How to treat canine parvovirus? How to prevent canine parvovirus?

Canine parvovirus is a severe infectious disease caused by canine parvovirus. Puppies aged 4 to 12 weeks are most susceptible to infection. The incidence is highest in winter. Adult dogs can also be infected, but the symptoms are mild and the disease is not contagious to humans. The mode of infection is through the digestive tract. Food, tableware, drinking water, and the environment contaminated by the excrement or secretions of sick dogs can transmit the virus.

Clinically, sick dogs are mostly characterized by hemorrhagic enteritis or non-suppurative myocarditis. Sometimes the infection rate can be as high as 100%, and the fatality rate is 10%-50%.

Causes of canine parvovirus

1. Canine parvovirus has strong resistance to external factors. It can survive for 1 hour at 60°C and is still infectious in acidic and alkaline environments. It can survive in feces and solid contaminants for months to years. It can be maintained in low temperature environment for a long time. 0.5% formalin, 0.5% peracetic acid and 5%~6% sodium hypochlorite can be used as virus disinfectants.

2. Sick dogs are the main source of infection of this disease. The feces, urine, vomitus and saliva of sick dogs contain the highest level of poison. Sick dogs continue to excrete viruses and infect other healthy dogs. The feces of recovered dogs carry poison for a long time. Therefore, once the disease occurs in the dog population, it is extremely difficult to completely eliminate it.

Key points for diagnosis of canine parvovirus

The prevalence of this disease has no obvious seasonality, but it is more common in cold winter. Puppies that have just been weaned mostly suffer from myocarditis syndrome, while young dogs mostly suffer from enteritis syndrome. At the same time, the disease mainly appears clinically in two ways, namely enteritis type and myocarditis type.

A), enteritis type:

1. The incubation period is 7 to 14 days.

2. Generally, there is vomiting first and then diarrhea. The stool is yellow or gray-yellow and contains a large amount of mucus and pseudomembrane.

3. 2 to 3 days after the illness, the feces will be like tomato juice, mixed with blood, and have a special fishy smell.

4. The sick dog will soon show symptoms of dehydration. At this time, the sick dog will be depressed, lose its appetite, its body temperature will rise above 40 degrees Celsius, and its thirst will increase.

5. In the later stages, the body temperature of some sick dogs is lower than normal temperature, the mucous membranes are pale, the tail and rear abdomen are often contaminated with feces, and in severe cases, the anus is loose and dilated.

B), myocarditis type:

Puppies have difficulty breathing, hyperpalpitations, pale mucous membranes, physical failure, and often die suddenly.

Preventive measures for canine parvovirus

1. The prevention of this disease is vaccination, usually a six-link vaccine or a seven-link vaccine co-immunization with canine distemper and other infectious diseases;

2. The disease progresses quickly, and the younger the dog, the higher the mortality rate. Early treatment is very important;

3. The disease course of dogs with myocarditis type is sharp and rapid.Deteriorates rapidly and often dies before treatment is available;

4. If treated promptly and reasonably, the mortality rate of canine enteritis can be significantly reduced. Canine parvovirus hyperimmune serum is generally used to treat the disease, with glucose saline infusion, ribavirin antiviral, dexamethasone or kanamycin for anti-secondary infection, and intramuscular injection of vitamin K.

Reference treatment plan for canine parvovirus

1. Immune serum: early use can improve the efficacy. If there are multiple pet dogs at home, once one dog is diagnosed with this disease, other dogs should be injected with hyperimmune serum or recovered dog serum immediately. The dosage of hyperimmune serum is 0.5~1 ml/kg body weight, and the dosage of recovered dog serum is 0.5~2 ml/kg body weight, for 3 to 5 days. Hyperimmune serum can be used together with other antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs to improve the immune effect.

2. Rehydration: Sick dogs often die of dehydration, so rehydration is the main measure to treat this disease. The required ingredients and fluid rehydration volume should be determined based on the dog's dehydration degree and general condition. The general intravenous fluid rehydration volume is 60 ml/kg of body weight. It can be divided into intravenous rehydration, oral rehydration and peritoneal rehydration.

3. Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory: A variety of broad-spectrum antibiotics can be used, but they should not be used for a long time to prevent intestinal flora imbalance, but they can delay the recovery of intestinal digestive function.

4. Antiemetic: For severe vomiting, 0.3-2 ml of Amor and metoclopramide (metoclopramide) can be injected intramuscularly.

5. Anti-shock: For patients with obvious shock symptoms, 5-15 mg of dexamethasone can be injected intramuscularly.

6. Strengthen care: Pay attention to keeping sick dogs warm. During diarrhea, they should stop feeding high-protein and high-fat feeds such as milk, eggs, and meat, and provide easily digestible feeds to reduce the burden on the gastrointestinal tract with alkali to improve the cure rate.

Advice for pet owners

1. Vaccinations should be done. Domestically produced inactivated canine parvovirus vaccines are used in combination with other vaccines. When using the canine pentavalent attenuated vaccine, dogs 30 to 90 days old should be injected three times, and dogs over 90 days old should be injected two times, with an interval of 2 to 4 weeks between each time. In the future, vaccination will be boosted every six months.

2. Dogs suffering from this disease should be isolated in time. Kennels and feeding utensils should be disinfected repeatedly with 2%-4% caustic soda, 1% formalin, 0.5% peracetic acid or 5%-6% sodium hypochlorite.

3. The carcasses of dead animals should be buried deeply or disposed of harmlessly.