Today is day four of Sasha’s illness, parvo to be exact. So far she has done fairly well, she threw up three times the second day she was ill, that was Friday. After her vet visit and getting meds into her she didn’t throw up again until around 10pm last night, which was Saturday. Up until that moment we were starting to hope that she would got through this with little to no trouble at all.
It seems as though the virus has decided to take hold and fight back with a vengeance. Ever since she threw up late last evening she has not been able to hold many fluids down. Yet we persevere, we are not willing to allow this disease conquer us or Sasha.
There have been a few times she has been able to hold down 3oz of pedilite, we are administering the pedilite every half hour, every hour and a half we are giving her 3oz of baby formula. She is remaining alert and interested in her surroundings and still has the strength to fight us when it is time for her meds and fluids.
I worry because she has not urinated since early this morning, I can also feel she is weaker than she was just yesterday.
We gain encouragement through the fact that the deadly and dreaded bloody diarrhea has yet to happen, we can only pray that it never does.
My husband and I believe had we been able to afford the hospitalization she would not have made it even this far. Sasha is a very needy puppy, she has never dealt well when left alone, it is as though she is anxiety ridden every time mama and daddy aren’t around for her. She has never been put in a cage, and has rarely been away from both of us, generally if we both have to leave the house my stepdaughter Aubrey baby sits her and keeps her entertained. The only thing the hospital could do for her that we are not is administer her meds and fluids intravenously. The hospital would not be able to stay up all night and give her the love and affection she is craving. There is not one second where Sasha is left alone here, either myself or my husband is either laying with her or gently rocking her wrapped in her favorite blanket.
Friday night was a good night, she slept soundly between us all night long, she woke shortly after dawn and was alert and playful almost as usual all day. Saturday night we were not as fortunate, she vomited all night long. My husband told me to get some rest because Sunday night he wouldn’t be able to stay up and help me with her.
Wonderful man that he is he stayed up all night long with her, laying down for rest only after I awoke around 6am. Tonight will be my turn.
As I stated above this is day four and from what we have gleamed off the Internet as well as from the veterinarian most dogs do not make it even this far, if they do it is well known to be their last day. If they make it through their fourth day of parvo with noticeable symptoms you can expect them to get steadily better over the course of the next few days. Having thins knowledge does not put my mind to ease. Parvo is well known for its unpredictability in addition to striking seemingly out of the blue and with no remorse.
I am scared and pray continuously for her well being, I have abut a dozen candles lit for her and have requested all of our friends and family to pray for her, she is not just my dog she is my child, my angel sent straight from heaven, a gift I cherish.
Please say a prayer for my baby girl, Sasha and maybe light a candle of your own for her. I will keep you all updated as to her well being as often as I can.
Siana *************************************************************** 01-29-06, 10:19 PM Tree Siana.
I find it difficult to type here with tears in my eyes, but I HAVE to tell you that your post is very touching. My thoughts and prayers are with you! I hope that Sasha recovers 100%. I'm so sorry to hear of your struggle.
01-31-06, 09:38 AM Siana Well here we are Day six with Parvo. Tuesday January 31, 2006.
Sasha is right back to her happy tear out the bathroom trash, steal toys off the other dogs in the house, self!
She is barking and jumping all over the place! I am starting to wonder if I should have named her TIGGER rather than Sasha! LOL!
She is howling now too, well I WANTED her to do it! LOL!
She seems to have come back with a BANG!
Since this is a site where people come in order to get answers I will now tell you all I know about Parvo and how I treated it. This was my intention when I made my first post; I wanted to wait until Sasha was well again before I told our story and how we treated her for this hideous killer of dogs.
Parvo was discovered in the late 1970’s, it took a while for vets to catch up and make a vaccine for this new disease; they started battling it by giving dogs feline distemper shots.
In the beginning and even today owners tremble when they hear the words parvoviral enteritis, or simply Parvo. The reason? Parvo strikes with no remorse, the death rate is incredibly high even though we now have methods of treatment in addition to a vaccine, it is well known that once a dog contracts this dreaded illness they will not be of this world for much longer.
Symptoms of Parvo generally begin much the same way your dog would probably react to eating something that didn’t agree with them, or perhaps you might think they are coming down with the doggy flu. I can tell you from previous experience with one of my other dogs and the stomach flu, the symptoms were exactly like Parvo.
You may notice your dog isn’t as active, perhaps they haven’t ate anything in a day or so, eventually the symptoms become increasingly obvious, such as; your dog will become lethargic, have little and eventually absolutely no interest in food, they may stop drinking water completely, they will probably run a high fever, they will vomit, and may have sever diarrhea with blood.
My experience with the symptoms were, I noticed on Thursday January 26, 2006 that Sasha had spent the majority of the day under my bed. I began to become concerned but not overly so, I figured she had gotten into something and it had upset her tummy, thus she was hiding as most dogs and wolves are known to do when they are not feeling well. (I mention wolves because Sasha is half Wolf half German Sheppard)
I didn’t become alarmed until that evening when I made a trip to the store and came home, Sasha didn’t come out to greet me. I almost always bring all three of my dogs a treat of some kind when I go to the store, they have learned this and therefore come running and snuffling through the bags trying to find the goody I may have brought them this time.
When Sasha didn’t come running I dropped my packages and ran to her; there she was looking miserable under my bed. I coaxed her out and started looking in her eyes, pulling back the skin to see the whites; I noted they looked a little creamy but nothing to fret over. I then looked at her gums and teeth, pressing them and checking for swelling and water retention, I was also looking at the color of them, if a dogs (humans too) gums are not a nice stippled skin color pink this could mean illness or anemia. Sasha’s gums were swollen but she is also teething, therefore I didn’t learn much from this.
I turned her over and gently felt her tummy, I found no lumps and she had no reaction to indicate pain. I then lifted her tail up to check her bottom out. I even sniffed her breath and her bottom to see if there were any foul odors, which could indicate illness, here is where I found signs of an illness.
I then went in search for some of her feces and smelled it as well; it had a strange tangy sick odor which wasn’t normal. I knew then this wasn’t something she had ate and gotten sick from. Furthermore I knew to suspect Parvo because a neighbor had come to tell us the day before that her dogs had been exposed to this dreaded disease and to keep a close eye on our dogs. Had the neighbor not told us this I still would have known Sasha was coming down with something, I just would not have known what.
As the evening progressed Sasha became extremely lethargic, she didn’t want to eat or drink anything, I forced her to take a bit of water, which she promptly threw up. I called an all night animal hospital only to be told I would have to pay $100.00 just to walk in the door! Thinking Sasha is very sick but it is more than likely the doggy flu or maybe even the sponge we found tore to pieces, perhaps she ate it and its making her ill, I was grasping at straws wanting it to be the sponge and nothing as serious as Parvo, even though my intuition told me it was indeed Parvo.
I stayed up with her all night, she would get chills then get too hot, thus indicating a fever. I encouraged her to drink water as much as I could but she couldn’t seem to hold it down. In the morning I waited for the vets office to open, this is when I found out her vet is on vacation, I would have to take her to someone I didn’t know.
I called the vet who was recommended to me and got her in there by 11am. This was to become her second day with noticeable symptoms of Parvo, the date; Friday January 27, 2006.
This vet didn’t think Sasha had Parvo, just going on visual examination, she was bright and interested in her surroundings, she wanted to be loved on and told how cute she is by the assistants, this is not how a dog behaves when they are sick with Parvo. Even so he ran the blood test as well as a fecal test. Both tests came back saying she was absolutely FULL of Parvoviral Enteritis.
The vet went on to explain to me just what this means. In other words he was 100% certain she would not live, his recommendation was rather than allow her to suffer to put her down. He even went so far as to suggest having my other two dogs who had NO symptoms put down as well, his reason was to avoid an epidemic.
I was having nothing to do with that! I yelled at him, probably called him every name in ‘the book’ in addition to some they haven’t even put in ‘the book’ yet. I demanded he help me by giving me medication to help her, I threatened to take her to another vet and tell everyone I know how he refused to help an animal in need. (that is putting it lightly LOL I wasn’t quite that nice about how I said that to him) when he agreed to my conditions I refused to allow him to give her any meds until I read the vials and knew what they were for, trust had gone out the window the second he mentioned murdering my sweet baby.
He gave her a shot of a medication I have now forgotten the name of, in order to strengthen her intestines, another shot to prevent vomiting and diarrhea, and yet another shot of antibiotics. He also provided me with tubes of medications, which were the same as the shots he had given her.
Note; antibiotics will do NOTHING to fight off parvo because it is a VIRUS and antibiotics wont kill a virus. A dog suffering from parvo has had a shock to the nervous system, it is out of commission therefore they now have nothing to fight off other illnesses; the antibodies in the antibiotics will assist the dog in fighting off other illnesses. If your dog has contracted parvo do not allow anyone who has so much as a COLD to come to your home!
The vet went on to tell me to wash my entire house with bleach water, leaving nothing out, he also told me to clean up all feces in and around our yard then to soak the yard with bleach water. Bleach is the ONLY cleaner that kills Parvo.
The reason it was so important to clean every surface is Parvo is spread though direct contact of fecal matter. Even though you may wash your hands after cleaning up any poo you more than likely don’t wash after having held or played with your dog, there could be microscopic pieces of fecal matter on your dogs fur which you may never think twice about.
In addition heat will kill this virus, some viruses thrive in hot weather some in cold, Parvo loves the cold and can survive dormant up to nine months!
I took my baby home and called every single person I know who has dogs, I didn’t want to take a chance on anyone else’s dog coming down with this.
A friend of mine breeds Boston Terriers, her dog was getting ready to have her first breeding, unfortunately the vet recommended not to breed, the reason, even though my friends dog was vaccinated she had come into direct contact with this virus, if the breeding was successful the puppies may be born with it and thus die.
I made Sasha as comfortable as possible then set about the task of killing every single living germ in my home.
I washed everything, including our walls in bleach water, items I could not bleach like our couch and some sheets and blankets I treated by turning our hot water tank up all the way then washing everything in scalding hot water. We then set about cleaning the yard.
How we did this was to first put on shoes we could toss out then cleaned up every last pile of feces we could find, we then used a garden rake to rake the yard of all debris, once all debris was gathered we put it in THICK lawn and leave trash bags sealed it as tightly as possible sprayed the bags down with bleach water then went about soaking our yard with bleach water. We went a step further a few days later and coated our entire yard with lime. We also scrubbed both of our porches completely including anything that was on them which we could not simply throw away.
We also went through all the shoes in our home, tossed out many of them and washed the rest using bleach water on the ones we could, hot water and laundry soap on the ones we could not.
We plan to go through this entire process again this coming weekend; we are taking NO chances of a reoccurrence.
How we treated Sasha at home;
The vet where I had taken Sasha wanted to keep her, first of all I didn’t trust him to care for her properly and second of all he wanted $600.00 dollars down and informed me that treatment could go all the way up to $2000.00!!!! This we could not afford.
I brought her home, disinfected everything, then set about keeping her alive.
Friday was not too bad since she had shots of medicine; she went through the rest of Friday sluggish yet alert and no more vomiting. She never did get the dreaded bloody diarrhea. She slept all that night nestled in between my husband and myself in our bed.
Prior to this we had been forcing pedilite and baby formula in her every half hour. We did this using a turkey baster. We did not mix those two fluids together; rather we gave 3oz of the pedilite then half an hour later 3oz of baby formula. We used a soy based formula which was developed for human infants with colic.
Saturday morning was Sasha’s third day with noticeable symptoms of parvo. (Parvo has a 10 to 14 day incubation period before any symptoms become noticeable) All this day she was hot, then cold, not eating on her own, and slightly lethargic. Although she was still interested in her surroundings and wanted to play most of the day. She held down all the fluids we forced in her and drank water on her own, the pedilite she wouldn’t touch we had to force that in her. She fought us every time, I believe she will probably run and hide every time she sees a turkey baster for the rest of her life LOL.
Around 10pm Saturday January 28, 2006 Sasha started vomiting. Every drop we forced in her came right back up. Around 2am my husband urged me to get some rest, he would not be able to stay up with her the following night because he had to work Monday morning. I went to bed and slept fitfully, my husband stayed up all night forcing meds and fluids down Sasha every 30 minutes even though she didn’t hold down one drop.
I woke worried and not very well rested Sunday morning just before 6am. This was to be Sasha’s fourth day with noticeable symptoms of Parvo.
Sunday January 29, 2006. Day Four
Upon hearing how the night went I became VERY fearful for Sasha’s life. I set about waking all of the children, we have 6 teenagers, set them the task of scrubbing the floors with bleach water again, all of our floors are hard wood, since we are remodeling our home we have not yet finished removing the old carpet glue sanding and varnishing them therefore the bleach water scrubbings wont hurt the floors. I then set about lighting every single candle I owned, praying like I have never prayed before, having done that I picked up my very sick and weak baby wrapped her in her favorite blanket sat in my rocking chair and rocked her.
We pulled Sasha though Sunday by administering fluids every half hour as we had been doing. Her meds were due every 4 to 8 hours, I began giving them to her every two hours, except for the antibiotic, this I kept to the every 8 hours she was originally prescribed.
When I noticed she had held down some fluids for several hours I started making a mixture of baby formula, baby oatmeal cereal, and lots of sugar. This I forced in her every 90 minutes, I was trying for 6oz but was happy to get 3oz in her.
I stayed up with her all night Sunday night, keeping up with the fluid and medication regime.
Monday morning dawned, Sasha’s fifth day with noticeable symptoms of parvo.
Monday January 30, 2006 day five
Sasha was no longer vomiting, she never had diarrhea not once, her eyes were bright and clear, her gums were now white due to becoming anemic, she looked thinner but still retained most of her body fat she had before becoming ill. She wanted her rawhide chewies and after reading they are packed with potassium I allowed her as many as her sweet little heart desired.
I stopped forcing meds and fluids yet kept a watch on her. She seemed interested in food for the first time in days, she drank a mixture of mineral water and pedilite with some powdered doggy vitamins added to it with no problems. I gave her a bowl of homemade chicken soup minus the noodles and veggies. She lapped up every single drop then took a nap.
Around 10am that day I woke her up and gave her all of her medications, this made her very upset with me yet she held them down. She didn’t want to eat again and I worried she would have another episode so around noon I force fed her a very thick mixture of baby formula, baby cereal, and a PILE of sugar.
Ohhh she was ANGRY with me! LOL! I pumped her as full as I dared with this mixture, about 16oz. She held it down!!! With her little belly looking like it would pop she laid down for another nap, far away from the evil mama with the horrid turkey baster LOL!
Instructing my stepdaughter to keep a close eye on Sasha and to call me on my cell the very SECOND she did anything that looked like she was going to be sick again, I went to the store to get the other dogs their food, a Parvo booster shot, and some kind of treat for Sasha.
I was gone approximately one hour. When I came back for the first time in five days Sasha came running to greet me!!!
OHHH JOY!!!!!
She was snuffling at the grocery sacs wanting to see if mama had brought her any treats and YES I HAD!
I had bought a box of pop cycles and opened one up right away and gave it to her. This was her very first pop cycle EVER and she has decided she absolutely LOVES THEM! LOL!!!
The rest of day five she seemed to be getting back to normal. She ate several times on her own and is happy the turkey baster has been put away.
Although weakened she played a lot yesterday, I would say she played just about as much as she slept.
The other two dogs have never showed signs of becoming ill, probably because they are older and have finished all of their vaccinations, even so I gave them both a booster for Parvo.
Tuesday January 31, 2006 Day six
Sasha is back to tearing out the bathroom trash, terrorizing the other two dogs and stealing their toys LOL, she is begging for ‘her’ ferrets to be let out to play, barking and jumping around as though someone has filled her full of Mexican jumping beans! She saw me put away the pop cycles yesterday and keeps going to the freezer pawing at it in hopes to open it up and get her own treat. LOL My stepdaughter is back to yelling for me ‘Sasha peed on the floor! Sasha tore up the trash! Sasha got in my room and tore up my teddy bear! Come get her!’ LOL!!!!
Looks like everything is back to normal!!
I hope our experience can help any others out there who are dealing with this dreaded virus.
OH! And please make sure your puppies get all their vaccinations!!! Sasha is only 4 months old so she was a couple of shots shy from being 100% vaccinated when she came down with Parvo.
One last thing, if your puppy does come down with parvo DO NOT! Give them a Parvo vaccine!!! It will make them worse!!! Check with your vet on when they can start up they vaccination regime again.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post in its entirety.
((((HUGS))))
Siana
01-31-06, 11:54 AM FredPuli That's close on miraculous ! I doubt whether any dog-person on AP had much hope for her: (FredPuli certainly feared the worst Wink ) Your bitch had had some of her shots but not all. So perhaps she had just enough residual protection, with your good care, to save her life but not enough for her not to get sick . Is that possible? What did the vet think?
Whatever it was it, this story certainly reinforces the message to get a dog vaccinated against parvo. Parvo is a very distressing disease, as you so well describe ; I once lost an Italian greyhound bitch to it. She was young too, and the English breeder explained the lack of veterinary certificate of vaccination by saying that he got the shots from Ireland and had administered them himself. I believed him ! Roll Eyes
The horror of it is that there are carrier dogs out there that leave the virus around. My bitch had certainly never left the site of this farmyard and buildings yet got it, presumably from some visiting dog but possibly from contamination carried in by someone from the streets, on a dirty shoe perhaps.
So, can we put the candles out now? Prayers were answered, after all. Big Grin
01-31-06, 12:31 PM misty45 sasha only survived because of your dedication, love and prayers, definately not because of the crappy vet. i've been using the same vet for 30 years, so i know how disappointing it is when they aren't there. the news is just wonderful. give sasha a hug for me. is she the one that you were thinking about breeding and then changed your mind. i'm really happy for you and shasha.
01-31-06, 03:27 PM Siana Yes you can put out the candles, LOL although leave one to burn until its gone! LOL! I am a little suppositious!!! I still have all of mine going, I refuse to allow them to be blown out! They must burn until gone gone gone! LOL! Yes my husband thinks I am crazy, he loves me despite it.
Fred, you are VERY right in that there ARE carrier dogs! The vet I took Sasha to feared my other two dogs would become carriers! That is why he suggested having them put down as well. There is NO way on Gods green earth would I have a dog or any other animal killed before I did absolutely everything in my power to heal them!
Having said that no I am not a bunny lovin tree hugger, I am all for hunting and eating wild game, in fact I have half a freezer full of wild meat and yes we eat it on almost a nightly basis. I am a NRA all the way type; yet an animal lover at the same time, LOL! Yes such creatures DO exist! LOL!
That is so sad to hear about your dog who died, may I offer my deepest sympathy’s?
Misty,
Yes Sasha is indeed the same puppy I was thinking about breeding but decided not to.
One last story on Parvo;
Back in the very early 80’s my mother-in-law had a basset hound who came down with Parvo. By the time she thought to take him to the vet he was is some VERY sorry shape.
He had the bloody diarrhea and all the vomiting. The vet wouldn’t have anything to do with him, his suggestion, put the animal to sleep, he felt the dog was too far gone to save.
She said NO WAY, like I did, took him home and spent the next week nursing him back to health.
Two weeks later the vet saw her walking the dog and asked her if that was the same dog she had brought to him. When she told him that yes indeed he was he wanted to know exactly what she had done to save him.
Interestingly enough this was the very same vet I just had my Sasha to. 01-31-06, 04:17 PM
FredPuli "Carrier dogs". Why would the vet destroy the other dogs? (1) a dog that has survived the disease is immune for life. It cannot be a carrier of it then because it can't catch it. So now Sasha herself presents no danger once recovered (2) some dogs, always much older than pups, can get the disease and show no signs of serious illness: they just shrug it off and their owners may not even notice. These dogs are carriers whilst they have it. So there's a risk that other dogs in your household might catch it and carry it for a while without getting noticeably ill. The answer then is to have them tested for it, or, tested or not, treat them as quarantined for a period until any risk is passed ('gated' like troublesome teenagers Big Grin ) Certainly in my bitch's case the vet did not suggest we put down the others: good thing too, as there would have been about six others at home then Roll Eyes
The virus is very stubborn and robust and lives quite a long time. The real risk, it always seems, is that it gets carried in to the home on shoes which have touched infected feces outside or even by cockroaches carrying it into the home or yard. The guess in our case was that it had come in on a visitor's shoes or on a vehicle tyre or bodywork.
01-31-06, 10:28 PM Tree {{{{{{{{{{Siana}}}}}}}}}} That's a big hug for you! I'm glad that your baby is back in full force!
You've also, been through a lot!
02-01-06, 09:22 AM Siana Fred,
I was told she could get it again if not vaccinated? I don’t trust that vet I had to take her to for one second, are you SURE she is now immune?
02-01-06, 10:20 AM FredPuli
quote: Originally posted by Siana: Fred,
I was told she could get it again if not vaccinated? I don’t trust that vet I had to take her to for one second, are you SURE she is now immune?
The answer is that she should have the vaccination, even though it ought to be unnecessary. Why? 1)Because puppies are often wrongly diagnosed as having parvo. Very few vets test for the virus and it is possible that all the dire symptoms were , in fact, not of parvo.So if then the pup or dog encounters parvo for real there is a real problem
2) Vets often immunise against parvo and then give boosters later , at regular intervals when the dog has other shots, because it is not certain that an initially immunised pup or dog is immune for life. The vet may adopt the same reasoning in the case of a dog that has had parvo.(Incidentally, my own vet, who is a good one, advises that the dog have vaccinations, even though the dog has been diagnosed as having parvo in the past, 'out of abundant caution' however remote and unlikely the risk. I know that because I just telephoned him and asked on your behalf Wink )
3) Why take the risk, even if the chances of infection are remote ? You've been through enough,let alone the poor bitch, Sasha, herself
So , follow the vet's advice Smile
02-01-06, 10:39 AM Siana thank you fred!!!!
Sasha's normal vet will be in tomorrow again, yippy!!! She has a 10am appointment. I will let ya'll know what he says!
02-01-06, 10:59 AM DorianGreyed I am greatly relieved to hear of your pup's return to health. I couldn't post before because I lost a litter to parvo years ago, after nursing them for almost a week. I had IVs going, used a turkey baster as you did, the whole works. It still hurts to remember that time. It took me quite a while to feel comfortable enough to get another dog.
02-02-06, 10:26 AM Siana Sasha has just got back from her vet appointment; she is 100% all better! Although she will still be contagious to other dogs for a month and I was told not to bring any puppies into my home for a period of no less than 6 months, a year was more advisable.
Sasha has even gained weight! Can you believe that! She has put on 2 pounds! She now weighs 36 pounds! I suspect that’s because when she felt better she was STARVING! She has ate and ate ever since!
11-06-06, 06:52 PM husky_love what kind of medication did you give your dog for treatment? I'm in the same situtation and need help to get my baby better.
11-07-06, 01:51 AM FredPuli
quote: Originally posted by husky_love: what kind of medication did you give your dog for treatment? I'm in the same situtation and need help to get my baby better.
You don't ! You get the dog to the vet as soon as posssible.
11-07-06, 06:37 AM Karrow Husky_love, I agree with FredPuli. If you check Siana's posts above, it was the veterinary treatment that cured Sasha.
If it is Parvo that your dog has contracted, then medical help is needed. Sherasi gave you good explanations of the disease in reply to your post here . As you will see from Sher's post, dehydration is caused by the symptoms of Parvo. Just providing fluid yourself often isn't enough as your dog cannot keep the fluid down. That is just one of the reasons that veterinary treatment is needed. Even without any other complications that are often present, dehydration can cause death.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
