When Parvo Happens

Isolate the Affected Puppy: If you have an area to isolate a sick puppy, do so. If not, treat him in place and manage your biosecurity. Do not move healthy animals around the kennel or to another kennel; that will just spread the disease.

1. Use Caution with Healthy Puppies- Take care of the healthy puppies first, then move to the sick ones. Do not go back to the healthy puppies without strict disinfection or a change of clothes. Remove your coveralls or smock after care and wash your hands to stop the spread. Disinfect your shoes. Hand disinfectants take too long to kill parvo, don’t rely on just them alone.
   • After you clean up organic materials (feces and food) with detergent such as Dawn dish soap, use a penetrating disinfectant and a shoe bath to kill parvovirus. Rescue and Wysi-wash are great disinfectants to manage parvovirus.
   • Bleach won’t cut it in an outbreak since it won’t penetrate feces.
2. Hydrate with Electrolytes – Give all puppies Puppy Lyte electrolytes in water. You want to hydrate any puppy thinking of getting sick. Electrolytes should be in your emergency kit.
3. Give Injectable Fluids- Sick parvo puppies do not drink, so without injectable fluids they die. I start with saline 0.9% NaCl or LRS. Give SQ fluids at least, but IV fluids are best.
   • Start with 10 ml/lb twice a day and don’t forget to account for diarrhea loss. Two tablespoons of diarrhea/vomit needs 30 cc of fluid to replace.
   • Ask your veterinarian about Reglan® or Cerenia® to stop the vomiting.

Every litter over six weeks and over one pound should be vaccinated immediately and given a booster in two weeks.

Booster – Move vaccine to six and eight weeks, starting with a Parvo-only vaccine at six weeks.

Start deworming the pups at 2 weeks of age with pyrantel pamoate and repeat every 2 weeks until the pups start oral heartworm preventive.

Every litter over six weeks and over one pound should be vaccinated immediately and given a booster in two weeks.

• Replacements under one year, booster parvo vaccine once.
• Adults vaccinated within the last year are not a worry.

Future Litters For the Next 90 Days

• If you have tiny breeds that are less than two-pound puppies, ask us how to do that safely.
• Keep 14 days between vaccines or you won’t booster immunity.

Contaminated Pen After a Parvo Break

Once you have parvo in a pen, follow this guideline to get it out. Clean twice and disinfect three times. 

• Clean and disinfect in the morning
• Clean and disinfect in the evening.
• The next morning, disinfect again. Once it is dry you can go back into the pen safely with puppies or the next mom to give birth.

If you need help, call us at 800.786.4751.