Thursday, June 21, 2007

Sad day here in OK

We just lost our fight with Parvo after two days of administering meds and fluids every hour round the clock to our two puppies. Bear and Moses both got Parvo virus probably around Monday but we were not able to diagnose it until Wednesday when Bear puppy started passing blood in his stool. Parvo is a deadly viral disease with symptoms that are pretty dreadful, has no treatments, and most pups usually die of dehydration before they actually die of Parvo, while they are loosing their stomach and intestinal lining and technically dieing a very painful and slow death. With excessive internet research li we administered everything possible, and even the vet confirmed that they would not have been able to do anything more than what we have done. Black dog breeds are the most prone to Parvo and are the least likely to survive. Bear passed away Wednesday night and Moses last night. We are all so devastated. The best thing to save your puppies from Parvo is to catch quickly (first signs are lethargy and depression, loss of appetite and loss of weight, eventually pups will vomit blood or pass it in their stool ), keep them hydrated orally or with enemas with pedialyte or like fluids, administer Parvaid every hour 24/7 and antibiotics 4 times a day. There is nothing else your vet can do than what you can do yourself, other than put the puppy to sleep if the fight seems to be lost. Bear had complications and he was loosing so much blood and fluid that we were never able to bring him back from the extreme dehydration, regarless of the fluids he was able to retain. Dehydrated pups have white gums, while healthy gums are light pink. Moses stopped vomitting on Thursday and was keeping down all his fluids , and even some soft food (solids should not be fed at this stage) and we were really hoping he would recover, but we lost him around 2:30 this morning, but he went peacefully and we praise the Lord for that.
We still have 4 pups to worry about, all are doing fine right now but the incubation period for the virus is 7-10 days. Even vaccinated puppies and even adult dogs can still get Parvo. It is very contagious and all premises need to be disinfected with bleach. We are hopeful and praying. Again, it's a sad day here in Oklahoma :(


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