Dog Trainer In Delhi: Symptoms of Parvo Virus

There is a broad range in the severity of symptoms shown by dogs that are infected with parvovirus.Once the virus chooses his victim, most dogs will suffer a great deal of pain and anguish. The virus strikes quickly in stealth; both you and your dog will not what know hit him.One day he looks fine, and in the blink of an eye, he’s lethargic, depressed, refuses to eat or drink any liquids, he will be dehydrated because of uncontrolled vomiting along with extremely foul-smelling diarrhea that is often bloody, he may also have a fever, or chills, and will sleep an unusual amount of hours (day and night), as these are the main signs of Parvo to look out for.Many adult dogs exposed to the virus show very few, if any, symptoms. The majority of cases of disease are seen in dogs less than 6 months of age with the most severe cases seen in puppies younger than 12 weeks of age. There are also significant differences in response to parvovirus infections and vaccines among different breeds of dogs, with Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, and Labrador Retrievers being more susceptible than other breeds.

There are three main manifestations of Parvovirus infection:

Asymptomatic - No signs seen. Common in dogs over 1 year old and vaccinated dogs.

Cardiac - This form of the disease is much less common than the intestinal form due to widespread vaccination. Severe inflammation and necrosis (cell death), of the heart muscle causes breathing difficulty and death in very young (<8 weeks) puppies. Older dogs that survive this form have scarring in the heart muscle.

Intestinal - This virus causes extreme damage to the intestinal tract, causing sloughing of the cells that line the tract. This can leave the patient open to secondary bacterial infection. Most of the affected dogs (85%) are less than one year old and between 6-20 weeks old -- before the full set of vaccinations can be given. The death rate from infection is reported to be 16-35% in this age group.