Parvo

Clodagh

Clodagh

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Can a dog who has been innoculated still get it? I can't remember what the 15 week old jab was for, was that a parvo strain?
Our keeper has a young lab who is his disabled wifes complete joy and the vet thinks he has parvo. They got him at about 4 months old, so he had his baby jabs but I don't know if he had any more. He is only a year old now.
 
In humans you can sometimes catch things you've been inoculated against but get a mild strain. I think all the basic initial course of vacs contain Parco. Are there different strains of the virus. If he's a year old it may be that his immunity was wearing off and needed topping up.
 
no vaccination is 100% infallible, so yes it is possible. Yes, it greatly reduces the risks but it can happen. I don't know what the percentage is though.
 
She has to get the batch numbers of the vaccinations he had from the breeder's vet. I hope he is OK.
 
Did he get all of his puppy vaccines? Thats always my main suspicion when a young dog gets parvo esp if its been adopted by current owners at a slightly older age ...that the vaccines were not given or an incomplete course.
Or of course there could be an issue with the batch or handling(very unusual and usually to handling but possible.We had to send an enture fridge full of vaccs back to the company after a fault with the fridge at work,this vaccine has to be kept at its correct temperature or it will quickly deactivate-thankfully the company we work with have a policy on replacements due to technical fault and did not charge us thousands in replacements)
The most common issue is usually an incomplete course however.one innoculation before 9 weeks often is not enough( due to the potential for maternal antibodies interference with the vaccine) so finding out if the course was completed is very important. Time to get onto the breeder and get some batch numbers and find out who administered what vaccines when.

There is always a possibility of catching parvo at later ages as no vaccine is 100 percent failsafe....but its more common that the complete course wasn't completed then a true vaccine breakdown in the case of parvo. Its one of the most sucessful vaccines.

It is also possible that if he was due the first year vaccine booster to complete the puppy course so his titres were to low to prevent infection and he was simply unlucky...but its unusual.

Has he been parvo tested by a snap test or the lab?
Where do they think he picked it up?are ye in a parvo area?
Theres sadly a lot of potential causes of vomiting and diarrhoea in a year old labrador to rule out..
 
Thank you Aru.
I don't know very much as I only get what my OH has paid attention to as I am always at work! I know vet is chasing batch numbers. He has had a lot of digestive troubles already so I agree it could be other things too. I hope so.
I think if he does have it I had better get the older dogs boosted, we don't normally worry after a year or two. I don't know if we are in parvo hot spot, I haven't heard anything to that effect.
 
Yes they can! I have a german shepherd who at 13 weeks and both injections caught it. She survived after a week in the vets but lost her tail as external extremeties that were not necessary started shutting down to save vital organs. My vet explained that it can lie dormant in their system if someone comes to see the pups and a carrier. Then the stress from moving can trigger it and clinical signs are saw. I know mine was Parvo as my vet sent a sample to be confirmed. She was lucky and apart from a more sensitive stomach and short tail, she has no side effects. Wishing the dog a speedy recovery, such a horrible virus.
 
Well thankfull he has not got it. He seems to be on the mend although is just on chicken and rice for a fortnight and looks like a skeleton.
Apparently he was passing lots of blood so they rushed him to the vets who did blood tests and xrays. His stomach was full of blood and gas. The vet thought parvo or maybe E coli but now he seems to be mending well so the vet said it is unlikely that will ever know. now.
Niko - you were lucky not to lose your pup, I never knew that about damage to extremeties.
 
cinnamontoast said:
Aru, given the maternal antibody issue, is there any point to the first vaccination? Isn't the second purely to cover the first perhaps not working?
Click to expand...

Obviously I know nothing compared to Aru, and am not claming too, but our lab's breeder doesn't give any jabs and weans the pups completely a week before they move house, you can then take them for their first jab ASAP and apparently she says a week is recommended to allow the maternal antibodies to stop working.
 
Glad it wasnt parvo and hes doing well.his poor owners must be stressed.

As for the vaccs....different animals provide different amounts of maternal antibodies.in most cases ths MA fall within the 7 to 12 week window but the spectrum is wide and sometimes they can fall much earlier.
we have a parvo vaccine licensed for 6 weeks for the cases where early parvo infection has been an issue in the past or for breeders who want to have early protection.its usually advised for the larger kennels or in situations with a lot of people meeting the puppies.Its not a guarantee bit it is to catch those instances where the ma fades away very early leaving the pups exposed.it does not include distemper or adeno as these are much less commonly seen at that young age.

In other cases for some reason especially the black and tan dogs(they dont know why but its a known pattern)....rottweilers in particular maternal antibodies seem to be exceptionally potent and stick around to the 14 week mark and these appear to be very prone to catching parvo even when considered full vaccinated at 12 weeks.....

No vaccine is 100 percent but given the chances of death with parvo vets do give it at more regular intervals then most in order to provide maximum protection to the largest amount of puppies we can.

In the clinic I currently work at we dont have lepto(thankfully!) but parvo has been a massive issue and breakdown after the two shot course was a problem in the past.we vaccinate at 8 weeks (parvo distemper adeno)12 and 16 weeks(parvo distemper adeno and kennelcough)
Socialisation at puppy school is strongly encouraged after the first vacc and we do try and get people to bring pups out and about in arms or if very keen to get walking to the sea break(in the hopes the sea tides twice a day is reducing the chances of viral load)for socialiastion....but its a rampent problem....partly because its a deprived area and general vaccine uptake is poor so parvo seems to always be circulating...
16 week vaccination seems like overkill until you have to try and treat the unlucky ones.
Vaccines reactions are rare and most are non life threatening.
Parvo is common and frequently fatal.
 
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