Posted on 07/22/2013 2:29:33 PM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse
The wife and I just brought home a German Shepherd pup yesterday. He seemed "shy" but later I realized he was lethargic. He ate a bit but not like what you would expect from a two month old Shepherd.
We took him to the Vet today to have him checked out and he tested positive for Parvo. He hadn't started puking yet and they put him on IVs so with a little luck he should recover.
Our other dog is up to date on his shots and the cats are supposed to be immune. I went around and disinfected everything he touched. The vet said they have a 90% success rate so it looks good.
I contacted the family who sold us the pup. They called back and let me know the last one from the litter died.
Does anyone here have experience with Parvo?
It is a variant.
I’m taking my wife to an appointment and we’re checking on Caliburn this afternoon.
Thank you everyone for all of the advice, prayers and support!
Yes, unfortunately we do. About ten years ago, we got a rescue puppy. Within 24 hours of us getting her home, she acted “strangely”. Parvo. We contacted the shelter and they had already put down the rest of the litter. Okay... it is pricey to treat Parvo. They get really, really sick. They are quarantined and you have to wear booties to go and see the puppy. However, please do this. I am telling you the honest truth that our Gretchen wouldn’t have survived if we didn’t visit her. I think she understood that we wanted her. The good thing is this is happening during the week for you. We had to transfer our dog on a Friday to another doggie hospital that stayed open 24/7 and then transfer her back to vet hospital #1 on Monday.
Your doggie sounds like he/she is doing better than our Gretchen did. At one point, we went to CVS for a human medicine that was sort of a last ditch effort. For the life of me, I can’t remember what it was but it did work. Just so you know, Gretchen didn’t have any long term side effects from the Parvo. Her weight went back up as soon as we got her home. Good luck and prayers for your family. Hugs, Mom
Salamander, no advice can take away your pain, but you must console yourself that you did your absolute best at the time for your dog, even if hindsight causes you to second guess your decisions back then. At some point, you must say, “I did everything humanly possible” and take solace from that.
Last year, doctors confronted me and my sister with some hard choices regarding treatment options for our critically ill father. After he died, we replayed the scenarios over and over. Sometimes there are no good options and we learned to accept that and not torture ourselves. At least you have begun to partially fill that vacuum in your life with a new dog! Go give it another hug.
Update -
We checked on him and he’s quarantined. They’ve been giving him an IV with nutrition and antivirals and he looks a bit better.
If he continues to improve they’ll give him soft food tonight or tomorrow.
Thank you all.
Our Zoe got parvo before she came to us. In fact, if not for the parvo, she likely would have ended up in another home. Someone else had a hold on her, she got sick and went into foster care and isolation. We happened to be at the humane society the day she came back in. We asked about getting her. They tried to contact the person with the hold several times, couldn’t get them. She came home with us.
She had a number of health issues, but not related to parvo that I can tell. She grew to be almost Dane-sized, 30-31 inches at the shoulder and #110 lbs. She lived to be a little over 14 1/2 years old. One of the many people who became friends to us through Zoe was a dog behaviorist. When we mentioned that Zoe had parvo when a puppy she laughed and said, “Normally parvo will stunt their growth.” We all wondered how big she might have gotten had she not had parvo.
She’s pictured on my profile page.
Hoping for the best for your pup. Please keep us posted...
Thank you for the info. Ours has huge feet so we know he’s meant to get big.
Halla is in God’s hands, now. She is suffering no longer. Lord willing, when God creates the New Heaven and the New Earth, you will see her there (if not before) and she will run to you (along with all the other dogs you have owned), a happy, healthy doberman.
You will likely be pinned down for some time on that day.
:)
UPDATE -
Caliburn is home!
We’ve got some meds but he’s looking a lot better. Apparently, he also had parasites on top of Parvo so he gets one more dose for that plus 6 days worth of tablets.
That is GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!
Great news! I was just popping in to check. Happy your pup is home and hoping for continued improvement. We will all want pictures when he ready :-)
I’m no HTML expert but I’ll see what I can do to post some.
Our big Maine Coon is friendly towards him. Our almost one year old female black cat is stand-offish. Our three year old Cocka-Poo is bipolar (friendly one minute and hostile the next).
The Cocka-Poo attacked him and the Maine Coon came running. We live in interesting times.
Great news ! Congrats
Now get that pup something to chew on
We have a lot of chew toys for both dogs. We won’t buy any more containing stuffing!
He looks to have grown two or three times his size since we brought him home.
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