Our border collie pup is dying....

[Lenajo]

Me too, cuz I've got some nasty virus right now and am going to be miserable starting tomorrow. I'll be outside all week doing herd checks At least it is not 10F out like last week. The manure was freezing on my glove before I could get to the next cow.

 

I feel more sorry for the next cow LOL. Sounds like a great commercial for heated KY ROFL

[Nepsa]

Ewww about the KY!! LOL...

 

Day 4 is the crisis....fingers crossed she makes it.

[DTrain]

Good luck with Asker, I know how you feel and thanks for making every effort to save her. It is my thought that she will survive this and become an outstanding dog. I am also in Canada so I know how you feel about the breeder and papers, insist. Lately I have been hearing some terrible things about breeders. I have reason in some cases to question expertise and ethics. I got a call from a lady, I don't know how she got my number, who claims she has pure bred BC pups for sale that come from a great blood line for only $1000. Something bothered me and a few questions into the conversation I discovered the pups are not pure bred, the lady has no idea beyond one generation of the bloodline and she was simply making up a story to get a high dollar for her pups. I did not get her number, she would not give it but I would love to report her to the SPCA. I am not saying your breeder is dishonest but surely she can provide anything you are asking for in the interest of saving Asker I would think. Please keep us posted.

[nancy in AZ]

You can add me to the people who have had a dog that survived parvo as a pup with no long term ill effects. I also have two friends, each of whom adopted pound puppies that developed parvo and whose dogs pulled through. It's usually the high fever and dehydration that is fatal, so if it's caught early enough, with IV therapy, chances for suvival are much higher. Hang in there. We're all pulling for Asker.

[Kate@JIm]

Nepsa, I visited my friends over Christmas holiday, her dog came down with parvo at 5 months, he is now 14 1/2 and thriving!!

He had and (has) a very active (normal) life! -

 

Hang in there, there is hope!

Kate

[Nepsa]

Thank you for the success stories..I hope Asker is one of those success stories....its hard. We were told we can't visit her but can look thru the window to see her. But....if that's what it takes for her to get better. That's fine with me; I want her home and alive and healthy again. How long will she be hospitalized? The vet told us 1 week.....so I would think she won't come home until next week on Monday if she pulls thru. How long for the dog to get better from it?

[RuthBelle]

Oh my gosh, sending some "get well" mojo to you and little Asker. I went looking for web sites pertaining to vet bill help and here's one with a lot of Canadian links:

 

http://www.petandwildlife.com/dog-info/whe...-vet-bills.html

 

I'm off to search for more!

[Nepsa]

Thank you Ruth..will look into that link.

 

Got another fax from the vet; my heart in my throat once again wondering what the news update was. Vet just said she has to be in the hospital for 5-10 days. And says that now that she has it...she won't need vaccination for it. But will need distemper shot 2-3 weeks AFTER she recovers. I'm hopeful....since the vet is saying "after she recovers". That he's being positive that she will pull through.

 

I hate this waiting game....and having heart in throat every-time I get a fax from the vet.

 

Hubby has gone out to find some odd jobs on the side to pay for the vet bill. We have tons of snow; so snow shoveling job is on the list. I'm going to work extra hours to pull in more money for Asker. I'm just thankful it's not more than 5,000 since if it was...we will be "done for" and not able to do anything for Asker other than put her down.

[RuthBelle]

Here's some more links to organizations that help out with vet bills, and this site has a lot of other ideas for dealing with vet bills (before and after they occur):

 

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/what_you...inary_care.html

 

I don't know if this or a similiar company is available in Canada, but my dentist and quite a few doctors in my area are starting to push this kind of plan for payment of larger bills.

 

http://www.carecredit.com/

 

I used to go to a vet who would do the work, but required you to write post dated checks if you couldn't pay it all up front. I haven't had to pay for any really expensive bills (knock on wood) and don't know what my current vet requires as to payment for the super expensive ones, but I figure I'd just hand over my credit card if I had to.

[RuthBelle]

***************since the vet is saying "after she recovers".*********************

 

That does sound like good news! Even more "get well" mojo being sent by me and Belle!

[Nepsa]

post dated cheques? I never thought of that!! Thanks for the idea...I will ask the vet if he could take post-dated cheques....

 

Going to look at more links you posted..a little bit helps...

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Well, fingers are crossed and good vibes going out to you from Calgary. Hopefully she recovers fine and will have a full and happy life. A lot of our rescues come of local native reserves and get parvo, most of them pull through unless they are very, very young. So, I'm sure Asker has a fighting chance!

[Nepsa]

Well, fingers are crossed and good vibes going out to you from Calgary. Hopefully she recovers fine and will have a full and happy life. A lot of our rescues come of local native reserves and get parvo, most of them pull through unless they are very, very young. So, I'm sure Asker has a fighting chance!

 

Thank you for the positive thoughts....I hope she pulls thru. We never went thru this before in our lives so this is very new and heartbreaking for us. So we never had met a dog with it or had it..Asker is our 1st.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I wouldn't be blaming the breeder w/o further research. Puppies can have their shots from the breeder and then the new owner can expose the pup to parvo. A good breeder will make sure the pup is healthy utd on shots before sending them to the new owner. Pups can get parvo w/o people realizing it....such as from the park, from friends who bring dogs over and so forth. But then again, if the breeder doesn't do shots.....well, that says a lot.....

 

I had a line on buying a super WELL BRED pup a couple of months ago....the owner was so-so on the shots BUT I heard that parvo was rampant on the place and I decided against it....first since the pup was not utd on shots and second I didn't want a single parvo cell to come on my land via the new pup.

 

Diane

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

I thought parvo is rotovirus. My kids had that and were very sick one nearly went to the hospital. We were in the last hour of deciding when she woke up and drank. nasty illness.

[AllieMackie]

Oh goodness! Been off the boards for a few days, but adding to the good prayers/mojo/thoughts for Asker. What a difficult thing to go through. D: Here's hoping!

[MaggieDog]

5-10 days at the vet and no contact with you seems a bit extreme from all I know of people here who've had pups with parvo that pulled through. I might be asking exactly why they want to keep the pup that long *and* why the heck they think it's a good idea to vax a pup just a few weeks after a bout with parvo. Yea distemper is nasty, but her system will still be feeling the effects of fighting off the parvo.

 

Since you have taken her out and about and incubation for parvo is around 10 days-2 weeks max from what I understand, PLEASE call any locations you visited with her that have other animals visiting as well. This means any pet supply places, vet clinics, training centers, Santa photo locations, etc. You want to make sure any other pet owners with pups that might be at risk are notified. You'll also want to talk to your vet about how long she will be shedding virus in her stool for so that you don't risk anyone else's pups by accidentally taking her out before she's completely clear of the virus.

 

Additionally, be aware that there is some thought that pups who have a major illness and long hospitalization during the socialization period (up to a max of 5mo) can be more prone to developing behavioral issues down the line. Owner directed aggression seems to be the biggest issue from what I've read.

 

Good luck to your little pup both over her initial recovery and down the line. She's already lucky to have such a dedicated owner!

[Lenajo]

Calling everyone and their brother randomly about the puppy is a bit of a "mad dog" and creates panic rather than helping. (Select phone calls to private places you've been would be appropriate) Freshly vaccinated puppies also shed virus in their stools (enough they can actually "vaccinate" another puppy - cause them to develop a titer, or if he's weak to become ill)- there are no "parvo free" zones that are not sterile zones. Everywhere that the public/dogs have been likely has some type of parvo.

 

Unfortunately this puppy sounds like just a case of bad luck. Maybe he didn't seroconvert after his vaccine, a bit of stress from flight/new home, maybe a little internal weakness (nothing insinuated here...all of us are a little weak about something - you get the flu, and I'll be ok...but put any artificual sweetener in me that might not bother you and I'm toast) - the right combinations of stressors and disease exposure equaled illness.

 

When Dinah got sick she has been home for over 3 weeks, we had never had parvo on the property and were not affiliated with any sources (I wasn't doing shelter or rescue work at all). She was 18 weeks of age and had had 4 combination vaccines behind her. Her 2 littermates played with her all day, in the same kennel, even when she was already mildly sick (we had never seen the symptoms). The one brother had all the same travel stresses she had the month before. Yet, they never got sick, but she did.

 

Why is this? An internal weakness in her likely. She was also the puppy that got very sick for several days with her rabies vaccine at 12 weeks.

 

The greatest cause of death in puppies is not disease - it's lack of socialization. Most puppies will survive parvo just fine, but very few survive the fearfulness and aggression brought on by lack of early socialization.

 

You do the best you can, with what you have. Sometimes kids and puppies get sick and there is nothing and nobody at fault. You just get out the credit card and your choice of prayer/vibe material and tackle it head first.

[stockdogranch]

Sounds like her odds of recovering are pretty darn good. As someone said, when you've had enough dogs for enough years, you'll come across stuff like this (or worse). In the past three years, I've had a tremendous amount of vet bills (like 15K worth)--just random crap--nothing really anyone's fault. And I'm poor. You just hand over the credit card, don't ask how much you're spending--cuz, hey--it's money you don't have anyway, so you just keep making payments (like forever), but it's all worth it in the end. I think of it this way: I have paid a pretty big price financially to see first hand that miracles do in fact happen. She sounds hopeful at this point. My thoughts are with you,

 

A

[Colton's_Mom]

I had a 5 month old Rottweiler pup get parvo. My parents wanted another rottie and rescued her from the pound. Apparently they didn't do vaccinations there (she was also supposed to be 'fixed' but had a heat cycle). She ended up coming through it but the vet bills were too much so my Dad (I was around 7 or 8 at the time) took care of her. Syringed water, liquid diet that sort of thing. She's now 7 years old and has as many lives as our pet cat (rattlesnake bite, parvo, pnemonia and the list goes on...) It sounds like she's doing better, which is good to hear.

[sweet_ceana]

Being the insurance geek that I am... this is where I chime in and reccomend pet insurance to all of us who will pay ANYTHING to save our furry loved ones. My pooches have it, and it has come in handy. It makes breaking the bank to pay vet bills a lot easier.

[MaggieDog]

Or if you're like me and don't really want to tie up $ in premiums, I highly suggest budgeting some every month for a pet health fund. We put in a fair amount every month for each animal and it can cover anything we need - basic annual exams, heartworm meds, emergencies, etc. It won't give us $15,000, but it does set us up for emergencies of several thousand $.

[timberviewfarm]

My vets office recommends using care credit if they can't work out payments with you. They will try, but carecredit offers great interest rates. Sorry if this was mentioned before and I just missed it, I skimmed through the responses.

Kelly

[Lenajo]

Or if you're like me and don't really want to tie up $ in premiums, I highly suggest budgeting some every month for a pet health fund. We put in a fair amount every month for each animal and it can cover anything we need - basic annual exams, heartworm meds, emergencies, etc. It won't give us $15,000, but it does set us up for emergencies of several thousand $.

 

I've researched a lot of the available pet insurances and a consistant savings plan just works better for us too. Maybe different if I only had one dog LOL

 

I also have the "dog card"...that is the credit card I keep empty just for the worst case dog emergency. Like unexpected shoulder surgery for the tune of almost $3k <sigh>

 

Miracles, as Anna said, are often what you pay for. Money yes, but also learning/researching and the blood, sweat, and tears that comes up with staying up all night for days on end to make it work. A little luck also applies....

 

keep us posted on your pup please!

[AK dog doc]

Health certificates do NOT require proof of distemper/parvo vaccine. It ONLY requires proof of rabies vaccine, AND THEN ONLY in animals that are past a certain age. Having a health certificate does NOT require that any vaccines have been given EXCEPT for rabies in age-appropriate animals.

 

Parvo is not a persistent infection. Either the animal dies of it, or it recovers, in which case it would have eliminated the virus from its body (although it may shed in the stools for three weeks or so following recovery). There may be permanent injury to the gut as a consequence of the firal infection, but there is NOT a permanent parvoviral infection.

 

Properly-handled and reputably-produced parvo vaccines work just fine. Testing on the vaccine I use proves that eighty precent of pups are seropositive after the first vaccine. The problem with vaccinating against parvo is that you have to sidestep maternal antibody (passive immunuity acquired across the placenta or via nursing). Maternal immunity fades at some point in all pups, but the exact time at which that occurs varies from one pup to the next. Because of the highly infective nature of the parvo virus, there is a potential for maternal immunity to be high enough to clear the parvo vaccine from the pup's system before it mounts an adequate response to the vaccine (and therefore to the naturally-occurring virus), but NOT high enough to prevent infection if the virus is encountered in the environment. This is why we have a three-vaccine protocol for puppies, AND why we sometimes have incompletely vaccinated pups get parvo after one or two vaccines.

 

There ARE antivirals available and some of them have shown some utility in parvoviral infection, but there are caveats: One, they're not inexpensive (a single dose can cost $30 or more, depending on the size of the dog); two, timing is important. My personal feeling is that if you have a really sick pup, it's worth a try.

 

HIV is a retrovirus. Parvo is not. They do not act the same in the body. HIV is a lot more like FeLV than it is like parvo, in that HIV and FeLV ARE persistent infections.

 

If the OP's puppy was shipped to them younger than 16 weeks, then it was the OP's responsibility to complete the vaccine series - not the breeder's.

 

In my hands, about 70% of agressively-treated pups will survive parvo, but about 70% of UNTREATED pups will die. Less-agressively treated pups (home care, but not hospitalization) go about 50%.

 

I certainly hope that the OP's pup falls into the 70% of recovering dogs. Odds are in their favor, for which we can all be hopeful.