Coping With Parvovirus

We got our very first dog a few days ago. We were new pet owners and were very excited to get a dog - at least my daughter K. and I were excited. We just moved to Beijing and had a local friend take us out to buy a dog. After searching several markets we finally found a sweet cocker spaniel puppy that an individual was selling. He had a few puppies of different breeds for sale. K. and I fell in love with the cocker spaniel. The man selling him said he was 3 months old and already eating solid food. We bought him. We named him Bingley and began to love him right away. We bought all the things that he might need and brought him home.

At home we got him settled into a little nest of shirts and spread some newspaper around. That evening he vomited and had diarrhea. He seemed a bit low energy and had no appetite, but we thought maybe the move made him tired, and being new dog owners we didn’t really know what to expect.

The next morning he had diarrhea again so we took him to the vet. The vet examined him; he had a fever and he tested positive for canine parvovirus (CPV). The vet said the prognosis was not good. For one thing, the vet said, Bingley was not 3 months old he was probably only a little over 2 months old and should not have been sold so young. And when such small puppies get CPV the chance is they won’t make it, even with treatment.

We discussed what to do. One of the vets at the clinic said we should take the puppy back to the guy that sold him to us and have him treat the puppy until he is healthy and then we would bring him home again, or just return him and get another dog. We decided that the guy who sold him to us was just some guy trying to scratch out a living selling puppies and he would not spend money to treat Bingley, and Bingley would most likely have to live among other diseased dogs if he returned there and never get better. The only way he had any chance at all was if we started giving him treatments right away.

So of course we gave him the CPV treatment which was an IV - supportive treatment along with some antibiotics and maybe something to make his stomach feel better or stop the nausea.

While he was getting his IV we bought a new bed for him. After 3 hours on the IV he was done, and we carried him home and put him in his new bed. We were instructed to give him no food or water, to keep him warm and quiet, and to bring him back at 9:00 am the next day for another IV.

He seemed pretty comfortable that evening. I held him in my arms and asked him to get better, asked him to try to make it, that we loved him and wanted him to be with us. We prayed to God to help him get better. In the night he got up to pee and howled a couple times and seemed active.

In the morning he was being such a good dog. He was so smart. He would howl a bit and then pee or poop on the newspaper, so it was like he was already learning to pee and poop in the right spot and would even tell us first! But then he had diarrhea again and vomited. We took him to the vet at 9:00 am. The vet had other patients in front of us so we waited and took turns holding Bingley. He seemed real tired and floppy, and just wanted to sleep in our arms. The vet took his temperature and it was normal, so we thought maybe there was some improvement and I allowed myself to feel hopeful.

Finally it was our turn and the vet got the IV ready. The assistant held him and the vet put the needle in his leg. Bingley struggled and howled as the solution started going into his leg. He peed and pooped and then went limp and his mouth was slack and open. His tongue was white and the vet said it was a sign that his immunity was very low. A few seconds later he was not breathing. The vet put him on the table and started massaging him and gave him an oxygen mask. This went on for about 2 minutes. Then the vet said he was dead. I feel the IV ordeal was too much of a stress, too much of a shock on his weak little body.

Our poor little Bingley. The vet wanted to wrap him up right away but we first hugged him and told him he was a good dog and said goodbye. He was still warm. We kissed his soft, warm face. He was just a baby.

What a short little life he had. We only had him for 3 days but K. and I loved him so much. I think about him that morning before he died, how he was trying to be such a good dog, getting up to poop and pee on the paper and talking to us and nuzzling my face, even though he was weak and sick and was only going to live for a couple more hours.

I can’t stop crying about Bingley. What makes it worse is that we don’t even have a picture of him. So, my daughter drew a lovely picture of him yesterday that really captured his sweet roundness. Bingley was such a smart, good dog. He had already learned his name and was trying hard to please us. Bingley loved to be held. Bingley had a shiny, silky golden brown coat. He had long silky ears with some soft curls at the ends. He had a bouncy, happy trot. He was a little bit afraid to go out the door and would plant his feet and refuse to walk so we had to carry him to the elevator. He loved his bed and would curl up in the same spot every time. That is how we will remember Bingley, our littlest baby.