outbreaks of Avian Influenza in humans so its availability can be sketchy at times. I think everyone should have a bottle of this stuff in their medicine cabinet.
Bleach is a great cleaning solution and is parvocidal. There is no solution proven better than Bleach at killing Parvo at this time. Mix the bleach with water at a concentration of 1:20 for kennel dissenfection and 1:40 for cleaning counters, utensils etc.. Remove all organic material such as feces, food etc. from the area first and let bleach stand on the area for at least 30 minutes prior to rinsing off. You can also treat the lawn with a dilute bleach solution to help kill off Parvo virus, but the virus is very hardy being an enveloped virus and can hide out in soil for close to a year.
Once a pup recovers from Parvo virus it can be naturally immune to Parvo for life. We still recommend vaccinating for Parvo though every three years and usually give the pup a month to recover before finishing vaccinations. Most dogs that make it past one year of age are naturally immune to Parvo from exposure. The most common breeds we see developing Parvo are Rottweillers and Pitbulls and most are on poor nutritional programs with no history of being vaccinated. I can't emphasize the importance of good nutrition in pups and routine deworming and flea control. Pups should be dewormed every 2 weeks starting at 6 weeks of age until they are 4 months old and then monthly. I like a combination of pyrantel pamoate/febentel as found in Drontal Plus or alternating the two each time you deworm. You can buy the horse dewormers in a liquid formulation and dose at 1ml/10# for each solution. I like Frontline for flea prevention at 8 weeks of age and used at least monthly for flea and tick prevention. I also recommend the Heartgard Plus tablets once a month for heartworm/hookworm/ and roundworm prevention. These should be started at 8 weeks of age as well.
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Doug Robinson
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09-27-2007 02:45 PM
