My 10 week old Dobie is currently going through parvo

Michelle84

Novitiate
Day 1 Tuesday 12/22/2020

I am writing about my experience along the way, because it is helping me cope. I also hope no one ever has to go through this, but if they do, they have my experience to help them pull through this.

It started roughly around 8:30am. Meadow (10.5 weeks old Doberman) was sleeping in between my husband and me. As she was sleeping, she suddenly got up and went towards the foot of the bed, and started making that sound...the gurgling sound before vomiting. By the time I picked her up, it was too late. The vomit consisted of puppy food, pretty mushy looking. I cleaned it up, took the blanket to the wash, and she went back to sleep. The night before, she ate quite a bit, so I wasn’t alarmed at first. I thought maybe she ate a little too much. Not within 30 min, she makes that sound again. I grabbed her in time and she vomits on the floor. I see her food she had. I cleaned it up. The next 90 minutes was spent cleaning up 4-5 more vomits with the last two being clear and looked like saliva. She would also make the gurgling sound and heave, but nothing came out. In the 90 minutes, she had diarrhea twice. I initially saw one that was by the front door, it smelled. I cleaned it up. The smell lingered, and I knew there had to be more. My husband finally found it under the Christmas tree. At this time, she seemed fine, not like her usual, spunky self, but like her I’m done for the day, about to go to bed self. After observing her for a while, she seemed tired, so I put her on the couch with my boys and asked them to keep an eye on her. She didn’t vomit or have anymore diarrhea within the last 40 min, so I thought, whatever it was, it’s gone, and now she wants to rest. I headed off to work, leaving the puppy with my boys and my husband, getting continued updates on Meadow. She pretty much rested the whole day, which is NOT like her at all. My husband felt the same way, that this was not her normal behavior, so he drove her to the vet. As he was waiting, he started texting me. He told me they wanted to test her for parvo. I immediately got defensive, as she’s just a puppy, no way! I mean yes, she’s had her first round of shots, and was literally getting her second round the next couple of days. We keep her at home at all times, and the only other place she goes to is to a vet for her ears. Within 20 minutes, he calls me, but I couldn’t answer. I was with a patient. As I finish with the patient, I look down at my phone and see his message of, “she has a strong positive for parvo, and they told me to take her to the emergency right away for the best chance of survival!” My patient is still standing in front of me, and at this point I’m trying so hard to keep a straight face. I finish with her, and had my employee help me clean, so I could leave right away. A million things were running through my head. How? When? Where? We’ve raised 3 dogs, and this has never happened! Why now, just two weeks after having her? Incubation period of parvo is 3-10days, where was she 3-10 days ago?

I finally get to the hospital, and we sit inside a waiting room. It was a long night of back and forth. We couldn’t get a direct answer of her chance of survival, they wouldn’t know for a while. Numbers being thrown of 30-50% chance of most puppies her age pulling through. My stomach turned.... knowing math pretty well, that is not promising. I asked to see her but was told we needed to make a decision first on if we were hospitalizing her or taking her home. I will say this part was a little hard. I know it’s their job, but it’s hard because they are not doing anything for her until we agree to hospitalize her, and I wasn’t able to see her till I gave them an answer. They presented me the estimated bill.... a little over $8100 to keep her for 3 days. My stomach turned more. I know nothing about parvo, I know it’s ignorant of me, but I’ve owned 5 dogs my entire life, and I’ve never had to deal with parvo. Of course, you hear, parvo is bad, but until it happened to my animal, I didn’t really know or look into it. I was also never told, hey your breed is highly susceptible to this disease, yet when I googled, all dogs I’ve previously owned or still own were on that list of high susceptibility. I told the vet tech, let me speak with my husband. They leave the room, and we both start googling away, trying to read up on parvo, taking care of puppy at home with parvo, survival rate if we take care of parvo puppy at home. The more we read, the more serious everything sounded. I tried to calm myself down by telling myself, ok she doesn’t have the worst of these symptoms; no blood was in her vomit or stool, she only vomited and had diarrhea in the morning, and it’s stopped. The only signs she has is lethargy, and I’m sure dehydration. However, I just doubted myself, I felt as though I didn’t know enough about this disease to be taking care of her. I mean what if this makes her get worse and her health plummets? I would blame myself forever. My medical brain starts to kick in, ok let’s have them run a CBC first. Let’s see what that shows, since they have to do that anyway if we hospitalize her. So, I tell the tech, and they do so. Lab results come back, everything is within normal range, except for her liver. Her RBC is a little low, but not by much, but is normal considering she’s a puppy, and most puppies are anemic/plus she’s sick. Her liver levels are 522, which is very high. However, the veterinarian told us she believed it’s elevated because she was dehydrated, and it was most likely from the vomiting and diarrhea. I thought that knowing her lab results would make the decision easier, but it didn’t. Everything I read on the internet while waiting stated the first 48 hours are crucial and puppies can be fine one minute, and then drastically drop the next minute. I tell them, “let’s hospitalize her for now, let’s get her fluids going, and I would like to see her.” I gown up, I follow the tech back, and I see this tiny brown bundled puppy sleeping. I go to her, she stares at me with her green eyes. I had a gown on, gloves, footsies, and a mask. I didn’t know if she would recognize me. I called her name, she looks at me, kind of like,” is it you?” I calm her and touch her for about 15 minutes. During this time, she was receiving iv fluids. Her little body was shaking. After trying to exert her energy looking at me, she closes her eyes to sleep. I told her she would be ok, and I turned to leave, so she could rest. They told me they would call me for an update at 7am the next day. I finally walk out, it was 12:04am.... 5 hours... Her vitals at the time were: temp 102.8, RR 30, HR 180, weight: almost 20lbs. Labs showed no blood in stool, and objective assessment findings were all within normal range.

We head home that evening, and my husband starts bleaching ( 1 part bleach/10-30 parts water), the entire house. We start throwing away things, he starts deep cleaning the front and backyard. The vet tech told us, “even after this, you don’t want another puppy in your house for at least a few years.” I wasn’t planning on anymore puppies for a while, but the thought of being told you couldn’t, made me feel a bit saddened. That night was the worst sleep ever. I tossed and turned, got up four times, and sat up wide awake since 4:30am. So, here I am, typing away, waiting for the vet to call me. I will give an update as soon as I know.
 

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Wishing you & your puppy the very best. Parvo is a nasty nasty disease I surely do hope your next update is good. I'm having sticker-shock over the estimate for 3 days at the vet.
 
That is a tough time, my wife’s dog Picasso got Parvo as a puppy. She would take him to the animal hospital everyday for an IV. It was hard to see him have to go through it but he pulled thru and is fine now. Good luck, hoping everything goes well for your little guy.
 
So sad to hear your pup is so ill , so do hope she makes a full recovery, will be thinking off you and sending hugs :(
 
Sending good vibes your way and praying for a miracle. I have hope that with regular fluids, she’ll pull through.
 
Prayers Meadow will pull through. Its really key that you guys got her under vet care so soon before she had any other symptoms. I don't know what normal cost would be but I imagine it will be much higher than anticipated since a vet staff has to check in or stay overnight to care for her.

Its entirely possible she picked something up at the vet office, although the vet clinic should have protocol for ushering parvo susceptible patients in through a back way and a cleaning regime to keep infection spread down. Its not fool proof sadly, especially if someone comes through that they don't know about.

Please keep us updated.
 
Praying for your pup to pull through.

A lot of Integrative Vets use this to help support the digestive tract and Immune system support with Parvo.

Amazon has them.

  • HERBAL BLEND PRODUCT: Paxxin contains a blend of herbs sourced from the highest quality herbs available to ensure the best potency for your pet.
  • ORGANIC & WILDCRAFTED INGREDIENTS: Amber NaturalZ is committed to responsible sourcing of herbs and is subject to a rigorous series of quality checks and testings.
  • FORMULATED JUST FOR DOGS: Paxxin is an herbal blend designed for puppies and adult dogs to support the digestive tract. For cats, we suggest Kitty-"another board".
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  • DIGESTIVE RESCUE: Includes one (1 Ounce) bottle of Amber NaturalZ Paxxin and instructions. For added support, use both Paxxin and Amber NaturalZ Vibactra Plus together.

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Also

  • HERBAL BLEND PRODUCT: Vibactra Plus contains a blend of herbs sourced from the highest quality herbs available to ensure the best potency for your pet.
  • ORGANIC & WILDCRAFTED INGREDIENTS: Amber NaturalZ is committed to responsible sourcing of herbs and is subject to a rigorous series of quality checks and testings.
  • FORMULATED JUST FOR PETS: Vibactra Plus is an herbal blend designed for pets (dogs, cats, birds, guinea pigs, and rabbits) to help support the immune system.
  • MANUFACTURED IN THE USA: Vibactra Plus for pets is made with premium ingredients and does not contain harmful chemicals. The herbs in Vibactra Plus are sourced from around the world and made in the USA to ensure quality standards according to the Good Manufacturing Practices.
  • IMMUNE SUPPORT+: Includes one (1 Ounce) bottle of Amber NaturalZ Vibactra Plus, instructions, and two methods of administration.


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So sorry for you and your little one! You got her there quickly and her labs were good! Keep that in mind I hope you can get some rest.
 
Wow..... so sorry to read this.

Mine had two obstruction surgeries and that sinking feeling in your stomach is absolutely fricking horrid.

I know a reputable breeder that lost her entire litter to Parvo. She is experienced and extremely careful but still got in her house. She thinks the only way it got in was it got on the bottom of their shoes.
 
What an awful thing to have to deal with. Sending best wishes for a full recovery and I hope you get good news soon!
 
Day 2 Thursday, 12/24/2020
Today has been quite a roller coaster.
Thank you all for your support. This keeps me motivated to continue updating you all. Also, thank you to the person who listed some items to get on Amazon. I ordered both of them.

I picked up Meadow around 8pm on Wednesday, December 22, and she seemed to be doing better. She was a little tired but way more alert and active. She licked me and was super excited. I thought she made a great turn. We took her home, she used the restroom, and was playful. She tried nibbling on my hand, but would not eat or drink anything. I thought it was fine since the vet told me they had just finished feeding her and gave her lots of iv fluids. I believed it, because her first pee when we got home was a lot...she stood for a solid minute just peeing. We gave her her meds around 11pm. That was a challenge, because she would not take it, so we finally managed to get it down. No matter what, she would not drink or eat. Before picking her up at the EC that evening, we loaded up on lots of items: Pedialyte(no flavor), baby food, foods high in calories and nutrition, vitamins, etc. That evening we fed her baby food and Pedialyte through an oral syringe. It was an endless night of taking her to the restroom. She did go number 2, and it was promising, solid with mucous liquid at the end. No blood. Around 8:30am, she had her first vomit which she didn’t have since leaving the hospital. The hospital also told us she had not vomited at all that day... the vomit was very minimal, the size of a quarter, almost urine color, but may be due to the baby food. She still would not drink or eat. Her energy has changed from slight energetic to being lethargic. She’s looking very skinny too. So, we call the vet and ask to go in for a sub q fluid bolus on her back. As we wait in the car to take her in, she vomits a small dime size in the car. No blood, urine in color. We go in, ask to take some iv bags home, so we could do her injections at home the next two days. We get home around 1pm, the puppy has been sleeping all day, gets up to vomit or use the restroom, but is looking weak. The vet tells us to continue with sub q hydration and to keep her at home unless her symptoms get worse with fluids. If she gets worse after treating her symptoms, they tell us to take her back to EC. So far, it

hasn’t. We have a food grinder, and we grounded up a bunch of her foods, vitamins, probiotics, medications, etc and fed her through the syringe. This whole process is not easy, as she is not a willing participant. The stuff we grind are only necessity things our doctor recommends she has. Her weight has dropped, and I’m now seeing her bony features, which really saddens me. I’m lying down on the couch with her 24/7, and I’m writing this as she’s napping. It is currently 5:45pm (Houston). Will update more later. Below, picture of her awake on the couch is when we got her at the hospital alert and happy, the second picture is of her this morning after sub q bolus, the third and fourth picture is of her currently sleeping, been pretty much like this all day.
 

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Praying for Meadow. Parvo is a nasty sickness for sure.. I wonder if it is typical for vets to send them home. Especially if she is losing weight and still tired. Im wondering if the stress of being at the vet clinic does more harm than good, so they rather her be home. Poor thing :(
 
You're doing all you can, and Meadow is holding her own. Parvo is hard on the puppy and a challenge for the caregivers. Fluids are most important, food can come later if it's interfering with getting fluids down but follow the vets instructions. Her weight will come back, no worries. Hang in there, you have our support!
 
Yes, it's a worrying time and heartbreaking to see them so ill. I have successfully nursed a Collie pup through parvo many years ago before the time of sub Q hydration, and it was just a case of constant attention and hoping for the best. It was a battle but there were no long term aftereffects with my pup and he put his proper weight and growth back very quickly once the corner was turned. All the best to you all.
 
I’m sorry for not updating the last two days. It has been a roller coaster and I spent every minute with her. Unfortunately, she passed away about two hours ago. I am completely devastated. I can not control my emotions, and I am so so so sad. This has been so painful, so freaking painful.
 

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