# Parvo experience



## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

We recently had a dog come into our clinic with mild vomiting. and diarrhea for a short period of time. After giving an over the counter DHPP vaccine to their 1 yr old dog who has never seen a vet or been vaccinated. The symptoms Mimiced more of an upset stomach. we kept her in the hospital just to be sure she had no more episodes and she did not vomit or have loose stool for days. no fever. we sent her home and she vomited. so we took her back in again. and treated her and she stopped vomiting. during this time still no diarrhea. The blood tests came back with symptoms of poisoning. Normally parvo has an odor to the stool but the female dog is also in a very STRONG heat cycle that is really potent. 

Because of the mild symptoms we did not do a parvo test right away. We sent her home because she was playing and happy and eating and drinking and had no symptoms. and she vomited again after sending her home and came back so we decided to exhaust other possibilities and check for parvo. and she came back positive. we are just blown away. she is not really all that sick. The owners were understandably upset we did not check for parvo sooner I am upset that Ive had a dog WITH PARVO in our hospital for days with no proper diagnoses. We are always very careful with sick animals but there is a level of extra high alert care you exercise with something like parvo. all the treatment we did for the dog was necessary basic treatment.

I know parvo can have "mild cases" but I certainly imagined even the most mild cases the dog would have diarrhea for more then 1 day. and she only vomited a few times. 
I guess I just wanted to know your experiences or opinions. I am REALLY upset right now cause Ive been handling this dog for days and was not all that careful with my scrubs and shoes. I am mad that he did not check for parvo sooner. but I understand why he did not and the owners wanted to "save money"


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Is it possible the recent vaccine caused the Parvo test to come back positive?


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## momtolabs (May 27, 2012)

My grandpa had a dog that was said to have Parvo but didn't it! My mom went in the day after her being confirmed as "positive" turns out that since the symptoms sounded like Parvo they didn't do a test!! So my mom took his dog to our vet who said she was negative for parvo but had a reaction to flea medicine(put on to early for her age at nine weeks). My grandpa was TICKED! He wasn't that nice to the vet and truthfully I wouldn't be either. So he told all his friends about the vet and now they go to different vet offices. 

Truthfully I would hope to god my vet would check for parvo if a puppy comes in vomiting. That would be my first priority. I plan on becoming a vet Tech and that is something I would do or hope the head vet would. I would be mad if the vet who I trust didn't do a test for a few days but then again at the end of the day we are all human.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

My boss had to put down four puppies with parvo (or they died on their own) from one neighborhood in two-ish weeks. A professor/friend of mine saved her litter of six from parvo by paying $30k out of pocket. Which story do you want to hear? 

But seriously, because of how new and prevalent parvo is, I would always check for parvo first even if it's minor diarrhea. I've also heard that a perfectly healthy dog can 'have' parvo and shed the virus without exhibiting any symptoms at all, which makes me think it's everywhere (the six puppies mentioned above got it very young, virtually without having left the kitchen in which they were born). But I don't blame you in any way... I play the 'wait and see' game with my dog sometimes. How is the dog doing now? It sounds like you caught it early.


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

I agree the dog should have been tested for parvo. A lot of factors played into this scenario. 
Owner told us dog was having a a reaction to the vaccine and also said maybe the dog ate something because she eats the kids toys ALL the time. -the dog is an adult - dog was not really very sick - dog responded to treatment and stopped all symptoms - dogs blood test came back and the pathologist said the results were common for dogs having poisoning or given a bad dose of vaccine. ( which they had just done ) Owners had to debate even doing the parvo test when we suggested it because they didn't want to pay for it. - also the dog is quite hard to work with. it takes everything I have to hold her just to give her a shot because she is so aggressive with handling. and the symptoms stopped IMMEDIATELY after giving treatment for upset stomach and parvo does not do that

I hate looking back and thinking should have done it but what do you do? It upsets me. I just want to kick ourselves. the plus side the dog did not get anything extra or not enough treatment with the new found diagnosis. we did exactly what we would have done if the dog walked in with diagnosed parvo from the start. ( minus bleaching the clinic from floor to ceiling smells like a swimming pool , maybe went a little over board but you cant be to careful)

and the dog is doing fine. She never has been doing bad. she has had it for about 5 days now so it should be reaching an end. but has not vomited or had diarrhea since. she only had probably diarrhea for a 45 min period throughout the whole ordeal. eating drinking and playing. she is super sweet ( if you don't have to give her a shot or meds ) Should have seen a vet sooner. not after a year plus. We should have checked sooner but the dog is sick because the owners neglected to get her vaccinated or anything at all, it would have been nice to prevent this all in the first place it is probably good she caught it at her adult age cause its much more serious in younger dogs.

and I also was wondering about a false positive but thinking back to the odor of the diarrhea I am sure it is not false. I mentioned it to the doctor the bad odor but she is a stinky butt right now with her heat cycle so we stupidly dismissed it.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

During the time I was doing rescue parvo was something we saw a lot of it. Most often it was the very traditional kind of thing -vomiting, diarrhea, not eating, progressing, etc. Sometimes, we'd get a dog who would be up and find and then down and dead within 8 hours (or less). A couple of times, yeah. There were dogs who would be very slightly sick, turn positive for parvo, but never have loose stool, throw up more than 2 or three times and act a bit down and depressed. It happens. I don't know why it happens, but it happens.


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