Terrible Parvovirus Outbreak in Washington state

[release the hounds]

I don't worry about that stuff much, my dogs would be out with me anyway. And they haven't been vaccinated ever except for rabies. A new guy that is training with us has a 7 month old that he did have titered. Never vaccinated and he shows antibodies for Parvo, vet still wanted to vaccinate him He wondered why, since he had obviously already encountered it.

Parvo is everywhere and can persist for years and years in the soil. If your dog is alive and about, it's in contact with it. Sure it can be devastating at times, and very often others it does nothing. A new strain could be scary, if it was very virulent and there wasn't much in the way of natural protection. But then how good is the old vaccine going to be anyway?

[Grab]

I live in a heavy, heavy parvo area..we have it year round, but in the warm months we often, at just the clinic I work at (which is not the only clinic in town) have numerous positive test results each day. I still don't alter my dogs' vaccine status. I do not take puppies out and about, but since we don't have any pups here (and haven't for some time) we aren't concerned.

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by Grab

I live in a heavy, heavy parvo area..we have it year round, but in the warm months we often, at just the clinic I work at (which is not the only clinic in town) have numerous positive test results each day. I still don't alter my dogs' vaccine status. I do not take puppies out and about, but since we don't have any pups here (and haven't for some time) we aren't concerned.

See...that would concern me if I got a new pup....not getting it out and about. That's very important to me with a young puppy as I'm really big on socialization. But I'm not dead set on getting a new pup...not yet. (until I go look at those Poodle pictures. lol)

I just hope they get it under control soon. Those poor puppies that have gotten sick. So sad.

[Grab]

I take them places, but not parks, etc. If we're in a pet store, we have them ride in the cart, etc. Same with Home Depot..cart riding, since everyone and their brother takes their dogs there.This is mainly if we have a spring/summer puppy.

[Fran101]

Anyone know where I can buy a huge hamster ball for my puppy??

[Beanie]

We had an outbreak here RIGHT after I brought Payton home (which was also right after Georgie was born.) I went to some pretty ridiculous extremes, like I had shoes in the car and I would walk out to my car, sit down, take off my flip-flops and put them in the backseat, slip my feet into the other shoes, and would wear those shoes and only those shoes out and about. When I got home, slip them off and leave them on the floor of the car, reach in the backseat for my flip-flops, flip-flops ON and into the house. Used bleach wipes set on the porch to clean my hands before I opened the door and came inside.
At the breeder's house people basically took bleach baths outside the house before coming in. =P
It is worrying, and I admit I took some slightly over the top precautions, and of course Payton didn't go anywhere in town until his last round of vax (of course he had been to I think TWO agility trials out of town before that point anyway...) but I didn't really lose sleep over it. Truthfully it was probably already in our house and yard from Auggie having tracked it from God knows where... the woods? This agility trial? THAT agility trial? The herding pens at Purina Farms? So I wouldn't say OH it's nothing to worry about, but IMO it's certainly nothing to panic over.

Fran being that you also work with dogs, you might consider the idea of work-only/outside-only shoes as well... but as I said, at this point it's probably already in your apartment.

[Oko]

This is just terrible, parvo is such a horrible disease.

@Fran: I live in MA too and from the records I looked at for the state's agriculture department, reported cases of parvo has been scarce around here for a while. And your boy will be quite old and a little tougher once he gets home, compared to a lot of say, 8 week old puppies. Still, it does make you want to hide them in your basement.

[spiffy]

Parvovirus is a nightmare! There was a heavy outbreak of this highly contagious disease in our community two years ago and I have lost two Dobermans - both were vaccinated.

[PlottMom]

I feel like we see it almost daily at work... I've been at this job maybe two months now and we've had a whole litter of 3 month olds or so die, a ton of dogs whose owners opted for outpatient treatment, and a bunch of hospitalized ones who were so so sick it's awful.

That said, my dogs are all 5+ and haven't been vaccinated for a while... I take off my shoes in the garage, that's about it.

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by Grab

I take them places, but not parks, etc. If we're in a pet store, we have them ride in the cart, etc. Same with Home Depot..cart riding, since everyone and their brother takes their dogs there.This is mainly if we have a spring/summer puppy.

I stay out of places where the likelihood of heavy dog traffic would be anyway, with new puppies, even when I haven't heard of any outbreak. So, no dog parks (haven't been to one of those anyhow ever) or rest stops, pet stores until they're fully vaccinated. I keep my Chihuahuas in a basket anyway when we shop at a pet store because I'm over protective. lol. I wish that awful virus would just go away.