The dreaded PARVO!

Another case of parvo came into the office this week and it makes me ask the question, WHY?!?!  Parvovirus is a very common disease of dogs that attacks the cells of the intestinal tract.  It is much more prevelant in puppies but is not a puppy only disease, adults can contract parvo as well.  There is not a specific treament for parvo, we just treat the symptoms until the body's immune system can clear the virus.  Just like the flu in humans, it is much more devastating to the young than it is adults.  The difficulty with treating parvo disease is the fact that most patients are vomitting and have that distinct foul smelling diarrhea.  That foul smell is from the digested blood in the intestinal tract.  So when the patient has it coming out of both ends if you will, keeping the patient hydrated is very difficult to do at home.  Under those circumstances, treatment includes hospitalization of the patient and keeping them on isolation to prevent spread of the disease to other patients in house.  IV anti-biotics are often indicated to keep the patient form getting septic and anti-nausea meds can commonly help.  There is no set repsonse time to treament, ie some respond in 24-48 hours and some stay in the hospital for 7-10 days.  Obviously, when a patient is in intesive care with IV fluids and IV anti-biotics, not to mention the clean-up that is involved, the cost of that care can get espensive and there is a much better, less expensive, healthier option, VACCINATE!  Vaccines are very effective against parvo virus.  Now, I did not say that vaccines one time will prevent parvo.  I recommend at least 3 rounds of vaccines for puppies starting at 6 weeks of age and prefer 4 rounds.  Vaccines keep your pet and your checkbook healthy and are so easy.  Parvo virus on the other hand..... well let's just say you don't want your puppy or bank account to experience it>

My Dog Ate Rat Poison!!!!

So what do we do when a dog or cat eats rat poison?  The answer to that question all depends on how much time has passed between ingestion and the initiation of treatment.  If the patient ingested the poison less than 2 hours ago, I will most likely induce vomitting.  If we can make the patient vomit the poison back up then that takes away most of the risk.  If the poison was ingested longer than 2-3 hours ago, that changes our options since the poison will already have left the stomach for the intestine and absorption is imminent.  Rat poison causes coagulopathies, ie the blood doesn't clot.  In other words, when a mouse or rat ingest rat poison they bleed out internally.   Rat or mouse poisons are vitamin K antagonist.  Vitamin K is essential in the coagulation process.  It can also cause extensive damage to the kidneys, so treatment is aimed at decreasing the absorption of the poison, providing the necessary vitamin K and keeping the patient hydrated to prevent kidney disease.  I saw a large dog this week that had ingested an unknown amount of rat poison and the owners were not sure of the time frame, but it had been longer than 2 hours.   I sedated the patient after a physical exam and placed a tube into his stomach and pumped in activated charcoal which helps to decrease the absorption of the toxin.  I started an IV catheter and fluids as well as vitamin K.  This patient stayed in the hospital for 3 days and coagulation panels and general bloodwork was run daily to monitor changes.  This patient responded well to treatment and was sent home with vitamin K and should do well.  Unfortunately, not all patients are that lucky so it is imperative that poisons are kept out of reach.  You don't want to be the owner with the unlucky dog or cat!