Parvo Treatment What Treatments for Parvo are Available
By: villenoire | Posted: 21st March 2009
Parvo treatment is required urgently when symptoms appear. These symptoms include vomiting, lethargy, diarrhea and fever. The diarrhea will cause severe dehydration and secondary infections. Rather than dying from the virus itself, it is usually the secondary infections that kill.
The survival rate depends upon how swiftly parvo virus is diagnosed and treatment is begun. If the virus is not caught early on, the usual treatment is given through an IV line in which fluids are pushed to re-hydrate the puppy or dog more quickly. In addition to giving fluids, anti-nausea and antibiotic shots may be given intramuscularly. Given the proper care, the prognosis is good, but if care is withheld your dog will die prematurely. Most vets will strongly suggest that your pet be vaccinated against parvo about eight weeks after a puppy is weaned.
Parvo virus works in two ways either through the intestines or through the heart. When a dog gets an intestinal infection, it is picked up by the animal through oral contact with contaminated feces. Simply put, your dog would have to come into contaminated feces from another dog.
The intestinal dog parvo symptoms occur when the virus attacks the bone marrow, rapidly dividing cells in the intestinal crypts and the lymph nodes. This allows normally occurring bacteria from the intestines to enter the blood stream to make the animal septic. The virus can be shed in the stool for up to three weeks thus making this a very contagious disease for pets that have not been inoculated.
The cardio form of this infection is usually seen in puppies that are infected before birth or shortly thereafter. It is noteworthy that the cardiac form of CPV is not as common since the mother passes immunity on to her pups from birth. The parvo virus will then attack the heart in the infected puppy and death will occur shortly afterwards.
For more information on parvo virus and ideas on treatments for parvo without needles and potentially harmful chemicals, think about a completely natural parvo treatment for your dog.
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Tags: intestines, lethargy, immunity, harmful chemicals, blood stream, nausea, dehydration, diarrhea, prognosis, feces, survival rate, bone marrow, contagious disease, lymph nodes, secondary infections