kja Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 MatildaLily had her first C3 on the 26th and we will schedule her next shot for 12 weeks (born 08 Nov) as soon as the vet reopens. I've talked to a nurse at emergency at Murdoch Vet, another vet, two breeders, many friends and a partridge in a pear tree and I'm not getting the same info! My first question is: is it "safe" to take her to the beach for a swim if we do not let her out onto the sand at all. Just carry her from car to water and back. Murdoch woman said a resounding no; the vet said yes as long as we waited a few days after the C3... She's such an enormous bundle of energy - far more active than either of our other two ever were - that we thought swimming would be a good way to drain some of that and be very easy on her joints & growing body. With all of the recent parvo news we are far more paranoid than we have been in the past and want to make the best decisions possible. If she can't go just yet, what course of events would you suggest before she can hit the water (shots, age, etc)? Really appreciate it again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahona Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 No, I'd definitely not be taking her to the beach or the water, even if you carry her, until a week past the week 16 shots. Maybe if parvo wasn't around, then yes, but since it is, it isn't worth the risk IMO. My pup comes home on the 10th of Jan and to help him work off some of his energy, he will be allowed to run around our backyard, we are getting him a clamshell pool and he will be carried around to shops and farmers markets etc. Is your pup booked in for puppy preschool? That might help too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scales of Justice Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Ahona, What makes you think puppy preschool is any safer than the beach? Any young animal which does not have its final immunisations could be at some risk anywhere. Parvo can travel in the air and could travel from a neighbour right into your own backyard without even taking your pup out the gate. Socialising/exercising a young pup is a balancing exercise - trying to make sure the pup does not miss out on vital socialising but reducing the risks as much as possible. I would personally feel safer taking a puppy to the beach and carrying it to the water to swim (on its own) than attending a puppy school where you have no idea where any of the attendees have had their puppies exposed. kja, I would take the puppy to the beach to swim but I would definitely not let the puppy sniff around areas where dogs have been or contact any other dogs. And that goes for anywhere you decide to take your puppy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldielover Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 It's definitely about balancing the risk of parvo and other diseases with the risk of inadequate socialisation and only you can decide for yourself. Personally i take my pups out straight away, but areas such as the beach, parks, etc i wait 7 days after the 12 week vaccination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 You'll seldom get the same info on this sort of thing or on vaccination schedules etc. My preference would be to keep pup away from public spaces until about 7-10 days after 2nd vaccs. Short training sessions, games etc. can help burn that energy. I'd rather live with a high energy pup than risk a dead one esp. as you know it's prevalent atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahona Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Scales of Justice, given that puppy preschool is held in a sterile environment and all the pups are immunised, I feel a bit safer there than at the beach, where there are masses of dogs of unknown vaccination status! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptolomy Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Sorry but vets aren't sterile - my god where does everybody take their sick animals to. Yep it is a fine line between getting your puppy out for socialisation and keeping it safe from parvo, and what was fine this time - might not be next time! Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahona Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 I'm well aware of the fact that people take their sick pets to the vet Ptolomy However, I have been given to understand that most puppy preschool classes are held in a sterile room at the vets surgery, feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldielover Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Unfortunately there is no such thing as a sterile room. Even operating theatres are not sterile in the true sense of the word. Clean/disinfected yes, sterile, no. It doesn't matter where you go, nobody can tell you for certain that you won't be exposed to any viruses or bacteria, all you can do is take the greatest of care whilst exposing your puppy to new environments, animals, noises and people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahona Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Yeah, will be ringing the vet to see if there's been parvo at the surgery before we take Spud in. If yes, we'll find a different preschool for him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptolomy Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Perhaps another soloution would be to contact the breeder and see if she can give you phone numbers for some of the other puppy owners and you could invite them over for a puppy play. Ahona - good luck with your pup too - but remember its not just parvo you have to think about, there are other things, although not as deadly as parvo, that I wouldn't want my 10-12 week old puppy coming into contact with that would be dealt with in the preceeding hours at a vet practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 When I had my pups at the vet for their vaccinations, tattoos, microchips, etc., a bloke near the door let his dog put its face on my leg, and then I later learned it was COUGHING. So of course I had to change my pants as soon as I got home. Luckily I didn't have any of the pups near my pants. None of them started coughing. All kinds of things at a vet surgery. And can be tracked outside the doors, away from the areas that are disinfected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kja Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 Sorry, I didn't mean to be confusing and really wanted to keep this as specific as possible. My only question on this thread is swimming in the ocean before all of the shots. We have no puppy preschool where I live and there are no other people in the area that my breeder could recommend. We are remote. We do have friends with dogs, who are all vax'd, and we are socializing her. We have a big backyard and we are playing a lot! We are also taking her with us to work, the shops, in the car etc. Those areas are covered in my mind already. Being remote we have the luxury of having very few dogs on the main beach ever. But I know that some aren't vax'd at all. I also have the luxury of a beach a few kms out of town that I think I've seen other people on only a handful of times in the past two years. We also have our own new property out of town (we haven't built yet) and that has its own beachfront that isn't particularly accessible from either end (and there are no neighbors for several kms and no real way to traipse down there for the average person). I was just thinking that these factors might have made swimming a bit early more viable since there's no real way to stop coming into contact with stuff anyway...but I do want to keep the risks as minimal as I can! Thanks so much for the ideas and extra bits so far...very interesting and great to see so much information, even if it isn't clear to me what I should do yet LOL Keep it coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldielover Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 kja... i think you've probably just answered your own question there LOL. If you're fairly remote and beaches close by aren't frequented by a lot of dogs, the risk is still there (as it is ANYWHERE) but it would be quite minimal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leema Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 I have a puppy not fully vaccinated yet. I am doing a balancing act... I keep telling myself that more dogs die each year from poor-socialisation and exposure, than those that die of parvo. However, we have a parvo outbreak in my area, so it's particularly frightening. Clover is not going to heavily dog populated areas... We go to friends houses, we've gone to a nursing home, we've gone for walks around country towns, we've gone to parks where I have not seen other dogs. I'm sure there are other dogs going there, but I wouldn't take her to, say, 'the dog park' nearby. She's coming to the beach further south (the parvo outbreak is north) tomorrow, because I consider there to be less dogs there and for it to be safer as it's further from the outbreak. I think the beaches nearby are too frequented by dogs for me to feel safe. Basically, it's up to you decide. What do you feel comfortable with? And what are you comfortable to wear if your pup happens to get sick? I am being risky because I want my pup exposed to plenty during these critical periods. Most shelters recommend this because they see the effects... I am not tooooo fussed about diseases, despite a parvo outbreak. Most vets place a high value on keeping your dogs away from 'diseasy' animals. I don't think you'll get a definite: "Yes go to the beach" or "no, don't go to the beach". Pretty much, does the beach feel good to you? The reason that you posted may mean that it doesn't. Good luck with your puppy. ^.^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kja Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 goldie - yeah, maybe...I'm just SO paranoid with this one for some reason! I'm going to ring the "local" vet again to see what, if anything, has been happening with parvo and other nasties in this area recently. The vet isn't in town bar one day a week most weeks and the office is closed for the holiday - there is meant to be someone there Thursday, but they tend to be a bit...fluid, with their sense of time! I know we took our Dora girl to the beach right away at 8 weeks with no problems, but BOY would I hate to have something happen that could be tracked back there. I'd be devastated. I'm glad I asked here for sure...there's far more information coming out in this (and other) threads than I could have hoped for, so I hope it doesn't end! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 I don't take my pups out until 10 days after their final puppy shot. If I want to take them somewhere, I take them in the car, and then carry them. Scales of Justice Parvo can travel in the air Are you sure? I read a couple of vet. medical books on parvo, and the information in both of them was that parvo is not airbourne. Has research revealed that it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scales of Justice Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 (edited) Jed, If you do a Google search on Parvovirus and Airbone you will come across many sites, both human and animal which state that Parvovirus is spread by airborne droplets and some sites which say it is not. Here is a link for Human Parvovirus, if you check page 18 you will see they say it is airborne. This is the Dept of Heatlh WA Govt. http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:GPEtd...;cd=8&gl=au I wouldn't like to say that it is or it isn't but I wouldn't like to take the chance if I was in an environment 20 metres or so away from an animal which had parvovirus and say to myself well, I'm 20 metres away I should be safe here with my pup, its not airborne - would you? Edited January 1, 2008 by Scales of Justice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 I don't take my pups out until 10 days after their final puppy shot. If I want to take them somewhere, I take them in the car, and then carry them.Scales of Justice Parvo can travel in the air Are you sure? I read a couple of vet. medical books on parvo, and the information in both of them was that parvo is not airbourne. Has research revealed that it is? Well flies and other insects are airborne and parvo can certainly travel on the feet of flies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scales of Justice Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Ahona, I would consider a veterinary environment one of the worst places to take a young puppy (not fully immunised) for reason being, as stated above, vets are where sick animals congregate. Even if a vet could guarantee a "sterile room" as you say, what about the other puppies attending the class? Any one of them at any time could be carrying parvo or bringing it to your pup. I'm not telling you this to make you afraid of going to a puppy training class but just to point out that your reasoning is a little misguided. As I said above, socialising an unimmunised puppy is a balancing act. I have always taken puppies out before the 12 week immunisations and have never had a problem, but then again I am very careful that I do not expose my pups to "doggy areas". I go to shopping centres where there are not many dogs and places where less dogs are congregating and I meet friends with puppies where I know those puppies are healthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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