During the past two years or so, we’ve worked with well over 850 customers, and we’ve noticed one common thread, which is: dog owners don’t understand just how fast-acting and aggressive the Parvo virus is.
One night, you might go to bed, knowing that your dog is happy and healthy, and by morning, when you get up, that same dog is incredibly sick and maybe even near death’s door – and, yes, the smell of Parvo is unmistakable, as the diarrhea, which can often be one of the first symptoms to appear with the latest 2c strain of this virus, is absolutely disgusting and unlike anything else you may have experienced before.
As an example, one of our customers, in the Pacific Northwest, noticed that their dog was sick with Parvo on a Sunday morning, and later that very same day, in the late afternoon, it had already died.
Even when this virus doesn’t claim your dog’s life quite so quickly, too many dog owners sit around for day after day, with their dog clearly not well, and doing nothing about it, because they suffer from the mistaken belief that they have time.
But nothing could be further from the truth!
If you know dogs at all, then you know that 99.9% or more of them love their food, so if your dog stopped eating, for as little as one day, wouldn’t you be concerned that something could be gravely wrong?
Even if one of our dogs throws up, if they’re healthy (and ours are), then they are eager to eat again just a few minutes later, so a dog that’s off his food for even a few hours (which is often the very first sign you’ll see that your dog has Parvo, assuming that you’re observant, of course) should be a massive, red warning sign.
The sad thing is, there is such a lot of misinformation about Parvo that a lot of dog owners are lulled into a false sense of security.
These dog owners think they’re secure because:
- Their dog has had all of its vaccinations (including boosters). Here’s the reality: Parvo vaccines are not effective against the 2c strain (which is why we are seeing more and more customers with fully-vaccinated adult dogs still getting Parvo and, if they’re not treated, dying), and your dog may even develop full-blown Parvo symptoms (especially if your dog was vaccinated after he’s been infected, which is just about the worst possible thing you can do).
- They have an adult dog, and everybody knows that Parvo only affects puppies. Oops, wrong again! It is true that Parvo still infects puppies more than adults, but we have also observed, after dealing with over 850 cases of Parvo, that an increasing number of adult dogs are getting this virus too. If this sounds like a broken record, then we’re not making any apologies, but vaccinations do not work like they used to – the 2c strain is simply too virulent and the vaccine manufacturers really haven’t caught up with it yet (and that’s not to mention the long-term health problems with all vaccinations, which most vets won’t tell you about).
- They take their dog to the vet’s to have it tested, and the test comes back negative, so they do nothing. Reality check time again: the 2c strain of Parvo is well-known for generating a false-negative result, especially with the stool sample-based tests that most vets conduct in their clinics nowadays. This means that although you are told your dog does not have Parvo, he actually does, and that leads to more days of inaction while your dog is getting sicker and sicker.
- Their dog never goes outside, so it can’t get Parvo. This is another myth, as one of the most common reasons why dogs who are confined to living indoors all of the time get Parvo is because it is their owners (or breeders) who give it to them! It’s true, you can walk this virus into your house without even knowing it (or transmit it via your hands or clothes). That’s why we always suggest that people (including visitors) change their shoes whenever they go indoors.
So, with so many myths floating around, not to mention bad advice, where can you go to get up-to-date and accurate information that you can use, safe in the knowledge that it will help your dog, and not make matters worse?
This actually highlights another major issue to do with Parvo: many dog owners have never heard of Parvo (until their vet tells them that’s why their dog is sick), which means they don’t know what to look out for. Even more amazing, to us, is that we come across many breeders who know nothing about this virus either. For people in the doggie business, this is basic knowledge that you simply should have!
Well, you’ll be glad to know that we have written a 100+ page ebook all about Parvo, called Parvo Treatment 101, that you can download to your computer in minutes – and the best part is that it’s 100% free.
This book contains more or less everything you need to know about Parvo (e.g. the symptoms, including the different types of stool to look out for, treatment options), which makes it a great place to start.
However, if your dog is already sick (i.e. a vet has confirmed that he has the Parvovirus, or he shows any of the classic symptoms, or even if you know he’s been exposed within the past few days), then you don’t have time to read this book now – you need to administer Parvo treatment immediately, because the one thing you don’t have with this virus is time. Although this book contains a lot of useful information, you would be far better reading it once your dog is successfully treated.
We hope that you found this article both interesting and useful, and if it helps you save your dog’s life, even better. However, we do have a load more information about Parvo treatment for you, which is in addition to what’s in our free book.
We’d like to close by encouraging all dog owners to at least be educated about just how devastating this virus can be, and about the various treatment options (you don’t have to take your dog to the vet and part with anywhere from $500 USD to over $10,000 USD, with a mere 50% success rate, because effective, inexpensive, safe Parvo home remedies are available), so please, if you know anybody with a dog, then do forward this article, or our free book, on to them – you just never know who might need it, and there’s nothing better than knowing that you’ve helped to save somebody’s family pet from the excruciatingly painful death that the Canine Parvovirus often brings.