It has been terrible, awful, no good, very bad week.
Max, our new puppy, is very sick. He was taken to the vet on Tuesday, where the vet told us that he had contracted the parvovirus. While the sickness can prove to be lethal, the vet has hopes for him pulling through. He's still not eating, but he is drinking some water and she seems to think that he is on the mend.
While we are hoping, praying, and crossing our fingers, we will be scrubbing down the house today. Apparently, parvo, while not extremely common, is extremely contagious for dogs. The entire house and yard needs to be scrubbed down to get rid of the virus that he spread around the house while he was here.
Also, if you have any advice for protecting against parvo, I would appreciate it.
So, today is cleaning and then the rest of the weekend is revising with a small break for a family grill-out at my parents. If we can get Max back this weekend, it will be a great time.
5 comments:
We have dealt with parvo before ourselves. We lost 2 to it and managed to save one dog. He lived to be 14 yrs old. One thing is to wash your whole house walls, floors with bleach, clean all linens, it will help get it out of your house. Parvo can live in your home up to 6 mths and can live in your yard up to a yr. A good freeze can kill it in your yard. That I do remember. I don't know an effective way to treat your yard. What we did was just keep him out of the yard. That helped there. I hope this helps. I will be keeping your little puppy in my prayers.
Parvo is a killer, that I know. I keep my dog out of empty lots, places where there maybe unvaccinated strays. It's hard especially when they're puppies and want to go everywhere, frantically trying to explore everything. The yard is the hardest part, but maybe the vet has a good answer (or your local hardware store or pet store).
At least Max sounds like he's improving, hope he gets to come home soon.
Poor Max. :(
Parvo is such an awful virus and just so so easy for dogs to get it. Bleach is the ONLY cleaner that can kill it. The virus is shed in feces, so anywhere he defecated will be a problem. Therefore the only way to be sure would be to bleach your yard. While unfortunate, might be the only way to keep Max safe. Some people have done a controlled burn on their yard, but I don't know if that works. Parvo can live a few years in the soil.
For the future, a puppy should not visit any dog parks or unknown areas until after they receive all their vaccines. Also, they should not visit any other dogs unless you know that the other dog is well vaccinated. Everyone wants to show off their puppy and take them to parks, but this is where most puppies contract the virus (infected soil, other infected animals before signs appear, etc).
If/when Max makes it, he may have a more sensitive GI system, so just be aware for the future.
I will be sending healing thoughts his way!
OOh poor Max! I've never heard of that problem. So unfortunately I have no advice.
I hope he pulls through okay! He's in my prayers!
Hope you can enjoy your weekend!
What terrible news! I hope your little Max gets better!
Post a Comment