Before you check out dog parvo symptoms, you must first know what it is, what it does and how it is spread. This virus was initially found in 1978 and within a two year time span it spread worldwide. Over the years the parvovirus has mutated into two different strains and a third may be evident in Vietnam, Italy and Spain. Each case of canine parvovirus Or CPV comes from the first two strains. At first it was felt that this virus would develop into feline panleukopenia, a feline parvovirus, but there is no evidence of this. All species have their own unique parvovirus that cannot be spread outside of the species.

Parvo virus cannot be spread directly from a dog to a cat or from a bird to a cat, but it can be spread by contact. For example if you cat happens to wander through your neighbor’s yard and picks up the virus on her feet, she can bring it into your home and may infect your dog that way. Unfortunately, our 8 month old puppy that we acquired from the pound recently came down with parvo virus. She had all of the classic dog parvo symptoms, yet we did not realize what was wrong. We took her to our vet and treatment was commenced immediately. After a four day stay at the veterinary hospital, Lucy was ready to come home. And although we have since found out about more natural parvo virus treatments, we were actually very pleasantly surprised by our vet bill!

The parvo virus works in two ways either through the intestines or through the heart. When a dog gets an intestinal infection, it is picked up by the animal through oral contact with contaminated feces. Simply put, your dog would have to come into contaminated feces from another dog. The intestinal dog parvo symptoms occur when the virus attacks the bone marrow, rapidly dividing cells in the intestinal crypts and the lymph nodes. This allows normally occurring bacteria from the intestines to enter the blood stream to make the animal septic. The virus can be shed in the stool for up to three weeks thus making this a very contagious disease for pets that have not been inoculated.

The cardio form of this infection is usually seen in puppies that are infected before birth or shortly thereafter. It is noteworthy that the cardiac form of CPV is not as common since the mother passes immunity on to her pups from birth. The parvo virus will then attack the heart in the infected puppy and death will occur shortly afterwards.

Symptoms of CPV usually present within 3-10 days of contact and they include lethargy, vomiting, fever and diarrhea. The diarrhea then causes severe dehydration and secondary infections. These are the actual causes of death rather than the virus itself.

Survival rate depends on how quickly parvo virus is diagnosed and treatment is begun. If it is not caught early enough, the best treatment is an IV through which fluids are pushed to re-hydrate the dog more quickly. In addition to the fluids, antibiotic and anti-nausea shots may be given intramuscularly. With the proper care the prognosis is good, but without it your dog is sentenced to an early death. There has been some evidence that the human antiviral, Tamiflu, can be effective in treating parvovirus, but there are not studies to substantiate this. A veterinarian will recommend that you get your pet vaccinated against parvo approximately eight weeks after the puppy is weaned. With the prevalence of this virus and its ability to kill, some precaution should be taken to protect your dog. Get your puppy vaccinated ? we speak from experience!

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