Wake Up And Smell The Parvo!
During the past two years or so, we’ve worked with well over 850 customers, and we’ve noticed one common thread, which is: people don’t seem to appreciate just how fast-acting and aggressive the Canine Parvo virus is.
One night, you might go to bed, knowing that your dog is happy and healthy, and by morning, when you get up, that same dog is incredibly sick and maybe even near death’s door – and, yes, the smell of Parvo is unmistakable, as the diarrhea, which is frequently one of the first symptoms you’ll see with the latest 2c strain of this virus, is absolutely disgusting and unlike anything else you may have encountered before.
As an example, one of our customers, in the Pacific Northwest, noticed that their dog was sick with Parvo on a Sunday morning, and later that very same day, in the late afternoon, it had already died.
Even when this virus doesn’t claim your dog’s life quite so quickly, too many dog owners sit around for days on end, with their dog clearly not well, and doing nothing about it, because they think they have time.
But nothing could be further from the truth!
You know what dogs are like – most of them, if not all, absolutely love their food, so if your dog stopped eating, for as little as one day, wouldn’t you be concerned that something might be gravely wrong?
All of our dogs are, thank goodness, healthy (although we do live in the worst state for Parvo), but even on those rare occasions when one of them does throw up, they are ready to eat again just minutes later, so a dog that’s off his food for even a few hours (which is in many cases the first sign you’ll see that your dog has Parvo, assuming that you’re observant, of course) should be a big, red warning sign.
The sad thing is, there is so much bad advice around about Parvo that a lot of dog owners are understandably but ill-advisedly complacent.
These dog owners think they’re safe because:
- Their dog is vaccinated and up-to-date on all of its shots. Here’s the reality: Parvo vaccinations are not effective against the 2c strain (which is why we are seeing more and more customers with fully-vaccinated adult dogs still getting Parvo and, if they’re not treated, dying), and your dog may even develop full-blown Parvo symptoms (particularly if your dog was vaccinated after he was infected, which is just about the worst thing you can ever do).
- Their dog is no longer a puppy, and only puppies get Parvo. Oops, wrong again! It is true that Parvo still infects puppies more than adults, but we have also observed, after dealing with over 850 cases of Parvo, that an increasing number of adult dogs are getting this virus too. If this sounds like a broken record, then we’re not making any apologies, but vaccinations do not work like they used to – the 2c strain is simply too virulent and the vaccine manufacturers really haven’t caught up with it yet (and that’s besides the long-term health problems with all vaccinations, which most vets keep quiet about).
- They take their dog to the vet’s to have it tested, and the test comes back negative, so they do nothing. Reality check time again: the 2c strain of Parvo is well-known for generating a false-negative result, especially with the stool sample-based tests that most vets conduct in their clinics nowadays. This means that although you are told your dog does not have Parvo, he actually does, and that leads to more days of inaction while your dog is getting sicker and sicker.
- They never take their dog outside, which means it won’t get infected by the Parvo virus. This is another myth, as one of the most common reasons why indoor dogs get Parvo is because they get it from their owners / breeders! It’s true, you can walk this virus into your house without even knowing it (or transmit it via your hands or clothes). That’s why we always recommend that people (including visitors) change their shoes whenever they go indoors.
So, given that there is a ton of bad advice and uninformed hearsay to be found, mainly on the Internet, of course, where can you go to get up-to-date and reliable information that you can use, safe in the knowledge that it will help your dog, and not make matters worse?
This actually highlights another major issue to do with Parvo: many dog owners have never heard of Parvo (until their vet tells them that’s why their dog is sick), which means they don’t know what to look out for. Even more amazing, to us, is that we come across many breeders who know nothing about this virus either. For people in the doggie business, this is basic knowledge that you simply should have!
Well, you’ll be glad to know that we have written a free, 100+ page ebook all about Parvo, called Parvo Treatment 101, that you can download to your computer in minutes.
This book contains more or less everything you need to know about Parvo (e.g. the symptoms, including the different types of stool to look out for, treatment options), which makes it a great place to start.
If your dog is already sick, however, and by that, we mean that a vet has confirmed that your dog does have Parvo, or he shows one or more of the standard Parvo symptoms, or even if you believe or know that he was exposed to the virus within the last two or three days, then you should delay reading this book, because you need to administer Parvo treatment right away, because there’s one thing you don’t have with this virus, and that is time. Although this book contains a lot of useful information, you would be far better reading it once your dog is successfully treated.
Well, we hope you have found this article useful – it may even save your precious dog’s life – but we have a load more Parvo treatment information available for you, over and above what’s in our free book.
We’d like to close by encouraging all dog owners to at least be educated about just how devastating this virus can be, and about the treatment options that are available (because contrary to popular opinion, you don’t have to take your dog to the vet and part with anywhere from $500 USD to over $10,000 USD, with a mere 50% success rate, because inexpensive, safe, effective home Parvo remedies do exist), so please, if you know anybody with a dog, then do forward this article, or our free book, on to them – you just never know who might need it, and there’s no better feeling than knowing that you’ve helped to save somebody’s family pet from the excruciatingly painful death that the Canine Parvovirus often brings.
