Living with Canine Parvovirus

We were looking after a litter of 8 English Springer Spaniels for a friend. They has been vaccinated, they were around 3 months old and healthy. We have 11 dogs of our own, plus 4 rescued labs. All of them were healthy.

When we had had the puppies for around 6 weeks I fed them Friday night at 5pm. On Saturday at 10am I took the inside dogs out for a run in the pasture behind the house. There was a puppy missing. Looking into the dog house, I could see him lying there, dead.

I took him to the vet for a necropsy, as I needed to know why he had died in order to protect the other dogs. Two of the puppies were sick Monday, so I took them to the vet, who told me that it appeared that the dead puppy had parvo, so the others would have it also.

All of our dogs had been vacinated, as had the puppies. I treated the 5 remaining puppies at home. The ones at the vets were given iv fluids and antibiotics plus the human medicine Tamiflu (it is to protect against the flu virus).

The ones at home were given the Tamiflu and a tea that I had found the recipe for on the internet. Two more puppies at home died, but 3 of them did really well. I got the 2 back from the vet after 5 days and the pups at home looked in better shape. This is no doubt due to the fact that all puppies do not get infected as severly as others. We have a great vet and I know that they did all they could there. But, my point is that you can treat this at home if you are willing to put a lot of time and effort into it. You also need a good vet, who will prescribe the Tamiflu for you(its expensive).

Everything has to be washed in bleach water (1-30) and you have to be very careful not to infect any other animals you may have.
Anyone interested in the tea -
one cup of Pedialite warmed, not boiled
2 spearmint and peppermint tea bags
2 chamomile tea bags
2 echanechea capsules
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
let this stand for 20 mins until cooled with a measuring syringe give 1 syrings full every hour for as long as the pup refuses to eat or drink. This tea will keep for 3 days in the fridge.
Our pups did well on this.

You may still have fatalities, but at least you will know that you have done what you can for them. In 2 days we will be able to let the 5 surviving puppies outside. They will not go bach to the pen they were in, as I want to bleach the ground a couple more times before I let any dog into it.

Wish us luck, as my vet says that sometimes a pup will relapse and that is usually more severe that the onset.