By Genesee Keevil
Senior Reporter
When Pat (not her real name) adopted a new puppy from the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter, she had no idea it was carrying a highly contagious and deadly disease.
She adopted the puppy on Wednesday. That night it started vomiting, said friend Linda Magill.
âShe cleaned up the puke, and sheâs cleaned up puke before, but this really stunkâit was just revolting,â said Magill.
The puppy was taken to the vet the next morning.
It was diagnosed with parvo, said Magill.
The disease typically hits puppies, said Alpine Veterinary Medical Centre vet Kim Friedenberg.
âA puppyâs immune system is not as competent as an adultâsâit affects a small portion of the small intestine, and they typically die of dehydration because of severe vomiting and diarrhea.â
Itâs passed from one dog to another through fecal/oral contamination, added Friedenberg.
âSo itâs spread by poop or poop residue thatâs been somehow sniffed or touched and ends up in their mouth and intestinal tract.â
General quarantine procedures involve disinfecting any area where the dogâs been, commonly using a one-to-10 diluted bleach solution, he said.
But itâs hard in a house, because if the puppyâs been all over the carpet, you canât squirt the carpet down with bleach, said Friedenberg.
âYou do your best, and hope other dogsâ vaccines are up to date.â
Dogs with current vaccinations are usually immune to the disease.
In the last six months, Friedenbergâs only seen two cases of parvo in adult dogs.
âAnd the adults that got it had never been vaccinatedâ he said.
Once Pat learned her puppy had parvo she contacted Magill, whose dog had been playing with the puppy the night before.
Magill took her dog to the vet as well, and was told because it was older and vaccinated, it would probably not contract the disease.
âThe vets told (Pat) to go to the Mae Bachur shelter right away and let them know the puppy had parvo,â said Magill.
âBut when she went back to the shelter to report the problem she was not treated very nicely.â
Pat reported the problem to the animal shelterâs administrator âand the response in a very aggressive tone was, âSo what are you going to do? Are you wanting to surrender the dog to us?ââ said Magill.
At the time sheâd only had the puppy for about 16 hours, and still plans to keep it, but she just had to leave it at the pound until it was treated so it wouldnât infect her older dog, said Magill.
With or without treatment, parvo can last two to14 days, said Friedenberg.
âAnd we always recommend no contact with other dogs for an additional 10 to 15 days after.â
âThere are no cases of parvo here,â said Mae Bachur administrator Tracy Smythe on Thursday.
But what about Patâs new puppy, a case confirmed by the vets?
Smythe didnât acknowledge it.
âThere was a (different) case, but sheâs over that now,â said Smythe.
âIt was last week, or the week before.â
And that puppy is not yet available for adoption.
âSheâs still in her isolation period,â said Smythe.
When a dog gets parvo, it needs to be quarantined, said Friedenberg.
âWhen contact is made with the animal, the person should be in a full gown that also stays in isolation, and have gloves on,â he said.
âIsolation is a two-room situation, with a change room, like the little room in the movies, inside the isolation room.â
And air should always be sucked into the isolation room, and spit out where it wonât cause nay problems, said Friedenberg.
âAnd there need to be disinfectant dips for shoewear.â
âI donât know what (the shelter) uses for isolation,â he said. But it has infloor heating, so air exchange is less of a worry.
âOf courseâ people suited up before contacting the puppy, said Smythe.
âWeâre not worried at all about anyone else having it.â
But when she was filling out paperwork on Saturday, Pat saw someone playing with the cute puppy in isolation, then noticed them walk out of the room toward the other dogs, said Magill.
(When contacted, Pat refused to discuss any parts of Magillâs story because she feared she wouldnât get her puppy back.)
âAt any shelter Iâve worked at in past, parvo and distemper have been the main problems,â said Friedenberg.
âThereâs so much in there itâs hard to keep it totally out of that environment.â
âItâs happened in the past,â said Smythe, discussing cases of parvo.
âItâs just one of those things.
âWe take them over to vets; theyâre treated by the vets, and come back over when theyâre fine.â
Friedenberg has seen more cases of parvo in the Yukon than most other areas.
âThereâs an increased risk in rural areas where people donât vaccinate many of the dogs,â he said.
âAnd parvo can last in the soil for 10 to 15 years, even with our temperatures.â
Each year, litters come down with the disease, said Friedenberg.
âBut in the last three years, the numbers are pretty similar.
âWeâve seen a few spikes in last four weeks, but itâs nothing unusual.â
Contact Genesee Keevil at
gkeevil@yukon-news.com