Puppy Parvo Watch

Wednesday morning we woke up to a sick puppy.  My brother recently brought home a puppy, only last Saturday.  Having lost a puppy recently to dystemper or maybe worms (not sure), I wasn't keen on making a connection. I still feel bad about Max (our last puppy) and I miss him.  Anyway, back to the new pup.

Last Monday, I took a photo his photo playing with our dog.  He was having fun.  That night, however, I noticed that he wouldn't eat.  I thought he just didn't like the food, so I asked my brother to feed him something else. The following morning I learned that he not only didn't eat but that he was vomiting and at one point vomited blood. So, we quickly brought him to the veterinarian. Normally, we bring our pets to the Vet Med in the nearby university.  But we took a chance with the vet clinic nearer our place.  It turns out that the doctor at the clinic is a graduate of the same university.  I was still a bit wary but she's proven herself to be very thorough and smart (of course!). She quickly tested him for Parvo infection, using a test kit that resembles a pregnancy kit. (The vet seemed tickled about the kit, when she showed it to me).  After a couple of minutes, it was slightly pink meaning that our puppy has the early onset of the infection. (She also tested for worms, but showed he had no worms.  Yay!)

Quickly, an IV line was placed for fluids and several shots.  As she worked, she kept telling us that our pet had a 50-50 chances of survival.  She didn't want us to give us hope.  I appreciated that.  She did say that chances will increase if our pet survives after three days. Since then, we've been on puppy watch - observing his breathing, checking his conditions, cleaning him and giving him shots.  (Thank goodness that there's an IV line that giving him shots is easy) My brother would tell him that he better get well soon because he's already spent a lot of money.  (The meds alone cost almost P600 per day)

We're on day 3 now.  I'm happy to report that he has improved.  Though still sick, he has stopped vomiting.  It seems that he has stopped bleeding as well. He's still weak but he can stand now and his eyes no longer look glassy.  I am allowing myself to hope now.  I keep reminding our puppy to fight the virus and survive. Be a miracle dog - according to the vet, the survival rate is one out of 10.

Tomorrow will be another trip to the vet for his shots.  Now, we're counting down to day 5 when our new puppy will have 90% chances of living.