Parvo Articles

Parvo is a Killer In Dogs

Parvo is a serious viral disease that can be deadly even when treatment is started swiftly. The Parvovirus is a disease that attacks dividing cells. The most prominent location for dividing cells in your dog’s body is the intestinal lining or the lining of the digestive system. When this disease attacks and kills these cells it causes dogs and puppies to unable to absorb nutrients or liquids. Parvo is seen more in puppies than in adult dogs, but both can catch the disease.

The most obvious symptoms of parvo include diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy and dehydration. Dogs will suffer loss of appetite, diarrhea, high fever, and depression. Their stool can be very liquid, foul smelling, usually yellow in color, and may sometimes contain blood. The secondary symptoms appear as severe gastrointestinal distress, which includes vomiting and bloody diarrhea. The later stages of parvo lead to server dehydration, convulsions, shock, and eventual death.

The transmission of the parvovirus from one dog to another is through their feces and can be alarmingly rapid. It can be carried in an adult dog that shows no outward signs, but the disease can be found in their stool. The disease is not an air born type, but can be spread through the sole of your shoe and even birds may carry this deadly disease into your yard if they have been in contact with the infected feces.

Puppies and dogs which have not been vaccinated are particularly at risk but even dogs which have been vaccinated against parvo can still catch and carry the disease. Early diagnosis and treatment can offer an 80% survival rate but this drops sharply if treatment is delayed. Without treatment the survival rate is less than 20% in dogs to less than 1% in puppies.

Once an outbreak of the Parvovirus has been confirmed, everything the dogs came into contact with needs to be sterilized or incinerated and all areas scrubbed or steam cleaned. This also applies to the boots, shoes and clothing of anyone who came in contact with them.