A local vet is warning dog owners not to bring their dog to public spaces if they’ve not been properly vaccinated.
Gordon Laity of the Lakeland Veterinary Clinic says they’ve seen two cases of Parvovirus in the past month. One of those was in the Gateway area and one from the Lone Butte area, he says, adding that Parvovirus has pretty much always been in the area.
“The reason being that it can last over a year in the environment so where a dog has had parvo that area could infect another dog a year later. It’s spread through fecal material of infected dogs.”
He urges owners whose dogs are showing signs not to bring them in right away. Early signs are frequent vomiting followed by bloody diarrhea but those are both really common for dogs, he says. He says to call a vet if it’s a young dog, like a puppy, that’s vomiting frequently and off of food.
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“If they’re still eating and drinking and running around, if they have diarrhea and vomiting but seem normal otherwise, I wouldn’t get excited about that.”
He says that the vaccines for Parvovirus are extremely effective, noting that if an animal is fully vaccinated the chance of getting Parvovirus is almost 0.
“If they’re simply overdue on their adult vaccines by some period of time that’s not a reason to really be overly concerned. It’s mostly the dogs that never had their primary vaccination series done or done properly. A lot of the dogs we see get infected have had some of their puppy vaccines but not all. The problem is that the vaccines may not be effective until the pup is at least 14 weeks of age. So, if they’ve just had one vaccine at eight weeks of age or sometimes even if it’s two vaccines, one at eight and one at 12, they very often are not protected into the future or not at all.”
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If your dog has ever been fully up to date, he says not to be too concerned even if it’s a few years behind.
“It’s really the improperly vaccinated from the beginning animals that have the highest risk.”
Puppies are at the highest risk of dying from Parvovirus, he says.
“Mature dogs may have milder cases of it that they can survive without treatment even. Although I have had adult dogs require extensive treatment to survive.”
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