Parvovirus is a deadly viral disease of dogs. It causes bloody diarrhoea and severe dehydration. Although it is possible to save some dogs with intensive care treatment, it is a costly and stressful disease to manage with strict isolation precautions being needed to limit any spread of virus.
For many years we have been comparatively lucky in Wingham to only have a handful of parvo cases a year, but last Summer we had over twenty cases, and we are concerned that this year may prove to be similar.
The good news is that we have never seen parvovirus in a fully vaccinated dog. We can not overemphasise the importance of vaccinating to keep your dogs safe. Although the virus is traditionally spread by dog to dog or dog to faeces contact, we have seen parvo in working farm dogs which have not been off property. These dogs presumably became infected by someone or something carrying the virus back to the farm. So please, even if you feel your dog is not at risk – it may be, so vaccination is just as or maybe more important for those dogs!