Chief is sick...Update, he has parvo. (Ratsicles)

Sorry about Chief. Hope he gets better soon. At least your vet is keeping him at their office. My brother in law has Jayde's sister who 2 days ago was diagnosed with parvo. He hadnt gotten any shots at all for her since he has had her. The only shots she has had is the ones her breeder got them when they turned 6 weeks old. I have gotten Jayde her shots. She got her last set of puppy shots 2 weeks ago.

Well anyways my brother in laws vet pumped Cara full of fluids then sent her home! Yes she is at home right now with parvo. I couldnt believe that when they told me that. I told them that they needed to take her to another vet.

Get well Chief! 

Oh Britt, I'm sorry.  How terrible.  I really hope everything goes well for Chief, and that Punch doesn't get it.  Is there a way to test him before any symptoms show up.  You know, get a jump on the illness?  I've heard that the sooner you catch it, the better the chances are... or rather, the longer you wait, the worse the chances.  But you never hear anything positive about parvo.  

Callie, respectfully, is it ok for you to post the herbals here?  I always see you tell people to pm you, but honestly, I wanna know too.  I'm sure most of us would like to.  We are all sitting here worried beyond belief for Brittany, and Chief, and Punchy.  Chiefs been with us since he was a tiny baby... 

oh how scary Brittany - we don't know anything but are pulling for Chief and Punch and sending you the needed energy to deal with all this. I must say it all boggles the mind

Ugh! I read your post then did some searching on the internet. From what I read, if your dog had something going on to weaken his immune system at the time he got his shots then the shots may not have been effective. Like Callie said though, not all vaccines are 100%.

I hope he pulls through! He is a cute little guy from the pictures you posted and I know you value him as a stock guardian. 

Brittany, I am keeping my fingers crossed for both Chief and Punch. 

calliecritturs

And -- frankly, if you have coyotes, then that's another possible way he got parvo.  Because all they'd need to do is track it from one place to another and coyotes probably can get parvo because they are essentially canids of a sort. 

Coyotes can definitely get parvo.  It probably got lost in all the flack that you received when you first got Chief, but I suggested the Neopar parvo vaccine because of the coyotes when you first got Chief.  You must always assume that parvo is on your property as long as you have coyotes. 

Chief may have picked up a strain of parvo from the coyotes that his vaccines didn't fully protect against.  What vaccine was used (manufacturer) and at what ages was it administered?

http://www.drugs.com/vet/neopar.html

Description

NEOPAR is a modified live virus vaccine containing a high antigenic mass per dose of a highly immunogenic strain of canine parvovirus.  Gentamicin and Amphotericin B are used as preservatives.

NeoPar Indications

NEOPAR is for the vaccination of healthy dogs against disease due to canine parvovirus. NEOPAR is designed to be used primarily where the severe threat of canine parvovirus infections exists in the resident dog population.

This vaccine gives reliable protection against infections by other known strains of canine parvovirus.

NEOPAR overrides moderate to high antibody levels such as those found in puppies having maternal antibodies or in dogs from pre-existing vaccination. It can be used successfully as a booster for a pre-existing vaccination.

Puppies vaccinated with NEOPAR generated high levels of the IgM and IgG classes of antibodies.

http://icwdm.org/handbook/carnivor/Coyotes.asp

Distemper, hepatitis, parvo virus, and mange (caused by parasitic mites) are among the most common coyote diseases. Rabies and tularemia also occur and may be transmitted to other animals and humans. Coyotes harbor numerous parasites including mites, ticks, fleas, worms, and flukes.

calliecritturs

You can't vax the pup now -- a vaccine takes at least 3 weeks to really form immunity.  And a vax with a modified live could be disasterous. 

Would you please explain why a MLV vaccine for Punch could be disasterous right now?  If Punch is due for a vaccine soon, should it be delayed?

 Britanny, I'm so sorry to hear about Chief. I'm sure you must be freaking out pretty intensely, but Chief's got a good shot at coming through this A-Okay with the marvels of modern medicine and a caring owner behind him. Same with the little pup.

It is very possible for older puppies, even adult dogs to come down with parvo. We recently had a 1 year old husky mix come down with parvo, thankfully, we caught it in time, and she made it. For anysort of strange behavior - we always test for parvo, because there IS parvo on our property - it's a shelter, it will happed. Bandit was vaccinated, but she still caught it.

Parvo lives in the soil, as well as in other animals ***. It's possible that the parvo has been there since you moved in. A pup can catch parvo anywhere, from walking down the sidewalk, to stepping paw in his backyard. Bleach everything. The grass, pastures, everything. Bleach is the ONLY thing that will kill it - not straight bleach though, has to be mixed, I don't know the exact measurments, someone else should.

Good luck to Cheif! As long as they keep getting fluids into him, he'll pull through - pups are lost to parvo when they have no water left in them.

Ratsicles

Chief has Parvo.

Make sure your vet knows about Tamiflu (link).  It is a relatively new (but expensive) treatment for parvo.

I can't vouch for the effectiveness of these products, but take a look with Punch in mind:

Parvaid (link)

ParvoGuard (link)

erica1989

Bleach is the ONLY thing that will kill it - not straight bleach though, has to be mixed, I don't know the exact measurments, someone else should.

The ratio is 1:10 bleach to water.

Just like you can get flu intensified if you take a flu shot while coming down with it, a dog can theoretically get parvo via a vaccine.  Now there are those who will argue it -- but it's medical opinion that is out there (hence - when you quarantine a dog in the UK or somewhere that doesn't have rabies, they are as iffy about a dog who has been vaccinated recently as they are an unvaccinated dog).

The whole reason they developed a killed vaccine was so the vaccine didn't transmit the disease.

At the very least, administering vaccines stress the immune system so that alone is reason enough not to vaccinate now.  And he's "exposed" to already so his body is likely already trying TO make antibodies.

  I'm so sorry; Poor Chief; I'm praying for him and sending you cyber hugs. I hope the vet is right and Punch doesn't get it.

kle1986

Sorry about Chief. Hope he gets better soon. At least your vet is keeping him at their office. My brother in law has Jayde's sister who 2 days ago was diagnosed with parvo. He hadnt gotten any shots at all for her since he has had her. The only shots she has had is the ones her breeder got them when they turned 6 weeks old. I have gotten Jayde her shots. She got her last set of puppy shots 2 weeks ago.

Well anyways my brother in laws vet pumped Cara full of fluids then sent her home! Yes she is at home right now with parvo. I couldnt believe that when they told me that. I told them that they needed to take her to another vet.

Get well Chief! 

There isn't a lot they CAN do for parvo. It's a virus -- antibiotics don't do anything.  And a dog that is constantly tended to AT HOME vs. a dog left in a crate at a vet clinic?  The dog at home with family willing to tend to it night and day is probably better off.   Morale can play a huge part in getting well.

A dog that got shots 2 weeks ago may still come down with parvo.  The incubation for parvo is 9 days I believe, and if the dog was exposed while it was in the early days after it was vax'd probably hasn't developed immunity.

 In other words, the clock starts ticking when EXPOSURE happens, not when a dog they know comes down with parvo.  He's been contagious for a few days ... not just today when he was diagnosed.  make sense?

calliecritturs

At the very least, administering vaccines stress the immune system so that alone is reason enough not to vaccinate now.  And he's "exposed" to already so his body is likely already trying TO make antibodies.

Callie, if Punch does not come down with parvo in the next 2 weeks, do you think that it would be safe to continue Punch's vaccinations then?

There is a significant amount of medical misinformation in this thread that directly contradicts medical fact in regards to appropriate vaccination and treatment in the face of high risk exposure . I would encourage anyone reading this, especially brittany to consult a vet and strongly consider their well trained recomendations over some of what you read here. Remember you do not know the credentials of anyone on the internet and you do know your vet's. These things aren't debatable, they have been proven in prospective randomized studies and it frankly infurates me that people continue to give recommendations despite evolving medial knowledge that could potentially harm someone's pet. Immunology is not a new science, these things should have trickled down by now. Killed vaccines in general are INFERIOR to attenuated live, they were not developed to be better by any means. It does not take 3 weeks to develop immunity from a vaccine, this was PROVEN by vaccinating puppies against various things and exposing them to the virus at different points after vaccine and seeing if they got the virus. Vaccinating punch right now may very well be the smartest plan since he is in a VERY high risk situation right now. (Ex: kid gets meningitis as college, they vaccinate the whole dorm immediately, same concept)