Highly infectious canine virus on the rise

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

A highly contagious and potentially fatal virus infecting dogs is on the rise in parts of Calgary, Okotoks and Langdon, and Strathmore is not immune.
Canine parvovirus, which is extremely infectious through feces, is placing a target on puppies and older dogs left vulnerable without the protection of proper vaccinations.
Parvovirus can remain active in the soil for over five years and no cure exists. Dogs infected with the virus have only a 50 per cent chance of survival.
“The number one virus we’re worried about is the parvovirus … it’s always been present, it’s just some years it’s worse than others and a lot of things can play into that. How wet and mucky is our spring, how many dogs are going to the dog park and are they well vaccinated?” said Dr. Jodi Viste, veterinarian and owner of the Animal Care Centre who already treated a three-and-a-half-year-old dog from Calgary last week.
“It’s especially hardy in the environment and really difficult to disinfect away. There is no cure, there are no antibiotics that kill it. It’s like a cold, your body just has to fight it off. If they manage to live to that, which right now is a 50-50 chance, they do become immune.”
The Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) issued a province-wide warning regarding the virus after the Calgary Humane Society arrived at a decision to indefinitely close their southeast shelter following symptoms of the virus in a pair of puppies. The virus has a 10-day incubation period and claims the life of nine out of 10 dogs if left untreated.
Canine parvovirus is easily transmitted when a dog eats something off the ground where the virus is present, when a dog eats another canine’s feces, when it licks something that’s contaminated, or simply by playing in the mud and dirt and licking paws afterwards.
Symptoms may present themselves as lethargic behaviour and avoidance of food. If not treated properly, the virus will attack the lining of the intestine causing vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Most importantly, parvovirus depletes the body’s white blood cells that are necessary to fight disease, therefore making the dog vulnerable to secondary diseases as the primary immune defense has now disappeared.
The average cost of treating a dog with parvovirus can reach $2,000, with puppies age 10 to 12 weeks most at risk once the immunity that’s being provided from the mom’s colostrum, which is provided through the milk, is depleted.
Vaccinations should occur at weeks eight, 12 and 16 in a puppy’s early life. However, Dr. Viste said a lack of follow-through has contributed to the outbreak in older dogs over the years, especially those that haven’t been vaccinated for more than three years.
“Something that we’ve seen recently in the general population of dogs, is people haven’t been as diligent with vaccinations and so you see spikes in parvovirus when dogs are no longer vaccinated,” she noted. “Chances (of survival) are much better as an adult dog but they still get very sick from it. We just want to make sure that you have a healthy pet, because it’s so much easier to prevent parvovirus from happening in your dog than it is to treat it.”
Other clinics in town, such as Sevick Veterinary Services, are also informing their clients and promoting vaccinations.
Simple housekeeping tasks may help prevent the spread of the disease as well as parasites, including cleaning up after the dogs and preventing the animal from eating other feces, such as from a dog or coyote, or livestock manure.