Wake Up And Smell The Parvo!

During the past two years or so, we’ve worked with well over 850 customers, and we’ve noticed one common thread, which is: people don’t seem to understand just how fast-acting and aggressive the Parvo virus is.

You can go to bed one night, with a perfectly healthy-looking, happy dog, and wake up in the morning to a very sick one - and, yes, the smell of Parvo is unmistakable, as the diarrhea, which can often be one of the first symptoms you’ll see with the latest 2c strain of this virus, is foul and unlike anything else you may have encountered before.

As an example, one of our customers, in the Pacific Northwest, noticed that their dog was sick with Parvo on a Sunday morning, and later that very same day, in the late afternoon, it had already died.

Even when this virus doesn’t claim your dog’s life quite so quickly, too many dog owners sit around for day after day, with their dog clearly not well, and doing nothing about it, because they reckon they have time.

But they don’t!

If you know dogs at all, then you know that 99.9% or more of them love their food, so if you noticed that your dog skipped even one meal, wouldn’t you be concerned that something might be seriously wrong?

All of our dogs are, thank goodness, healthy (although we do live in the worst state for Parvo), but even on those rare occasions when one of them does throw up, they are eager to eat again just minutes later, so a dog that’s off his food for several hours (which is in many cases the very first sign you’ll see that your dog has Parvo, assuming that you’re observant, of course) should be a big, red warning sign.

The sad thing is, there is such a lot of bad advice around about Parvo that many dog owners are lulled into a false sense of security.

These dog owners feel safe because:

• Their dog has had all of its vaccinations (including boosters). Here’s the reality: Parvo vaccines are ineffective against the 2c strain (which is why we are seeing more and more customers with fully-vaccinated adult dogs still getting Parvo and, if they’re not treated, dying), and can even give your dog full-blown Parvo symptoms (particularly if your dog is given his shot after he was infected, which is just about the worst possible thing you can do).
• Their dog is no longer a puppy, and only puppies get Parvo. Sorry, wrong again! It is true that Parvo still infects puppies more than adults, but we have also observed, after dealing with over 850 cases of Parvo, that an increasing number of adult dogs are getting this virus too. If this sounds like a broken record, then we’re not making any apologies, but vaccinations don’t work like they used to - the 2c strain is simply too virulent and the vaccine manufacturers really haven’t caught up with it yet (and that’s besides the long-term issues with all vaccinations, which most vets keep quiet about).
• They take their dog to the vet’s to have it tested, and the test comes back negative, so they do nothing. Reality check time again: the 2c strain of Parvo often generates a false-negative result, especially with the stool sample-based tests that most vets conduct in their clinics nowadays. This means that although you are told your dog does not have Parvo, he actually does, and that leads to more days of inaction while your dog is getting sicker and sicker.
• They never take their dog outside, which means it won’t get infected by the Parvo virus. Sorry to burst this balloon as well, but one of the most common reasons that indoor dogs get Parvo is because it is their owners (or breeders) who give it to them! Yes, you can walk this virus into your house without even knowing it (or transmit it via your hands or clothes). This is why we always suggest that people (including visitors) change their shoes whenever they go indoors.

So, given that there is a ton of bad advice and uninformed hearsay to be found, mainly on the Internet, of course, where can you go to get up-to-date and reliable information that you can use, knowing that, rather than harming your dog and making matters worse, it will actually increase his chances of surviving this most devastating of viruses?

Because another problem we see all the time is that people have never even heard of Parvo - until their dog gets it, of course - and, somewhat amazingly, we even come across people who breed dogs commercially who don’t know what Parvo is. For people in the doggie business, this is basic knowledge that you simply should have!

Well, you’ll be glad to know that we have written a 100+ page ebook all about Parvo, called Parvo Treatment 101, that you can download to your computer in minutes - and the best part is that it’s 100% free.

This book contains more or less everything you need to know about Parvo (e.g. the symptoms, including the different types of stool to look out for, treatment options), which makes it a great place to start.

However, if your dog is already sick (i.e. a vet has confirmed that he has the Parvovirus, or he shows any of the classic symptoms, or even if you know he’s been exposed within the past few days), then you don’t have time to read this book now - you need to administer Parvo treatment right away, because the one thing you don’t have with this virus is time. You can always read our free book later, once your dog is stabilized, or better.

We hope that you found this article both interesting and useful, and if it helps you save your dog’s life, even better. However, we do have a load more information about Parvo treatment for you, which is in addition to what’s in our free book.

We’d like to close by encouraging all dog owners to at least be educated about just how devastating this virus can be, and about the treatment options that are available (you don’t need to take your dog to the vet and part with anywhere from $500 USD to over $10,000 USD, for a success rate that offers no better odds than tossing a coin, because safe, effective, inexpensive home Parvo remedies do exist), so please, if you know anybody with a dog, then do forward this article, or our free book, on to them - you just never know when they might might need it, and there’s no better feeling than knowing that you’ve helped to save somebody’s beloved pet from an excruciatingly painful death from probably the most devastating doggie virus there is.