my dad thinks his new dog has parvo virus

[DooinMeCleanin]

i was meant to be going round their house to help my mam with something but she phoned me up and asked me not to go incase i transfer it to my dogs.

is this possible my dogs are both upto date with their vaccinations.

what is parvo virus? is it curable? and how much cost is likely to be involved?

OldBag, they DO run a boarding kennels as well, the pound side is a sideline. A stray must be law be kept for 7 days from the point of seizure, after which the dog may be disposed of as the pound sees fit - rehomes, sent to rescue or killed. The pound is on contract and the council pays a fee per dog for those 7 nights for his care - that "care" level varies enormously from pound to pound. A council will typically pay between £7 and £10 per dog per day. This is one of the reasons why there are so many dogs being killed in pounds as a great number of them won't keep the dog after their 7 days are up because there is no money in it for them.

Pound dogs have to be kept physically seperate from boarders but IME there is a variation between the theory and the practice in some pounds. I hope to god that this one's cross-contamination prevention procedures are strictly adhered to.

One of the problems I find when discussing rescue is that many people think of pounds as rescues when the difference is enormous. A pound will be aprofit-making organisation, a rescue may or may not be a registered charity but it WILL be self-funding. With very few exceptions a dog's chances in a pound are slim without rescue stepping in once his 7 days are up and it will be RESCUE which vaccinates, microchips, rehabilitates, neuters, assesses the dog, vet checks, homechecks applicants and offers lifetime support, not the pound. For this reason I would only recommend that people adopt from rescue and not a pound unless they are VERY dog-experienced, are willing to take on a potentialy difficult, unassessed dog and accept the risks involved, including that they are very much on their own with no support or back-up should something go wrong. I've taken in from pounds before (including this particular one) but am fortunate to have more experience than most and superb rescue support... but I undeniably took a risk nonetheless.

I'm so sorry Dooin. Your Dad did a wonderful thing taking in this dog.

Oh God, their Lurcher is ill now . The vet has no idea what it is, but has given my Dad some meds for it and gave the dog an injection, anti-viral and rehydration meds I would presume. They are doing on an autopsy on the staffy now. As soon they find out what is wrong we will and we will know if my dogs need any meds. Up to now my dogs are fine, they very kindly left me a poo in the dining room while I was at work and it's firm.

Vet says I need to watch for diarrhoea and yellow foamy vomit, along with lethargy. If I am concerned at all I must take them straight to the vet or call a pet ambulance if it's out of hours.

My sister had already been in my house yesterday with my dogs, before the Staffy showed any signs of illness. So whatever is causing it could already have been in my house before I went round to my mums. Whatever it is it is fast acting. Lurcher is now very ill and last night he was his usual idiotic self.

The pound are being great and are paying all the vets bills and for the autopsy. For now her dogs are safe. She is keeping a close eye on them all and not letting any dogs in or out for now and will decide what to do when we find out what it is.

She is very upset about what is happening. She told my Father that she has asked the council for extra funds to immediately vaccinate any dogs that come in stray, but they won't allow it.

My Dad is going to get in touch with the council and complain about the services and funding.

The Lurcher is back at the vets at 5pm but must be taken in immediately if he shows any signs of decline or if he has D and V again.

Hoping all will be well with your Dad's lurcher .

Jeez Dooin, I'm sorry, I do hope to god your Dad's Lurcher will be okay. The blessing is that she's in good, caring hamds with your parents and you.

Glad to hear the pound are being pro-active and helpful... no, delighted, albeit somewhat surprised (it's nice to be proved wrong sometimes and all that). If you want some extra welly in making complaints to the council please let me know and I'll drum up as much support as possible from the AR community.

Apologies if I go silent soon, laptop charger is broken so when it gives out completely I'm offline til I receive a replacement, but I'm still thinking of you - you know the number if I can help in any way.

Take care all of you, thinking of you.

Keeping fingers crossed for the lurcher here too.

Oh god, how awful, fingers crossed that everything will be okay. Please keep us updated when you have a minute.

The Lurcher is now in the hospital on a drip . They still don't know what it is. My dogs are both still completely normal but I have all their insurance papers out just incase.

My dogs didn't have direct contact with the Lurcher or the Staffy, only via my sister and then me, so touchwood they'll be fine.

Whippys insurance is not as comprehensive as the Devil Dogs but as far as Dh is concerned Whippy is his third child, he would sell his house to save her. The pound/council are paying for the Lurcher.

Dooin, I am so sorry to hear about your dad's new dog dying and even more upset to hear their lurcher is now ill. Please let them be ok, I am praying hard for the lurcher and also hoping that your dogs escape whatever it is.

I am so shocked to hear this update, I wasn't expecting it at all and its just so sad and so unfair.

Please let us know what the vet says about the staff and also keep us updated on the lurcher.

Oh, Dooin, I'm so sorry. Hoping and praying that the lurcher is OK. At least the staffy had people who were kind to him at the end of his life.

Do hope your dogs are OK, too. At least you are alerted to watch out for any changes.

Fingers crossed for you all. x

The Lurcher, at last check was described as stable but serious. The vets have been given permission to ring at anytime day or night if his condition changes at all.

My dogs are still absolutely fine. Hopefully it is something that can only be passed on via close contact.

Oh I am so sorry

Fingers crossed xxx

[hugesighofrelief]

Lurcher has had a good night. No more D and V and is responding well to the IV drip (for dehydration and nausea) if he eats something and keeps it down he can home later today. They still don't know what caused it.

The vet thinks it's too fast acting and aggressive to be Parvo. The Lurcher was fine when my Dad left for the vets with Sadie (the Staff) and when he got back he was very ill too.

The vet described Sadie as being there one second and dead the next . At least she didn't suffer.

Dooin - only just popped back after couple of days beeing really busy - so so sorry to hear about Sadie, what a sad end to such a heart warming story. My heart goes out to your dad.

I am so pleased to hear His Lurcher has picked up a bit - fingers crossed he will continue to regain full strenght and be OK.

Thinking of you all.

I hope the Lurcher has a good day today. Fingers crossed for him, and all the other dogs in the pound.

It's going to be 5 days for the autopsy result. My Dad is in regular contact with the lady at the pound. She is being really great about it all. She is absolutely devestated about it all. At the moment they are hoping it is hepatitus. If it's hep then her dogs should be okay, they'll just need a vax against it, which she is only to happy to give them. If it's parvo she will have to get any dog which hasn't been vax'ed pts, which she is really upset about

My Dad is really upset about Sadie. He thinks he failed her, we just have to keep reminding him that because of him she died as someone's pet, knowing kindness and love. I saw her the night before and she didn't look sick enough to warrent the drive to the pet hospital. I don't think he did anything wrong. She even walked to the vets, just minutes before she died. Apparently her body went into sudden shock. Her veins collapsed and her organs just shut down. It was very quick and she wouldn't have felt any pain.

My sister is really angry with the council and is determined to help more dogs from the pound. I don't know if they plan on rehoming another dog from there once all of this is over and the dogs get the all clear. I know when I was talking to him before all this happened there was GSD and Dobe x that had got his attention while he visiting Sadie.

His health is really bad coupled with his depression his dog(s) are the only things that get him out of bed.

My Dad is trying to get some sense out of the council atm, wrt why the dogs are not vaccinated as soon as they are picked up. The council are trying to tell him that they have nothing to do with the pound . The pound have the councils contract for strays and advertise their dogs on the councils own website.

I am going to go round one night and help him with his complaint forms.

I have just spoke to my mum and she told me the Lurcher is doing brilliant. He is up and walking about and doesn't like it when they put him back in his kennel. He is making a big fuss of the vet nurses. Yesterday he couldn't even wag his tail. They have to ring again at 3:30 and if he hasn't been sick he can come home.

AFIAK none of the dogs at the poubd are showing any signs of illness upto now.

Thank goodness your Dad's Lurcher is showing signs of improvement. So very glad to hear it.

As for the pound and the council, I'm fucking fuming with both. The pound manager is crying crocodlile tears I'm afraid... she will NOT "have to" put any dog diagnosed to sleep, and if she does she will be making decisions on economic grounds and NOT compassionate ones unless with respect to a dog/dogs who are genuinely too ill to recover and are suffering. If she chooses not to isolate any Parvo-infected dogs and not to do her utmost to treat them she is choosing to kill them. Likewise if Parvo is found she should go into complete shutdown, no dogs in or out for a quarantine period, but reading what you've said above and going on past personal experiences of that particular pound I think I might be forgiven for exercising a bit of cynicism there too.

The council are, of course, wholly resposible for stray dogs in law and the pound works under contract to them. Therefore the council are fully capable of doing the decent thing and vaccinating dogs as they arrive. The reasons why this doesn't happen are all financial -

A. That the council's sole responsibility is to provide a minimum of basic care (food and shelter) for the dogs for 7 days or for someone (ie the pound concerned) to do so on their behalf. The pound's argument will be that they don't get paid enough to cover vaccs and the council's will be that they can't justify any more money for the pound dog contract.

B. This pound, despite it's claims to the contrary, DOES kill dogs. I know that for a fact... and therefore they ain't gonna spend a penny on vaccinating a dog which they may end up paying a further vet bill for seven days later when they kill him.

C. The manageress could undertake to vaccinate the dogs herself using the money paid to her by the council for each dog's 7 days care. I see no legal reason why she would have to defer to the council to do so. She chooses not to, because it affects her profits.

This needs to be escalated to the Director of Environmental Health, the local councillor, local MP and failing any joy, from them the press, if possible by email so you can copy all correspondance to animal rights groups. :)

Thanks Val. Have C and P'd your post to my sis who is atm helping my Dad with this.

Atm they don't want to kick up a fuss with the pound as they are paying for all the vet bills for the Lurcher, who is still improving by the minute, thankfully. But I know they will if the worst happens and the dogs in the pound threatened with being pts. It's the council they are dealing with atm, or rather trying to deal with.

He doesn't know how to email, but she does. I'll make sure she helps him.

Devil Dog has just given me the scare of my life. I checked on him as he was snoozing, he felt hot to touch and wouldn't drink or eat (I was offering raw carrot which he usually likes). I rushed out to buy fresh mince, which is his fave. Of course the butchers were closed, so I had to buy aberdeen angus burgers from the co-op which were £3.50. He wolfed the lot down and then jumped onto the dining table (which he is not allowed to do) to get the empty packet to lick , He's now chomping happily on his carrot, bloody dog.

Lurcher is now back home. He has meds to take at home and is still very poorly, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Now we just have to wait for test results to find out what it was.

Glad lurcher is back home, that should help him recover a bit quicker being in his own surroundings.
I hope the results are conclusive so they know what happened and why. I think it will also help you dad come to terms with the loss. Hopefully its nothing that will cause other dogs to be pts.
Thanks for the update and I'm glad its positive news.

So glad for at least a little positive news. Very pleased to hear the lurcher is home. At least your dad is keeping busy trying to get sense out of the council. Maybe after all this is over he will feel he can rescue another dog. He certainly didn't fail Sadie - because of him she died with loving people around her, not in fear in a pound.

Keep us posted. x

He is still not himself and won't eat his eggs and pasta, but he is loads better and is getting spoilt. He is sleeping in my sisters room from now on as she never wants to be apart from him again.

My Dad is now in touch with Save our Strays. He wants to take a dog from there once this is all over. Apparently they take as many dogs as they can out of our pound and vaccinate, health check and spay them before sending them out for adoption or fostering.

My mum, who last week claimed to be afraid of stray/rescued dogs as they were all Bad Dogs, wants to foster so she can save more than one dog. Apparently fostered dogs have a better chance of rehomed quicker and all rescues are in desperate need of good foster homes

At least if SOS get another foster home or rehome a dog with them then some good will have come out of all of this.