The reason for this page is because on November 28, 1999 I lost my beloved six month old peekapoo Dusty. See, my boyfriend and I had gone to Kentucky for the Thanksgiving holiday and we decided to leave my baby with my parents. He seemed fine and healthy when we left. While we were in Kentucky, about Wednesday, I had a strange feeling that something was wrong with Dusty but kept myself from calling to make sure. I wish to God I had!!

When we got to my parents house on Saturday, I was informed that Dusty was missing. I was told that on Wednesday he became very sick. My mom had made a vet appointment for him for Saturday, but when he was let out that Saturday morning, he took off. In my heart I knew he was already dead. My boyfriend said he needed to walk around to stretch his muscles after our long drive so we went outside. I started calling for my little "bubble butt", for some reason he would always come to me when I called him that, and out of the corner of my eye I caught some movement. It was Dusty. Too weak to answere or come to me. Barely able to lift his head.

We ended up rushing him to the after hours emergency vet and I was told it was too late. I was told that even if I had gotten him there on Wednesday, she doubted they could have saved him. He only weighed eight pounds and they said it hit him too hard and too fast. I had to make the decision to put him to sleep. I think that was the worst day of my life.

Therefore, I wish to inform as many people as I can about this deadly virus. See, I had given him his shots myself. Which in itself isn't wrong or bad. But where I got the serum was. My Moms' local feed store carried it. So that's where I got it. At the vets' office that fateful night, I was told that unless you get it from the vet, there is no gaurantee that it was handled properly. Obviously, the shots I had given my baby weren't.

Parvovirus is a viral disease of dogs. It affects puppies much more frequently than it affects adult dogs. The virus likes to grow in rapidly dividing cells. The intestinal lining has the biggest concentration of rapidly dividing cells in a puppy's body. The virus attacks and kills these cells, causing diarrhea (often bloody), depression and suppression of white blood cells -- which come from another group of rapidly dividing cells. In very young puppies it can infect the heart muscle and lead to "sudden" death. This is a very serious disease. Some puppies infected with parvovirus will die despite prompt and adequate treatment. While no extremely accurate statistics are available, a good guess is probably that 80% of puppies treated for parvovirus will live. Without treatment, probably 80% or more of the infected puppies would die.

Many people just assume that any case of diarrhea in a dog is from parvovirus. This is not true. There are a lot of other diseases and disorders that lead to diarrhea. Coxidia also shows similar if not the exact same signs and is just as deadly. If you have a puppy, don't take any chances. Have your puppy examined by your vet if diarrhea is a factor in any disease. It is better to be safe than to be sorry.

Canine parvovirus is carried by dogs. Adult dogs may be infected carriers without showing any clinical signs. Dogs with the typical diarrhea that parvovirus causes shed the virus as well. It can last a long time in the environment, I have been told as long as one year. And although I was told that 4oz. of bleach to a half a gallon of water will help to disinfect, there is really no way to get rid of it completely but time.

There is a parvovirus of cats, the panleukopenia virus. Researchers seem to think that this virus may have mutated to become canine parvovirus. This is not a confirmed theory but there is some supporting evidence for this. However, a cat can not "give" it to a dog. I always thought they could, but that night, I was told otherwise.

It can be very hard to successfully vaccinate a puppy for this disease because the antibody protection the puppy acquires from its mother can interfere with vaccination. It is important to vaccinate puppies every three to four weeks for this virus starting at 6 weeks of age and continuing until they are at least 16 weeks of age and preferably 20 weeks of age. It is possible that this vaccine confers lifelong immunity once it does work but most veterinarians continue to recommend yearly vaccination for it. It seems prudent to at least get the vaccination at one year of age. Since it is combined with the other vaccines it is often easier just to give it yearly with them. If an animal does contract the virus and survives, yes, it can contract it again. Even with boosters. Why is there such a terrible disease to torture such innocent animals????????
This information was taken from The Encyclopedia of Canine Veterinary Medical Information and also mixed with information that I obtained through loss of other dogs as well as this one.

In loving memory of Dusty, born July, 1999. Died November, 1999.

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