farfromfearless
Parvo virus can kill your puppy in 5 days!
Well, February was a good and terrible month at once. I had just found a 7 week old, dachshund puppy who I named Bullet. He was in one word, awesome! Cuteness was never in short supply and he was intelligent too and became house broken in about 2 days. Then, on day 4 he just didn’t want to get up and play anymore. He was just acting so lazy and tired. Then my nightmare began when he began to throw up almost nonstop.Diarrea followed with speks of blood. I took him to an emergency vet and he took a look at him, treated his high fever, and told me it could be one of 2 things.
The first was possible intestinal irritation from eating something he shouldn’t have. Not life threatening if treated. If so, some meds would get him up and happy again. The second, Parvovirus. I thought “Par-what?”
Parvo (parvovirus) is a virus that attacks the digestive system after it shuts down the immune system in a dog ( I believe cat’s can get it too, but not people) If left untreated by, a profesional, about 80% of victims will die within a week or so. So at the first signs get your doggy tested and treated for best odds for survival. If caught early they can boost up its immunities and help it get through until your fuzzy buddy can fight the virus on its own.
Unfortunately, the test can cost anywhere from $30-100 and if positive, treatment can cost a couple of hundreds of dollars.($300+) I had hoped for the best and took him home without at test, just the meds. The next morning he was doing better. He was playing. His diarrhea was gone and he was a little energetic again by afternoon. Then the sun went down and my nightmare began.
I tried to sleep, but during the night I could hear him dry heave in my bedroom. After several late night checkups we both got some sleep but in the morning I found a very sick little Bullet.
It wasn’t even lunch time yet but traffic was a state it seemed. My wet, cold palms felt like they could crush the steering wheel. Every stop, every red light, every second we weren’t in motion, I felt I had to just get out and run him there instead. Meanwhile he just laid motionless on my lap, almost too drained to even lift his head. Then at last we arrived.
While I waited for the vet to get out of a surgery, I waited with Bullet while he just kept puking and pooping what looked like mucus and blood. Once the Dr. took a look and tested him it came became clear. He had parvo and posibly something stuck in his stomach. Treatment price estimate, $600 to see if he makes it or not. While I crunched number and wondered if I could make ends meet after I dropped the rest of my check to save him. He kept getting worse and I was in no position to slap that much money down after I had just spent $300, 6 days ago to buy him and all his necesities and comodities (He was spoiled). The cliche was never so true, what seemed like hours were merely the longest minutes I can remember. I had to make up my mind to put him to sleep or not. He couldn’t even lift his head anymore, he just layed there and looked at me in between dry heaves and blood. With the whip of a pen, I made a terribly difficult choice to end it.
So in the end I had paid almost $400 to have Bullet for 6 days. I don’t wish anyone to go through this. I had read about parvoguard and parvaid, I didn’t get to see if they worked but i doubt it since they are ingested remedies and the virus stops digestion and nutrition, so there’s no way for them to be useful.
I miss my doggy, Bullet.
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