Meet Lesedi
This young lady was diagnosed with Canine Parvovirus earlier this year.
She is a proper fighter and, after much needed medical care and loads of TLC, she was finally discharged and was sent to her loving home. She had an almost a 2 week stay in our hospital. But, Sedi is one of the lucky ones…
What Is Canine Parvo Virus?
You may have heard of Parvovirus before, maybe not paid much attention to it, but this virus poses a massive problem to unvaccinated puppies around the globe. Parvovirus is a viral infection that most commonly targets dogs less than one year of age, but unvaccinated dogs of all ages can be affected.
Puppies need to follow a strict vaccination protocol, starting at 6 weeks old. They need to get at least 4 vaccinations from that age onward to be considered “protected”.
This does not mean they cannot get the virus. It simply means that the severity of their clinical signs will be significantly less. Their chances of survival is increased tenfold in the event that they do become ill, when vaccinated.
Misguided home remedies found online are more often than not detrimental to these puppies. Please contact your vet if your pup is ill, don’t seek help from unreliable sources on the internet!
Treatment, consisting of aggressive supportive care, intravenous fluids, and extended hospitalization, can improve survival rates, but even so, all of these dogs are severely immunocompromised and are likely to pick up a secondary bacterial infection.
That being said, we can only offer a supportive treatment plan. Due to the fact that Parvo is a viral infection, there is no cure.
The virus persists in the environment for up to 2 years after exposure, meaning that any puppy you have after that is at immediate risk if you don’t prepare adequately.
The only way to control the virus is with vaccination.
Unfortunately, if left untreated the majority of puppies will die.
For more information about Canine Parvovirus, please visit the trusted petMD website: https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_canine_parvovirus_infection
For another Feel Good Survivor Story, please check out Sugar’s post: https://kimvet.co.za/sugars-story-surviving-canine-parvovirus/
