# My Puppies Caught Parvo. This has been the worst weekend ever.



## VeeVeeLa (Dec 24, 2014)

So, last week on Wednsday, my sister was traveling somewhere with her dogs and it would have taken several hours to get there. She was passing by our house so my mom offered to let her stay and rest for a little bit because the drive is long, she's pregnant (I honestly don't know what this has to do with driving long distances, but whatever), and one of her puppies was sick. He was just throwing up so we honestly though he had caught a bit of a stomach bug. However, we had two four month+ old puppies that haven't had their vaccinations yet. So we blocked the living room off and kept the sick puppy in there. My sisters puppies are 6-7 months old I believe. The sick puppy stayed in the living room, while the other one played with our dogs.We had no idea it was contagious. It was only until the next day that we found out that my sister's other puppy started throwing up as well. Several hours later, our puppies were sick too. So...****. Our smallest puppy, Demi who was the runt, started throwing up first. Then our other puppy, Bailey, also got sick and started vomiting. This was on Friday. We spent all day cleaning up vomit. They were lethargic, vomiting, not eating or drinking. We googled the symptoms and it could have been several things but one of the things that came up we really didn't want: Parvo Virus. My parents had already dealt with Parvo before years and years ago when I was a baby. That puppy ended up having to be put down. So, we were scared it was that. I was scared it was that but I hoped it wasn't.Then...they got worse. Demi started having uncontrollable diarrhea. Which pretty much cemented our fears. She lost control of her bowels and she had diarrea just running down her legs. Bailey was significantly better, but still sick (this was still Friday). We had agreed that Demi needed to go to the vet the next day. Bailey wasn't as bad off as her, so we weren't as worried at the time. So we waited until Saturday to take her because the vet was closed by the time we made the decision.The next day, we take her to the vet. We say that she has Parvo and I was worried because it was contagious. They just told us to not let her touch anything so I carried her straight to the back room. I had her wrapped in a blanket because she still had some feces on her. Right when we got there, the tech asked us some questions about her condition and when she left the room to get the doctor, we hear her say to him "It smells like Parvo".If you've never smelled Parvo before (and yes it DOES have a smell) just imagine vomit, diarrhea, death, and fowl smelling breath all combined into this one smell. It is overpowering and I'm **** lucky I can close my sinuses at will so I can't smell anything. It is terrible and it will make you want to vomit if you don't have a strong stomach.Anyway, the doctor comes in. He checks her out and takes her temperature. It's 99, which is kind of low but alright. Usually they have a fever at the beginning but she didn't have one. Then he takes a fecal sample and says he was going to test her for parvo. It takes like 15 mins or so. It came back 90% positive. So...she and Bailey definitely have parvo. When we got back, we put her in the kitchen with Bailey so we didn't have to spread the virus anymore than we have. In case you didn't know, the virus can live on surfaces for a LONG time and the only way to get rid of it is bleach. We have to bleach the whole house now. And the yard. By the way, we do have other dogs but they are vaccinated so they never got sick. We were going to vaccinate the pups this weekend but...well.The doctor prescribed antibiotics and nausea meds. He gave these to Demi in shot form so we only gave these to Bailey when we got home.A little while after we got home, Bailey gets worse. He has diarrhea also but it's not running down his legs like Demi. I have to mop the floors repeatedly with bleach cleaner. Everywhere they throw up, I mop it up. I'm the one giving them fluids through syringe every so often because they wouldn't drink. They hadn't eaten at all so they had nothing in their stomachs. Eventually, Bailey's condition plummets and he's the worst. He barely moves and he refuses to swallow half the time. We were really worried they were getting dehydrated. We talked about IV fluids. That that would be a lot better than syringe. So we agreed to go to a second vet and get the cheapest IV fluids that any vet can give us.Meanwhile, our neighbor that works at a rescue center wants to help us out. She knows of a person that has this Parvaid stuff. She goes and gets it to give it to us. I look it up and it's this all natural herbal parvo medication that someone made up. Apparently some people have had success with it but there's issues with the ingredients? I don't know, we used it for the first day. I gave it to them every hour, on the hour because we were desperate for anything that would help. Demi took it alright, but Bailey refused half the time just like with every other medication we gave him. I swear, he even asperated what I gave him! He wasn't swallowing anything.Eventually, we take them to the second get to get them IVs. Bailey was...not good. He was limp and barely moved. He still received the fluids but he didn't fight at all. Demi tried to run away which was good. She was fighting.When we got home, Bailey still didn't move. He just laid down and refused treatment. He even hit me at one point when I tried to pry open his mouth. He just bit down on my thumb, he didn't lash out or whatever. He had stuff all in his mouth. He was drooling and wouldn't swallow the medicine or anything. Wouldn't even take water. At this point, the only one who was giving them all this stuff was me. I was the only one giving them the medicine. I was shoving **** down their throat, squirting water in their mouth, and giving them the parvaid every hour for 24 hours almost. I had no sleep, I was emotionally exhausted and physically exhausted. But I just wanted them to get better. But I knew that Bailey had given up. I didn't want to watch him go down hill like that, especially when I was at my breaking point, so I switched off with my parents. I went to bed and slept for two hours.At 2 AM, my mom called me. Said to come in there because Bailey was t going to make it. To say goodbyes. So I get up only to get stopped by my dad. He didn't want me to see it but ****. I didn't want to stand in the hallway and not do anything while he died. So while my parents weren't in the kitchen, I went in there just after he stopped breathing. He still had a slight pulse. I stayed with him until it stopped.We dug a hole in the middle of the night, finished it the next morning, and buried him.Demi was in the other room the whole time. After I said my goodbyes, and that I was sorry I couldn't do anything and that I made him go through all that, I went to go sit with her. She was slightly better. Still tired but she was walking around at least. I slept in my parents room that night.Today, she's much better. She was up and walking around. I still have to give her the IV fluids that the vet gave us (which means I have to stick her with a needle because no one else will do it) and her medicine, but she's doing a lot better. The original vet actually gave us a 48 hour period that, if they passed it, they would probably get through it. Bailey didn't make it, but Demi did. So now she's improving and I can only hope that she'll eat soon because she hasn't eaten all weekend.Now I'm tired. I've been sleeping the entire day today and watching out for Demi. I haven't been able to move much and I was sore because I helped with the hole for Bailey's grave. I'm emotionally exausted too. This has just been the worst weekend and I'm glad I don't go to classes tomorrow because I'd end up skipping.Also, my sisters pups are better because they had gotten part of the vaccine so they fought it off well.


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## VeeVeeLa (Dec 24, 2014)

Ugh sorry about the formatting. I'm on a phone and I didn't edit it quickly enough. Not gonna bother now.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

Gah, that's awful and parvo is ****. Had a couple of puppies that went through it. Hope Demi makes the full recovery.

The whole smell thing makes me think of coccidia. Smells horrible.


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## VeeVeeLa (Dec 24, 2014)

Thank you. I think she's gonna make a full recovery  She's up and running around with our other dog (who is her mother. Bailey was her brother) and trying to chase squirrels. We just need to get her to eat something so we're gonna try and give her a little chicken and rice. 

I don't know what coccidia smells like but if it smells anything like parvo, I can only imagine. Parvo smell is terrible. Demi doesn't have it anymore, thank goodness.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

Spoiled cheese and vomit, mostly. Probably not as bad as parvo, but it sticks with you.


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## smoteymote (May 28, 2016)

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm glad that Demi pulled through but poor little Bailey. Take some time to recover - you did so much for these pups!


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## VeeVeeLa (Dec 24, 2014)

Thank you. I tried my best. I just feel guilty because I put Bailey through all that and he didn't want it. I just wish we could have taken him to the vet to at least gotten some injections before he got any worse. I think he would have made it if he did get injections instead. However, with the initial vet visit and the second visit to the other vet to get the IVs, it was just about $500 to treat them. 

Demi is doing a lot better now. She's still up and running around. She's drinking a little bit of water on her own and we're getting her to eat a little bit of whatever we can give her. So far she'll just eat treats lol. She's slowly becoming her old self again and I'm really happy about that


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