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Straydog Inc., The Arnolds' Happy Home for Strays, a No-Kill Dog Shelter
P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147 * (903) 479-3497 * EMAIL: straydog@straydog.org

Puppy Holly has parvovirus!

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY MARCH 3 2004

Erin reports on yesterday afternoon's vet visit to Dr. Reeves in Tyler ...

Puppy Holly has parvovirus! Now we've got a potential "situation"!

     After Dr. Reeves saw some of the other dogs, we brought in Puppy Holly. We told Dr. Reeves that after Puppy Holly's morning outing in the park with her sister, Puppy Grace, and new kennel mate, Puppy William, Holly had become lethargic, didn't eat and had bloody, watery stools. She had already had two sets of distemper/parvo shots during her month with us so far, and she was due for the third set tomorrow. What we feared most turned out to be true: Holly has parvo, and the reading from the test showed a "high antigen case." (Per Dictionary.com an antigen is a substance that when introduced into the body stimulates the production of an antibody.)

Dr. Reeves studies the results of the parvo test.

     We are very worried now, and we will watch all the other puppies here at Straydog--Puppies Grace, William, Thelma and Louise. The older dogs shouldn't be in any danger since they're all up to date on all their shots.

     The doctor told us to put Holly in a hospital kennel in our hospital trailer and to keep her quiet and in a dark room so she can be warm and conserve her energy. He gave us a lot of I.V. fluids to give her, since she won't be hungry.

Randy, our overnight man, holds up the I.V. bottle while Juana prepares to give the fluids to Holly.

Juana inserts the I.V. needle under Holly's loose skin while Tina holds the sick pup.

     Dr. Reeves also gave us diarrhea medicine for Holly, and other medicines and supplements (Albon, Colloidal Silver, Vit. C and Colostrum) that we can give to Holly, William and Grace. For Thelma and Louise (the five- to six-week-old chow pups) we can add Vit. C and Colostrum to their food to hopefully help ward off the disease.

     Puppies Holly, William and Grace got all their medicines and supplements Tuesday night. We had to bring Rudy inside and put him back in a hospital kennel to free up Puppy William's previous outside kennel so William and Grace could kennel separately again. It's possible that one of them has already caught the virus from Puppy Holly, so they must remain in quarantine from each other and from everyone else.

     Wednesday morning we'll have to take all the toys out of the park and bleach them, as Holly played with some of them during her outing in the park Tuesday, Tina said. [As of 8:00 a.m. Wednesday all the park toys have been washed well in bleach.] And we'll put a bleach bucket at the entry gate of the main fence here at Straydog, so that everyone can bleach their feet when coming in and leaving. [This has been done.] We don't want any of our caregivers taking home the disease to their pets!

     Somehow the parvo virus got brought into the Straydog compound. Was it one of the new dogs? Puppy William (who seems okay at the time of this writing Tuesday evening) was the newest arrival. Jasmine and her pups were the previous rescues. They all seem fine now. Did we bring home Parvo from last week's Adoption Day? Or from the emergency clinic where we took Becky to get her torn ear patched up Sunday morning? Was it brought in from a caregiver/kennel team member?

Katie, Rocky and Julie went along with Puppy Holly to visit Dr. Reeves

     If we ever get time, we'll report on their visits.

 

Bill's Wednesday morning report ...

Update on Puppy Holly

     Since she came back from the visit to Dr. Reeves last evening, we've been keeping Puppy Holly in a hospital kennel, and we're wearing special coveralls to take her out to potty in an area outside the big wood fence. After touching Holly the caregiver has to wash her/his hands in diluted chlorine bleach.

This morning Puppy Holly doesn't appear sick

     Puppy Holly ate well this morning and is drinking water. We've just called Dr. Reeves to see if we should continue administering the IV fluids. He said that if Holly is holding down her food and water, we can stop the IV liquids. Sometimes, he said, the disease can be a mild case, especially since Puppy Holly had already had her first two parvo shots. We will continue to monitor the pup very closely.

Puppies Grace and William go in for the parvo test

     These two pups are showing no symptoms of parvo yet, but they are going to our local vet (Dr. Morton) right now for parvo tests and to get their next set of puppy shots.

     At a quarter till noon we just heard from the vet clinic that they've run out of the parvo tests but should have some in by early this afternoon. We'll leave the two pups there and pick them up later today.

Mother Jasmine is also at Dr. Morton's for her shots

     Jasmine's tiny puppies, Thelma and Louise, are too young for their shots, so we're just keeping them isolated from everyone but their mother.