Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Parvo Sucks

Maggie has Parvo virus. For those of you who don't know what that is, I just found out and it sounds like it sucks. Basically, the virus strips the lining from the gastro-intestinal tract. Without a lining, the body can't absorb nutrients. When a puppy gets Parvo, it's especially bad because they are still so small and so easily dehydrate and starve. Since it's a virus, there's no treatment, but by providing the puppy with nutrients via an IV throughout the infection, the puppy can usually fight the virus and get better. The recovery rate overall is 70-80% but the clinic that Maggie is at has a 95% survival rate. They seem pretty competent there. And Maggie was still in OK shape when we took her there. Sometimes owners don't catch the parvo until the puppy is already pretty far gone. So, I think the prognosis is good. Well, we wanted to rescue a dog...I think we got what we wanted : ).

3 comments:

Rebekii said...

There were puppies with parvo at the dog rescue center I volunteered at in Albuquerque. It is awful. I'm glad you got Maggie in early. Can't wait to see picts of her when she is home and feeling back to her normal puppy self!

Liv said...

LONG LIVE MAGGIE!!!! Jack wants to see a picture of cousin Maggie in the hospital. He thinks I made the whole parvo thing up to scare him. He also wants to know if they allow flowers or if is she in ICU?

Mark said...

You're really lucky to have found a clinic that has such a high survival rate, as many vets only offer a 50:50 chance of infected dogs surviving Parvo.

You and your readers may like to download a book my wife and I put together, called Parvo Treatment 101. It tells you all you need to know about Parvo, treatment options, and a lot more, and it's free, too!