Just a reminder for everyone to make sure that their dog is up to date on their vaccines as we have seen positive parvo viral infections of dogs here in town recently.
This disease is quite nasty and will cause your dog to have bloody diarrhea and vomiting, and may also destroy the white blood cells in the bone marrow leaving your dog susceptible to other infections. This virus can also cause death. There is no cure and infected dogs are treated with fluids to correct dehydration and medications to limit vomiting while they stay in isolation at the clinic.
Infected dogs are extremely contagious and the area where the dog has been (yard, home, walking trails) may remain infective for up to two years. If your dog is not up to date on vaccines (i.e. has not been vaccinated in the past year) you should keep them away from unvaccinated dogs and away from areas where dogs frequent. Also, other animals can carry parvo without showing symptoms, such as cats, and can spread the disease into your yard even if an infected dog had never been there.
If you have any questions, please contact the clinic.
