Dog Parvo Symptoms | Background of Dog Parvo


*Check prices on all Parvo treatments.

Background of Dog Parvo

Filed Under Dog Parvo Information | 18 Comments

puppy-on-bedIf you’re like us, you probably fell in love with your puppy the very first time you looked at his/her tiny face. It’s hard to imagine anything happening to them.

Dog parvo, short for parvovirus, is one of the most serious illness a dog can contract, and it’s is especially deadly in puppies. And it’s highly contagious. It can jump from dog to dog very quickly, even with indirect contact.

First discovered in the late 1970’s, it’s similar in structure to the feline parvovirus, differing by only two amino acids. It effects most types of canids, including wolves and foxes. 2 strands are the most common, but a third strand has supposedly been discovered in Italy, Vietnam, and Spain.

There are two types of infection of parvo a dog can acquire, intestinal or cardiac, and the severity varies greatly. Some dogs show no symptoms, yet die within 72 hours. More commonly, in less volatile strains, the mortality rate is just 10%.

Along with contact with other infected dogs, parvo can get caught from oral ingestion of infected feces or soil. Other animals may also be carriers, even if they themselves cannot be affected by the virus. It has a high climate tolerance, and so can survive in almost any condition, shrugging off sunlight and moisture.

Dog parvo partly causes so many problems, even with modern veterinary medicine, because it has a high rate of evolution, unlike the feline variety. It mimics RNA virus like influenza. New vaccines have to be developed for the flu every year because of the changes, and parvo is no different.

Fortunately, a dog who survives a parvo infection is generally immune for life, similar to our chicken pox, so no silent carrier dogs exist.

Comments

18 Responses to “Background of Dog Parvo”

  1. Lisa Lewis on March 17th, 2009 4:52 pm

    My dog was just diagnosed with parvo my heart is so broken this page was so helpful and the pic on it looks just like my new puppy !
    thank you for the info!!
    Lisa

  2. Angel Santos on April 11th, 2009 6:37 pm

    My dog seems to be sick how do I know if she is diagnosed with Parvo. Blood comes out from her rear end when she uses it. She limps a lot like as if she has an inside pain in her back side of her stomach.What is wrong with my baby?

  3. Susie on April 20th, 2009 3:35 pm

    I wish I could help U Angel.
    Could U please keep me updated on whats going on with your dog?
    We are taking our puppy 2 have her put 2 sleep. Unfortunately we caught it 2 late….

  4. Lauren on June 17th, 2009 2:16 am

    My dog just hade a litter of puppies about 6 weeks ago we r taking them 2 get there shots in three days & 1 of them seem to be sick he is throwing-up and sneezing alot. we called the vet and they told us we just need to seprate the mother from them because the throw-up looks like milk, but he is still sick and he just keeps throwing up and sneezing

  5. Rachel on July 5th, 2009 11:19 pm

    my puppy has had diarrhea for 2 days with no blood. her throat or jaw seems like it hurts when i try to pet her under her chin. She has also been very inactive the last 2 days. Does this sound like parvo?

  6. Pup Lover on July 6th, 2009 3:49 am

    The only way to be sure is to take your dog to the vet ASAP.

  7. sara on July 14th, 2009 8:17 pm

    my dog lucky died this morning of parvo the vet tryed all he could but it was to late i just wish i had caught it earlyer but i had thought the systems he was haveing were just something bad he ate til i woke up yesterday and there was blood every where we rushed him to the vet he gave him IV fluid antbiotics and medison to stop the votiming. he seemed to be getting better last night ie. moving more no vomiting more awere of things around him,but his little body couldnt take anymore. U do not want to see ur dog die from this so please if he is vomiting and has dirria please bring him in right away or if he acts scared shy’s away from people he normal is fine with. i no the vet cost money but ower pets have a right to be seen. If u have a hard time getting a vet because of money keep calling vets i finally found one who was careing and very helpful there are still good vets with hearts out there. if ur reading this because ur dog may have parvo then i am sorry and hope for the best for u and ur dog

    sara

  8. donna halpin on July 27th, 2009 2:28 pm

    our *8mth old pitbull is just recovering from parvo. today is the 9th day of which the first 7 were living hell!!! we got him in the 2nd day and the vet gave him tamiflu, a shot of penicillan and fluids under his skin on his back, He said use a surringe and pump him with gatorade, treat him like a hospice patient and hope for the best! My daughters and I stayed up tag teaming 24/7,pumping him every hour with pedialite and baby rice.We shoved anti-dirrea pill and anti-nausea pills down his throut 3 times a day, The vet came out to my car every morning with a negitive additude and gave him penicillan and some fluid under his skin. I demanded to buy a bag every day and stick him myself two additional times a day, WE DID IT !! Hes skinny as hell eating 4 small mild meals a day (BABY VEGGIES AND BOILED LIVER) but im winging it, He wants more and im not sure how to progress from here knowing the beating his intestines just took.I dont know when to give him his own kibble (next week, next month?) What does his body critically need now? My (NOW) former vet is useless!!!!

  9. chihuahua on November 13th, 2009 1:23 am

    my mom took my dog to the vet today and they said she had parvo. my mom said that we caught it within the first couple days. does she have a good chance of surviving? what about her puppies? they are about 2- 2 1/2 months. please someone try and help me feel better.

  10. Mack on January 3rd, 2010 1:59 pm

    My doggie has parvo as well, can anyone outline the signs of recovery? He’s been fighting for 4 days now and appears to be getting better? He drinks on his own, and keeps most of what he takes in. I’ve been doing pedialite anemas to help rehydrate him. What I’m concerned about is that he has had no nutrition for several days. Any suggestions or advice?

  11. David on February 9th, 2010 3:52 am

    My dog just got over parvo I caught it the first day. She is doing great. I had to give here an iv twice a day for about 9 days. We also gave her pedialite mixed with broth and baby food(chicken and rice) and she made it. It’s a hard thing to see and do but well worth it.

  12. Valerie Gambino on May 27th, 2011 4:38 am

    FYI, My husband and I just moved into a new rental property with a huge fenced in back yard. We thought that this was going to be great for our 7 yr. old Siberian Husky AKC registered (Bear) and our Red Wolf Hybrid (Bella). Bella had 4 beautiful puppies. 1 female, and 3 males. We gave 1 male to a friend of ours for helping us move, we knew that puppy was going to have a good home. We also gave the female to a friend of ours, we knew she would also have a good home. Bella getting pregnant was unplanned. What I am about to say has really hurt my husband and I so much. We thought by finding a larger fenced yard we were going to be making our Babies happier, never knowing that we would be killing our 2 puppies. The people who lived in the house before we moved in at one time or another had a dog or puppy that had the Parvo virus. The Parvovirus does’nt go away like other viruses, it gets into the soil and thrives, it stays in the soil for years and years, I am talking at least 10 yrs. We just had our second puppy put to sleep this morning. The Parvo Virus is highly contagous. We are getting ready to bleach our entire house. Every where our puppies have been we have to disinfect. I wanted to let people know that if at all possible, if you are planning to move please make sure your puppies have had their 3 sets of puppy shots. We did not know that and in a way by being ignorant we killed our little babies. If you have been around anyone or anything associated with Parvo please clean it with Clorox, I mean if you have walked around a place where you know a puppy or dog has had Parvo you will need to clean your shoes etc. with bleach. God Bless & Take Care

  13. Melissa on September 17th, 2011 2:11 am

    i just lost my 7 month old siberean husky Shelby to parvo yesterday. We didnt know she had it till it was too late:( We have an older dog Buddy he’s siberean husky as well, he’s a year and a half and we had to get him to the vet to get a booster for parvo. theres no way of telling if buddy will get it or not butbeings they’be been in the same area the whole time theres a good chance hecould get it. Vets are expensive but when you go through a death of a family memeber.. every penny is worth the cost of vaccinations. Please please people vacinate your puppies/dogs. ITs the best defense against this deadly disease.

  14. M Saunders on November 14th, 2011 4:40 am

    My dog has survived parvo thanks partly to my vet for the iv’s but mostly because of what i read off of the internet Its a site/place called wolf creek ranch that saved my dog’s life My vet was help but very little. If it wasn’t for the site I wouldn’t have known my dog had parasites (worms) because the test came up negative. The vet told me to try to feed him whatever he would take which i did but he wasn’t getting any better because of the worms taking the nutrients from whatever he ate and while they ate from his intestines . i thought he was better because the diarrhea & vomiting had stopped because he was taking food in and little was coming out due to the intestinal worms that didn’t show up in the test. so monitor what your dogs food intake is and how much is coming out because it’s life or death for your puppy I wrote all this to say that there is hope for your dog it wasn’t easy to save mine but i did it because he’s my baby

  15. Katiana on December 5th, 2011 11:53 pm

    my puppy has diariah and he throw up 2 times. we went to the vet and said he might have parvo they gave him 1 shot and he cried so much hes only 8 weeks and he was my fav. puppy i loved him with all my heart he was a porky so playful <33

    Teddy get better soon!

  16. kindra on April 4th, 2012 10:39 pm

    My puppy went to the park Sunday and was getting sick on Tuesday. He is in a lot of pain but he eats. I took him to the doctor and they said he has parv. I admitted him today on Wednesday and pray to god he will make it. I won’t find out till Friday but I will go visit him in the morning to make sure he knows that my kids and my husband and I love him. I just hope he makes it my heart is so broken expecially for my kids they expect him to come home they are only 3 and 4 and don’t understand why I left their baby at the doctor I hope he will pull through this disease is so evil

  17. Becky on March 2nd, 2014 2:15 am

    My puppy is 9 months old her name is Ella two days ago she started having diarrhea I thought maybe it was something my 3 year old gave her but now she has A lot of blood in her stole but she is still playful and eating and drinking water she had shots when she was little but I never had her parvovirus shot I was working so much that I for got about it. I knew to get because our dog max caught it when he was 12 weeks old and they admitted him and he got to come home the next day but we had to keep giving him all the medicine that the vet gave him but it scares me that she may have it now…

  18. LadyT on April 8th, 2014 3:00 am

    My 4 month old puppies (3) have Parvo!! The first puppy is recovering, the 2nd 1 died last night and I’m praying the 3 rd one makes it! I went to feed store bought Parvacid drops & Penicillin (liquid) for injections as well as walmart for Pedialyte & chicken broth!!! I was told I could feed them baby food.. You want to start with something light when n if your dog recovers! To kill Parvo use bleach! I had to spray my yard n throw the dog house away,, all in all keep dog/ puppy hydrated and show lots of love????