Our precious little puppy, Toby, contracted Parvo a few weeks ago. We thought he was a little down and noticed he was throwing up and having diarrhea a little, so we assumed he maybe ate some grass or something. However, at the advice of a friend we took him to the local vet the same day he started acting like this. This turned out to be one of the most important things we did for him in all his treatment. Only dogs who begin treatment during the first day or so of symptoms survive. They did a test and told us he had Parvo. We did not really know what it was since we never had to deal with it in the States, but after going home and getting online, we realized how dangerous of a sickness our little puppy had. We were told that Toby had received all his shots, but the well-intentioned guy who we bought Toby from did not realize he only gave Toby 1 shot of Parvo out of a 3 shot series.
For his treatment the vets put him on a rusty table of which the top is made of wide weaved bands (These photos were taken on the first day of treatment; on all the following days I brought enough clean towels to create a barrier between him and that nasty table). They pulled each of his legs through and tied them with a strap to the bottom of the table. This was very uncomfortable for Toby. They shaved both of his front legs, and he received alternating IV's in each leg. For the first 5 days of his treatment he did not even flinch when he received his treatment, and we knew he was getting better when he started putting up a bit of a fight after 6 days.
It was a very stressful week for us. One of us slept in the living room with him each night to help him through his sickness (vomit and diarrhea). Then each morning we took him to the vet to receive a 1 hour treatment of medication and fluids. We then took him back each afternoon for the same treatment. Toby only moved from his bed to go vomit or to use the bathroom (which was in large quantities). Sometimes he was even too weak to move and threw-up or used the restroom on himself. He went down from 9 pounds to 7 pounds, and that is a lot for a little guy like him. We were constantly bleaching everything from our floor, to his toys and everything else he liked to touch.
It was a really emotional week for us. We were not sure he was going to make it through the 3rd night of his treatment. K stayed up almost the whole night as he was afraid if he fell a sleep that he would never see Toby alive again. Nevertheless, Toby made it!!! After a full week of treatment he finally began to eat and drink a little again. His personality has almost completely restored back to normal. He is still contagious to other dogs for 2 more months, so for 2 months he cannot leave our apartment. Furthermore, he will start receive his shots to guard him against contracting Parvo again in June, and he will not be fully inoculated until September. Therefore we have to continually clean everything with bleach - our shoes, our floors, his toys, and all the other things he touches.
After brainstorming and reading everything we could, we came to the conclusion that he probably was exposed to Parvo through something we brought in on our shoes. He had not been outside to play in more than 2 weeks, and he had gotten his hair cut just a few days before - not enough time for him to get sick. This explains our need to clean.
Three other dogs were receiving the Parvo treatment with Toby, and 2 of those dogs died. Toby was a very prayed for and a very lucky dog. Parvo is bad. Make sure your puppy has all their shots!
