Parvo outbreak in Texas is killing dogs

[KevinFromTexas]

I'm posting this here because I haven't heard anything on the news about this or read anything in the Statesman about it.

Listen up dog owners. There's been a Parvo outbreak in Texas over the last year, and it seems to be getting worse. There have been multiple cases in Austin as well.

MAKE SURE to get your dogs vaccinated for Parvo (and all other canine illnesses). If you take your dog down to Lady Bird Lake or visit any of the parks, make sure your dog is vaccinated first. Parvo can also be transmitted from coyotes, so if you live in a rural area you're at risk there, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_parvovirus

Canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV2, colloquially parvo) is a contagious virus mainly affecting dogs. The disease is highly contagious and is spread from dog to dog by direct or indirect contact with their feces. It can be especially severe in puppies that are not protected by maternal antibodies or vaccination. It has two distinct presentations, a cardiac and intestinal form. The common signs of the intestinal form are severe vomiting and dysentery. The cardiac form causes respiratory or cardiovascular failure in young puppies. Treatment often involves veterinary hospitalization. Vaccines can prevent this infection, but mortality can reach 91% in untreated cases. Canine parvovirus will not infect humans.[1]

Parvo is extremely contagious. It can be transferred to your dog just by you walking on ground that an infected dog has either walked or pooped on. I would urge caution in taking your dogs to the park in Austin. Do not let them sniff other dogs and make sure to keep them away from any poop that is on the ground. I wouldn't go anywhere near a dog park. I'm even thinking of limiting or not going to any parks for a while.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_...s_and_symptoms

Signs and symptoms

Dogs that develop the disease show symptoms of the illness within 3 to 10 days. The symptoms include lethargy, vomiting, fever, and diarrhea (usually bloody). Diarrhea and vomiting result in dehydration and secondary infections can set in. Due to dehydration, the dog's electrolyte balance can become critically affected. Because the normal intestinal lining is also compromised, blood and protein leak into the intestines leading to anemia and loss of protein, and endotoxins escaping into the bloodstream, causing endotoxemia. Dogs have a distinctive odor in the later stages of the infection. The white blood cell level falls, further weakening the dog. Any or all of these factors can lead to shock and death.[20] The first sign of CPV is lethargy. Usually the second symptoms would be loss of appetite or diarrhea followed by vomiting.

My mom and sister show and breed poodles. Two of their friends have had their dogs become infected. One of our friends recently lost 5 puppies from two litters. They all became sick and went to the vet and one by one died.

And now it seems that a litter of puppies my sister has, now has Parvo. She said Tuesday one of the puppies wasn't eating, and on Wednesday it died. And yesterday her other puppy, who is a year and a half old, became sick and wasn't eating. This morning that puppy died.

http://www.examiner.com/article/parvovirus-outbreak

Parvovirus Outbreak

Kim Cannan
Austin Dog Health Examiner

It’s spring in Austin, Texas and along with the warmer weather and beautiful wildflowers comes parvovirus. At the clinic where I work we saw 7 cases of parvo just last week. 4 of those cases were on Friday alone. And it’s not just puppies. One of the cases was a 2 year old Chihuahua. It is shaping up to be a worse than normal parvo season this year. It is especially important this year to make sure your dogs are current on their vaccinations. If you have friends that have dogs, please share this information. If you have a puppy, do not take it out to dog parks or pet stores or anywhere else where other dogs frequent until you have completed your distemper/parvo vaccination series.

Parvo is treatable but expensive. That 2 year old Chihuahua I mentioned above was euthanized because the owner couldn’t afford to treat him. That is heartbreaking to all of us that work in clinics. Something that is preventable, and affordably preventable, shouldn’t be the cause of a pet’s death.

[the Genral]

Thanks for this important post Kevin. I have ten dogs so this is sobering information. It should be noted that the Parvo vaccine in not 100% effective. Its actually less than 80% effective, so even with proper preventative vaccinations, caution should be followed at all public places. Keep your dogs away from any dog piles and soiled areas. This may mean keeping your dog on a leash at all times. I was in the pet business for years and have personally seen the terrible effects of this disease, especially with puppies. Hopefully they will develope a vaccine that's 100% effective soon. And don't forget to keep your dogs on a heartworm preventative. Texas and most southern states have the highest rate of heartworm cases in the nation by far. Prevention is far less expensive than treatment. Before giving any heartworm preventatives, always get your dog checked for heartworms first as the preventative may cause serious problems or death if the animal has heartworm to begin with. Another sobering fact about parvo, the virus can survive on surfaces for weeks, even months.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Another sobering fact about parvo, the virus can survive on surfaces for weeks, even months.

That's why this is so serious. Austin is a HUGE dog city. It's worrisome how fast it can spread with all those dogs at the dog park, Auditorium Shores, at Zilker, etc. And then there's the wildlife with coyotes.

My sister said one of her dogs ate her dinner yesterday, had bloody diarrhea last night and was dead this morning.

I have 3 dogs myself, and am worried, but they're all at least 6 years old. Parvo usually affects puppies, but with it being so deadly it's not worth the risk.

Read that Wikipedia article link. I would suggest leaving your shoes outside, particularly if you live in an area that gets a lot of foot traffic, such as downtown/West Campus. And make sure to mop your floors with bleach.

There's no cure for Parvo, and as The Genral said, even the vaccine isn't 100 percent effective.

[the Genral]

Bloody diarrhea that is very dark and has an unusually strong uncharacteristic horrific odor (it doesn't really smell like normal poop) is a strong indicator, but bloody soft stool is not automatically a cause for alarm if you recently changed the dog's diet without weaning them off the previous food first. To go from one brand directly to another can cause bloody diarrhea, as can stress. Low protein diet to high protein diet can upset the digestive system. But when in doubt, scoop some up and take it to a vet for testing. Fecal tests typically run around $20.

[Austinite101]

Thank you for the heads up Kevin! My Jack Russell caught parvo when she was a puppy a couple of years ago, and it was almost fatal. No more parks for a while.