In the past there was no
treatment and all you could do is watch your
puppies die from a horrible virus that is one of
the most painful of all deaths. Now Parvo has
become even more tenacious with lasting longer
(up to nine days) with tearing your puppy apart
from the inside out. The new parvo has become
stronger over time but vaccinations have
continued to keep it at bay to those dogs that
are vaccinated properly.
Parvovirus, Canine
parvovirus is a highly contagious viral
infection causing lethargy, loss of appetite,
vomiting and diarrhea.
How could this happen
to us?
On July 12th, 2006 my
little light blue girl wasn't eating her dinner
so I took her out of my litter of twelve and
spent some time with her to see what was going
on. She played, licked my face and romped around
the kennel building so I put her back after
awhile and wrote it off as just one of those
things...?? On July 13th I found her laying in
the run, away from all the other puppies. I
scooped her up and as I did she tossed up her
water that she had been drinking. She was acting
lethargic and couldn't keep her balance. I
checked her temperature and it was 103.5. Off to
the vet she went. I kept thinking she must of
eaten something or has a cold or could it be
coccidia?
Shortly after arriving at the
vet, Wayne called and I was told she had Parvo...I
just sat there stunned and then cried because
all I could remember is what I had heard in the
past of Parvo wiping out the whole litters. I
asked the vet to keep her and he put her on I.V.
fluids along with antibiotics.
When Wayne got home we took
our remaining 11 puppies and split them up into
groups of two, scrubbed the building (again)
with bleach and took all their temperatures.
Everyone had normal temperatures, eating good
and playing.We started antibiotics that night.
On the 14th I picked up blue
girl from the vet, they said there really wasn't
a lot they could do except for keeping her on
IV's and I could do this at home. We also picked
up more of the new antiviral drug Tamiflu (was
made for the bird flu, but was working on parvo
dogs), cephalexin and metronidezole to start all
the puppies at home on, there was hope I
thought.
By the 16th blue girl was
crashing, she was dieing and I felt so
helpless...I watched her cry in pain for
sometime on the 17th after sitting up with her
all night. All I could do is hold her and cry
too...., she passed away around 8:30am.
On the 18th two more boys got
sick and we moved them into the house.
On the 19th eight of the
remaining eleven were in the house. Two boys and
one girl still didn't show any signs and were
out in the kennel building playing and eating
with normal temperatures.
On the 20th, the one girl
still not sick, was now sick too.......
By the morning of the 21st I
was frantic; we were doing sub Q fluids around
the clock along with the meds. But five of the
nine weren't getting any better and I just
couldn't go through what I had seen with blue
girl.
I got a call from a breeder
in KY that knew a lady up north that had a
rottweiler that had survived parvo. I called and
found out that this rottweiler puppy was over
four months of age but had blood transfusions
and survived.
My next call was to my vet
(to say the least I was very upset that they
hadn't mentioned the blood transfusions) and
made arrangements to take the five sickest
puppies in for a transfusion.
Then the hunt was
on for as much information on blood transfusion
and parvo as I could find. Several friends and
breeders researched the web and made calls to
Universities around the U.S. along with calls to
the Animal Blood Banks.
We were hunting for a dog
that had parvo in the past as their antibodies
would normally be stronger than normal due to
fighting off this virus and survived. We found
several dogs thanks to all those friends that
sent out e-mails and made calls.
But, we had already done the
transfusion with our young two year old girl
and a donor for the five puppies. We had also
found out that Plasma was a course of action
that was used for treatment in parvo cases.
The five puppies that got the
blood transfusion also got plasma twenty four
hours later. We now had four vets working with
us as we were doing all the care at home with
injectable medications, better fluids (dextrose)
and research. Our downstairs had turned into a
puppy ward with I.V.'s hanging from the ceiling
and x-pens set up all over the place...all in
some type of order by the sickest to the
healthiest.
The downside to this was that
no one had ever saved a whole litter of 7 week
old rottweiler puppies even with this treatment.
It was a gamble but I was willing to try at any
expense.
On Sunday July
23rd at 3:44 am we lost purple girl, she was one
of the five that we had tried the blood and
plasma with.
But then on the same
day purple boy was eating, playing and drinking
water...he was heading towards recovery. On
Sunday evening three of the last five were still
doing poorly with bloody diarrhea and lethargic.
We drove those three to the vet to have them put
down as I couldn't watch another puppy die from
such horrible pain. But when we got to the vets
all three puppies were sitting up looking at us
with those big black eyes. The vet couldn't do
it and asked that we wait a little longer....The
final two boys that were outside were now sick
also and in the puppy ward.....
On Monday July
24th at 1:00am we had to put White boy down he
was crashing fast.
Monday at noon Red boy and White girl
started eating, drinking and holding it
down. It was a miracle that they had made it
through the night. Purple boy was now having
fun with his teddy bear.....
Tuesday July 25th, the last two boys who got
sick, Green Boy and Orange Boy. Green boy
was still trying to play but had
diarrhea. Both puppies temperatures had
dropped but Orange boy was now vomiting and
had diarrhea, off to the vet we went
for more plasma. The two were given the
plasma and were doing injectable meds
into their I.V.'s,Orange could still not
hold anything down.
Green boy was eating, drinking and playing
by the 27th and on the road to recovery.
Orange boy was still not doing that well, so
we did a blood transfusion.
Orange boy was touch and go for several days
but on the 29th he started eating again...!
It was just a little, but he was eating and
drinking. But this time this puppy was
having a harder time holding down his food
and water. He continued to vomit until the
31st, then it all stopped. Orange boy is out
of the woods.
Blue Boy, Green Boy, Pink Girl, Purple Boy
all went to their new homes on the 29th of
July, 2006.
Black Boy, Orange Boy, Tan Girl, White Girl,
Red Boy will be heading to their new homes
by the middle of August.
The other four puppies that were in the
puppy ward, pink girl, blue boy, black boy
and tan girl never got really sick. They all
had high temperatures on the 18th of 103.0
or higher with some diarrhea and vomiting
but no blood. Then they went off their food
for 12 hours some down time but within 36
hours these four puppies were eating,
drinking and playing again. I don't know if
the Tamiflu is the reason for these puppies
not getting so sick, but it's the only
answer I have.
I'm telling this horrible ordeal in hopes
that the following course of action will
help another breeder of rottweiler puppies
since they are hard to keep alive from this
virus. You'll find the treatment we used at
the bottom of this letter.
One thing I want to address is to those
breeders that have opted not to vaccinate in
the name of health. Can you seriously read
this and tell me that you can beat one of
the worse virus to dogs by not protecting
them with vaccinations. I would take a dog
that may get health problems at 8 plus years
of age versus them dying of a horrible death
by parvo.
Could we of stopped this from coming into
our kennel? Did we forget to bleach the
bottom of shoes just once, did our bitch
that went to the vets for her hip x-rays
pick it up on her paws? Did we pick it up on
our shoes at Wal-Mart? Did a bird fly from
miles away and drop it in our back yard? Did
the Fed-X man or UPS guy bring it in on his
shoes? Do I need to close my grooming shop
and boarding facility down for eight weeks
while I have a litter of puppies...??? So
many questions, but no real answers. I of
course can't close my business down, can't
stop the Fed-X and UPS man from coming and
the birds I have no control over. But I can
keep my puppies behind closed doors till
they go to their new homes and wear gowns,
covers on my shoes and bleach my hands. No
visitors at all....is this the way I want to
raise my puppies...? No..but is the safest
way to raise them...yes...
Will I ever take a dog or bitch to the vet
for hip x-rays or anything that can wait
while I have a litter on the ground..NO.
Treatment plan;
Get fluids in your puppy ASAP, Dextrose is
best, 200 plus cc per day if you are doing
home care via I.V., 225 cc if you are doing
sub q fluids (under the skin) this is in a
24 hour time frame.(75 cc 3 times a day when
doing sub q) Do not use Dextrose under the
skin, it will burn. Use Lactate Fluids for
sub q.
Tamiflu antiviral med (the Tamiflu was mixed
with Cephalexin) is the best antiviral drug
available. As of 2006 this new drug is still
in the experimental phase but has been
successful in helping the puppies immune
system fight the parvo virus.
Metronidezole, 250 mg for a 15 pound puppy
twice a day. If the puppy is unable to keep
it down due to vomiting then I.V. injection
of 1000mg twice a day on a 15 pound puppy.
Baytril antibiotics, injectable, 1/2cc per
10 pounds, IV or sub-Q. (Only if puppies
are unable to hold down the Tamiful, may
cause problems with the growth plates)
Metoclopramide every four hours for nausea,
really didn't work that good until the
puppies started recovering.
Blood transfusion with using a healthy
VACCINATED young dog, we gave as much as
225cc of blood per puppy.
Plasma, 60 cc for each puppy depending on
size of puppy.
Checked temperatures and administered meds
twice a day.
I gave them 10 to 20 cc of yogurt 3 times a
day along with electrolytes. I would even
give to the puppies that were vomiting, some
kept it down some didn't.
Lots of cleaning, lots of bleach,
gloves, newspaper....No sleep...lots of
tears....
Keep Electrolytes (Pedialyte) down for them
to drink at all times, prescription I.D. can
food for their digestive tract.
Bone I.V., I did call a critical care unit
that a breeder in VA told me about. They had
a lot of success with this method with dogs
that had parasites but parvo would of
entailed the above treatment plus the bone
I.V. The cost was double what we were
paying. If I had only had a small litter
instead of 12 I would of tried the Bone
I.V. But this would of consisted of us
traveling several hundred miles with sick
puppies. We opted not to do the Bone I.V.
After care; I.D. Can food,
Yogurt and Electrolytes, no contact with
other dogs as they will shed the virus for
up to 30 days. Bathe your puppy often, you
can wash parvo off, you just can't kill it.
Melaleuca shampoo is excellent.
You don't have to worry about your puppy
getting parvo again, this won't happen. But
still keep them away from places that are a
threat such as pet stores, dog parks, vet
offices (pick your puppy up when visiting
the vet, do not put them down and ask that
they bleach the table prior to sitting him
down for exam) and so on until they have
their last parvo shot.
If you're wanting to do the natural holistic
way of raising your puppy do it after he
gets his shots...feed him whatever raw food
you want, but don't take a chance on his
life.
If I can ever be of any help please feel
free to contact me. Please cross post if
needed.
I will have this letter along with more
information and web links on my web site in
the near future. I found it frustrating how
little information was available for
treatment of parvo.
Sincerely,
Tammy & Wayne Bortz
Mystic Rottweilers
