Parvovirus- The Latest

[karly101]

We had a client ring us at work very concerned about the recent parvo 'outbreak'.. that they heard about on the radio...

We are seeing parvo cases (no increase just steady) mostly from poor breeders who haven't vaccinated and a couple from clients who did not complete the vaccination course. We had one confirmed in an older dog who had only had the initial puppy shots (3 years old at time of diagnosis).

I can't speak for other areas but Parvo is always a threat in our area and we try to remind clients of that.. many are still choosing not to vaccinate or fully complete the puppy vaccs...unfortunately we had an owner of a 10 week old Rottie puppy learn the hard way the other week about parvo

Edited April 15, 2010 by karly101

[Erny]

We had a client ring us at work very concerned about the recent parvo 'outbreak'.. that they heard about on the radio...

We are seeing parvo cases (no increase just steady) mostly from poor breeders who haven't vaccinated and a couple from clients who did not complete the vaccination course. We had one confirmed in an older dog who had only had the initial puppy shots (3 years old at time of diagnosis).

I can't speak for other areas but Parvo is always a threat in our area and we try to remind clients of that.. many are still choosing not to vaccinate or fully complete the puppy vaccs...unfortunately we had an owner of a 10 week old Rottie puppy learn the hard way the other week about parvo

Can I just debate/discuss a bit here, please? With the "3yo dog" who'd "only had the initial puppy shots" ..... I presume you would have no way of knowing whether or not he had sufficient antibodies from the sero-conversion (not sure if I'm using the right jargon in the right context - apologies if I'm not) we presume he would have got from the puppy shots? I mean, just because dogs are vaccinated doesn't mean they won't contract parvo.

I guess the same goes for those dogs who you might consider to have "not completed" puppy vaccs (eg. 2 x vacc instead of 3 x vacc).

How did the 3yo fair?

[Staranais]

We had a client ring us at work very concerned about the recent parvo 'outbreak'.. that they heard about on the radio...

We are seeing parvo cases (no increase just steady) mostly from poor breeders who haven't vaccinated and a couple from clients who did not complete the vaccination course. We had one confirmed in an older dog who had only had the initial puppy shots (3 years old at time of diagnosis).

I can't speak for other areas but Parvo is always a threat in our area and we try to remind clients of that.. many are still choosing not to vaccinate or fully complete the puppy vaccs...unfortunately we had an owner of a 10 week old Rottie puppy learn the hard way the other week about parvo

Can I just debate/discuss a bit here, please? With the "3yo dog" who'd "only had the initial puppy shots" ..... I presume you would have no way of knowing whether or not he had sufficient antibodies from the sero-conversion (not sure if I'm using the right jargon in the right context - apologies if I'm not) we presume he would have got from the puppy shots? I mean, just because dogs are vaccinated doesn't mean they won't contract parvo.

I guess the same goes for those dogs who you might consider to have "not completed" puppy vaccs (eg. 2 x vacc instead of 3 x vacc).

Yeah, I guess there would be no way to know whether the dog lost his immunity to parvo over time, or if the vaccine just never worked in the first place. If the owners had titre tested a few weeks or months after the puppy set of vaccines, then we'd know if the vaccine had initially worked. Very interesting anecdote, though, I hope there's more research done about these cases.

I guess that's why all reputable vets, even those pushing the most minimalist vaccine protocols, recommend a complete C3 puppy series and then a C3 booster at one year old.

Remember too that all research done on duration of immunity has been done with modified live, not killed, vaccine. You can't necessarily extrapolate between the two, since killed vaccine is known to generally produce a poorer, shorter lived immune response in many cases. Who knows which type this dog received?

[pebbles]

With regard to the reported outbreak in the Mallee/Wimmera area - I've just phoned both the Vets I use and while there was a slight increase in cases over the summer period, neither have seen any cases for over a month. The summer cases were mainly unvacc'd dogs. Mortality rate was very low.

[karly101]

Yes no guarantees... just saying what I've seen in the cases whilst I've been there, I'm sure there are cases of dogs following all vaccination protocols and still getting parvo, vaccination does not provide 100% protection. Not implying that anyone did anything wrong just in most cases that I've seen there the dogs were all not vaccinated according to recommended schedule, there's no way of truly knowing if that was the reason or whether the vaccines did not have effect unless they did do titre testing, we haven't done that in my workplace generally for cost reasons (if they can barely afford to vaccinate they are not going to be able to afford titre testing) - and yes I believe that is correct is the puppy C3 series and then booster at 1 year old then onto 3 yearly/titre testing. We haven't switched to 3 yearly schedules but will be doing so soon.

The 3 year old was put to sleep once confirmed parvo, the owners who only recently acquired the dog didn't have the finances to continue to treat, they were still paying off their friend who they purchased the dog from

Edited April 16, 2010 by karly101

[poodlefan]

Yeah, I guess there would be no way to know whether the dog lost his immunity to parvo over time, or if the vaccine just never worked in the first place. If the owners had titre tested a few weeks or months after the puppy set of vaccines, then we'd know if the vaccine had initially worked. Very interesting anecdote, though, I hope there's more research done about these cases.

In terms of vaccination protocols, I have never read a single recommendation that suggested that the first course of vaccs as a pup shouldn't be backed up with a booster one year later.

The booster 12 months after the initial course of shots is Dr Jeanne Dodds recommendation. People doing puppy shots only and hoping for the best are paying roulette with their dogs lives, especially if they don't titre. And most won't.

[Skruffy n Flea]

hello :D

i wrote to my vet's contact link mid-last week and just got the following reply:

I can confirm there has been a parvo outbreak in all of nsw over the past few months and it is concerning for everyone. The most important thing is that your dogs are up to date with their vaccinations (Parvo virus is included in the C3 part of the vaccination whether they get C3 alone or as a C5). Having your dogs vaccines up to date is the best and really only thing you can do to protect them and if you are walking them not letting them socialise with stray animals. Avoiding parks and walking them may be too extreme but is an option, however parvo virus can exist in the environment for over 1 year so there is never really any parvo free time.

If you have any further concerns please feel free to ask.

Reguards

Dr N Edwards BVSc

edited to highlight the reference to nsw

Edited April 19, 2010 by Skruffy n Flea