Vets are warning of a marked increase in the number of dogs getting Parvovirus. For anyone who may not know, Parvovirus is a very nasty virus that can lead to the death of your dog if it is not treated in time. The Virus attacks the intestines resulting in severe vomiting and diarrhoea which in turn causes dehydration. It’s extremely contagious.

Parvovirus symptoms include:

Foul smelling poo which is watery and may contain blood.
Vomiting.
Reduced appetite and extreme lethargy.
Your dog may feel hot or cold to touch (Fever).

This is a life threatening condition, so contact your Vet for advice if your dog becomes ill with some/all the above symptoms.

and remember vaccination is never 100%... if they have the symptoms get to vet even if vaccinated. and tell vet in advance- they will not want dog walking in

Just a heads up, vaccination does not prevent your dog from contracting Parvovirus, it should lessen the symptoms as the dog's immune should be able to produce antibodies to destroy the virus.
There was a serovar of Parvo that only affected vaccinated dogs in the Midlands a couple of years back

Admin, do you have a link to anything we can read about this increase in parvo??

There's nothing about this on my vet's website and they are generally pretty good when it comes to local infection.   Unfortunately, being a coastal holiday town, and with people being able to travel now, we may see this here ......................  worrying.

'Don't panic, don't panic'!!

That is interesting. Fleur had a titre test a few weeks ago and showed a high antibody count for parvovirus and distemper. The count for hepatitis was low but similar to the count she has had every test. She hasn't been vaccinated for several years so I did wonder at the count being high. Possibly, although she has shown no symptoms, she has had some contact with the virus when out walking. The count was lower the year after her vaccination.

so many puppy farmed puppies out there- its so common on puppy farms  and I read somewhere a while back there have been issues with imported 'rescue' dealers bringing in dogs with distemper.

Distemper is really pretty rare. Like one lab-diagnosed case in the last 7 years. It is almost eradicated in the western world...

Lancaster, Morecambe, Milnthorpe and Caton

Manchester / Salford

Stoke On Trent

Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil

Glasgow

6 pups die in Nottingham

There are so many first-time dog owners out there now and most won't have a clue about Parvo. Forewarned is Forearmed as they say.

Interesting. It seems to be largely up north, from those locations...And Wales.

By the way, having read a few of those articles the recurring theme seems to be "1st year boosters are important because they are part of the puppy series" (Wales article) and "Most dogs get vaccinated when they are very young, but it can be difficult for vets to tell whether the treatment has been successful." (that was the Salford one)....

Can I just say on this subject...

Having spoken to vets and breeders in the US, they think it is completely insane that in the UK first vaccinations can finish at 12wks - sometimes even 10wks. Many, many puppies will still be covered by maternal antibodies at those ages and so the vaccines simply won't be effective.

In the US, it would be thought to be crazy and irresponsible by most vets, to finish the first course of vaccines before 16wks at the earliest - preferably 20wks. To cover that time period, they typically give 3 vaccines - all DHP, no lepto used.

That is why the Wales article says '1st year boosters are so important etc' - it's because those first year boosters will catch those puppies whose puppy course didn't actually work. However, in those circumstances those puppies have been completely unprotected throughout their first year of life. When they are most susceptible to parvo.

It would be much better to ensure puppies are protected from puppyhood. Really, either the final vaccination should be given at 20wks+ or 16wks+ at a minimum OR the puppy should be titre tested at 20wks to check if the ridiculously early puppy vaccinations worked or not... But this thing of vaccinations stopped at 10/12wks and then no more until 1 year old is insane and clinically unsupportable.

I don't really understand why UK vets get so upset about lepto - and then do things like this...Do any of them actually think critically or look at research, or do they just regurgitate what they were told at vet school!?

Seems strange that the vet quoted in the Stoke Sentinel item is from a clinic in Irlam, 40 miles away in North Manchester. Other Google search results for Parvovirus in North Staffs only brought up articles from 2013, 2014, and 2018.
Worth being cautious if it is around though.

"All of the cases we have confirmed have been in dogs under 12 months old. They have had different brands of vaccination courses, so we suspect it is not related to a particular vaccine breakdown


Interesting, this is why I have, for 40 years, titre tested via Glasgow University my puppies at 10 weeks for maternal immunity & never vaccinate before I get results that show the puppy needs vaccinating. I then test again on the 12 month anniversary of 1st vaccination & to date none of my dogs has ever needed a"booster"since 1981.

There have been some serious outbreaks of Parvo in the nearest towns to me, but none of my dogs has ever had any symptoms.

Perhaps if vets come into the 21st century & stopped adhering to the protocol of vaccinating puppies with immature immune systems that is based on the 1950s knowledge of canine viruses, outbreaks would be reduced.

I also cringe when I see places like Battersea vaccinating every dog they receive with no testing done.

> There are so many first-time dog owners out there now and most won't have a clue about Parvo. Forewarned is Forearmed as they say.

I drove through town this morning and saw a number of clearly very young puppies being walked (ie on the ground).   Where they came from who knows, but I did wonder whether any of them had had BOTH puppy vaccination.  Mind you I saw, many times, people walking their young puppies into my vet's waiting areas.   At no time did the people on reception suggest they pick their puppies up off the ground ...............  it made me shudder.

>Worth being cautious if it is around though.

Especially as it spreads like wildfire. That is one reason I highlighted it. Experienced dog owners (hopefully) know the difference between a 'dicky' tummy and when it is something far more serious. Hundreds of thousands of people have acquired dogs for the very first time in the last 12+ months and may not realise how serious this virus can be. Especially in puppies who dehydrate very quickly. If someone is worried they will probably google the symptoms in the first instance.

Hopefully they will find this thread and know they have to phone a Vet asap.

One of the things I remember about this virus, was the dreadful smell. It wasn't like anything I had come across before. My dog ended up on a drip within 12 hours of the first 'sign'. He went down hill very fast. Thankfully, he recovered but it was touch and go for a while AND I had got him help quickly.

> One of the things I remember about this virus, was the dreadful smell. It wasn't like anything I had come across before. My dog ended up on a drip within 12 hours of the first 'sign'. He went down hill very fast. Thankfully, he recovered but it was touch and go for a while AND I had got him help quickly.

When my girl had it she first started with throwing up where she couldn't stop being sick with no dirohhia, she wasn't pooping at all. The vets didn't suspect parvo because she was vaccinated, it started on a wensday in the end she was admitted on the Saturday after going back and forth every day (first one was emergency out of hours), opened her up suspecting pyo before parvo confirmed and almost died before coming threw it. That was one of the worst weeks of my life. But she went from deaths door on a Monday where the vet actually said you better come see her it might be your last chance (i'll never forget how terrible she looked) to the call on wensday morning to say come pick up your dog she's eating her drip. The evening before she was admitted we had one fountain poop, then she didn't poop at the vets until after she was opened up. Turned out in the end it's likely the vacs were blocked by MDA as she was done at 8/10 weeks her titer test (payed for by the vac company) showed only sky high parvo antibodies.

>opened her up suspecting pyo

Good grief. Your poor bitch. Glad she was ok in the end. It's such a scary time. You feel so helpless.

Thank you, yeah she went threw it all right. It was heart breaking seeing the state of her when she visited her she really was at deaths door but it seems out visit had an effect on her and it was after that she started picking up and suddenly bounced back to life thank god.

If the vets came into the 21 century who would pay for there cars and houses?

Hang on that's unpleasant.  It's our vets we turn to when our pets are in trouble  . yes there are likley to be sone that over do prices or do more than we would yhinknis needed. Then its up to us to consider where we put our money . generally they do the job because they want to not to fleece us.
Bad apples in all professions but not fair to lump everyone that way

Vets warned of parvo surge as reported cases double in three months. April 27, 2021.

Vets Now reports a 129% increase in suspected cases of the potentially fatal disease in the first three months of 2021, compared with the same period last year.

Vets across the UK have been warned to brace themselves for a parvovirus surge after reported cases doubled in the first three months of 2021. The warning comes after data from pet emergency service Vets Now showed a 129% increase in suspected cases of the potentially fatal disease in the first three months of 2021, compared with the same period last year.

IVC Evidensia – which owns Vets Now – has also released research showing that up to 45% of registered pet owners hadn’t got vital vaccinations and boosters. It’s thought a potential surge in cases could be coming as a result of the massive boom in lockdown puppies and concerns over still attending surgeries for routine jabs.

Edward Davies, chairman of the UK clinical board at IVC Evidensia said: “There are several reasons why we are really concerned about seeing an increase in cases of parvovirus and our practices have been taking steps to brace themselves for a potential resurgence in this disease, as well as ensuring they are encouraging their clients to keep up to date with dog vaccinations. Due to the lockdown puppy boom and the whole COVID-19 situation, ensuring preventive health care has been correctly followed for all pets has been a real challenge. The potential resurgence of parvo has been quite a worry during this time.”

Vet Times article HERE

Interesting that a multinational veterinary group single out the UK to push for boosters for core diseases. The veterinary practice that I use, is still 100% in dependant, despite IVC Evidensia trying to buy them out.

I was speaking to one of the partners about an unrelated matter, so I asked them about this alleged mega increase in cases of Parvo. They haven't seen any such increase in cases & they rarely vaccinate puppies under 10 weeks of age due to their experience of Maternal Immunity issues.

> Vets warned of parvo surge as reported cases double in three months. April 27, 2021.<br />

Is this directly to do with BYBs churning out puppies and novice owners buying into all this 'Covid 19' breeding without bothering to have their puppies at least given their puppy vaccination?  It seems strange that this just happens to be going on at this time!!

I was going to post the same thing.  I don't trust these reports unless from independent sources.

The example given in that report was a puppy vaccinated at 6 weeks.  If I recall correctly the DHP jab isn't valid on a 6 week old pup due to maternal anti-bodies.   Vets shouldn't be attempting to vaccinate for immunity at 6 weeks.

Maternal immunity, provided the puppies do receive mum's first milk (colostrum) begins to drop away by around 5 weeks BUT it's not considered safe to externally vaccinate until at least 8 weeks of age - we didn't have our's done until 10 weeks.  If by chance the puppies don't receive the colostrum, then external vaccination (against Parvo and Lepto) is given by 6 weeks.  This is the norm note.

I have just emailed my vet down here re what's going on.   There's no message on the news part of their website.  I am concerned about what visitors might bring into the area (and that includes Covid!!).

I emailed my vets re reported cases of Parvo locally.   Here is what they said

"Thank you for your inquiry, we are aware of the increase in cases and while we have yet to diagnose a case there is an increased risk at this time.
We are advising to stay up to date with vaccines due to this so that your animal is protected. Please check your vaccine records as according to ours Teazel is out of date.
If you would like us to book you an appointment to get the course restarted please call us on 01288 354796,
Kind regards,
Tamar Vets "

Which of course, I'd anticipated (restarting her vaccination!!).   I've written back thanking them for their reply but saying I have never boostered my hounds after around 7 years (apart from a Lepto jab I had both given when we had rats here a few years ago) and that if I feel she needs more vaccination, I will get back.  This is unlikely (I know, Sods Law) but she's only exercised very locally now, not in town, on the beaches or headland after all.  I don't know what they charge for 'restarting'.

when I had to get an adult rescue dog vaccinated the vet insisted she needed same as a puppy. two lots of jabs 4 weeks apart.  I wasn't convinced as I always thought the two sets of jabs was in case maternal antibodies cancelled first jab but I'm not a vet so what do I know?

ps I am not a fan of letting them lapse- my parents did that with a cat- he'd been vaccinated for years- they stopped and he caught cat flu. was horribly ill and had to be an inpatient at the vets as was so bad

I guess I might have titres done but as I was once told they were not totally reliable re what the dog's status is, and they cost as much as the vaccination, I don't think I'll bother.   Restarting Teazel when she'll be 13 in October next isn't something I'd happily do to be honest.

Adults & puppies over 10 weeks of age should only be given 1 vaccination, to do otherwise is going against the manufacturer's guidance.

All licensed medication for animals including dosage etc can be found in the NOAH compendium

https://vaccicheck.com/about-vaccicheck/  this is the cheapest way if u want to titre although u .may have to use a different vet as not all vets will stock it. Info on the website
U are right that titre testing can only give a guide to vaccine status as antibodies arnt always present.
As we have discussed before this doesn't mean there is no immunity .just that we can't test for.the cell mediated immunity .same sort of problem with covid
Every likelihood at teasels age she has immunity

>Adults & puppies over 10 weeks of age should only be given 1 vaccination, to do otherwise is going against the manufacturer's guidance.

I don't give a poop about manufacturer's advice if science says otherwise. I have no idea why some manufacturers believe it is ok to stop vaccines at 10 weeks, but that is how we have gotten into this situation with all this parvo around - science and research shows that maternal antibodies frequently last beyond 10 weeks. So vaccines will be ineffective.

The final vaccine should be given at 18-20wks OR if the final vaccine was given earlier, the puppy should be titer tested after the age of 20wks (to titer earlier risks picking up maternal antibodies instead of response to the vaccine). Titre testing at 1yo only risks leaving many puppies unprotected during that first year of life. Hence, all the parvo...

>when I had to get an adult rescue dog vaccinated the vet insisted she needed same as a puppy. two lots of jabs 4 weeks apart.  I wasn't convinced as I always thought the two sets of jabs was in case maternal antibodies cancelled first jab but I'm not a vet so what do I know?

There are different components in the bundle of vaccines that vets give. The DHP only needs to be given once to a dog (whose maternal antibodies have worn off - so, 20wks+ if you want to be sure) and that dog will be fully protected from that single vaccination.

The lepto and parainfluenza components need to be boostered annually and also the initial course is a 2-dose course - just like the current Covid-19 vaccine. With the 2nd vaccine boosting the first and needing to be given within a certain amount of time of the first. So, if a dog has an unknown vaccination history a vet is going to want to give these two doses because they don't know if the dog has previously in their life had a Lepto 2/4 vaccine. (If the dog had had one, just one shot would boost it. If not, they need the two.)

Personally I choose not to give lepto or PI to my dogs so wouldn't have gone for the 2nd shot and would have asked them to leave those components out of the first shot.

Can I just ask them to give Teazel a Parvo update, or (I'd lay odds!) will she need the lot?  Still debating about this which is a bit like not taking the pre-op testing - and Sods Law something dire would happen.

I don't give a poop about manufacturer's advice

Who do you think composes the manufacturer's advice? Some random employee picked at random? No, of course not, it's the scientifically qualified staff Involved in developing, & testing the vaccine.

Which scientist's opinion do you base your beliefs on?

My dogs are titre tested before any vaccination(just as I was tested before my Covid19 vaccination, due to one of my health conditions) to date only young puppies(10 weeks & older) have required any vaccination. As part of research my dogs are titre tested at random times during their lives.

I would ask your vet as well as a couple of others as sometimes one vet can or will do different things to another. I know that .ay not  e sl easy wjere u are as access to vets could be more difficult than in my area

>Who do you think composes the manufacturer's advice? Some random employee picked at random? No, of course not, it's the scientifically qualified staff Involved in developing, & testing the vaccine.

Er, the vaccine manufacturers.

There is independent research which demonstrates that a % of puppies will NOT be protected by a vaccination given at 10wks old because maternal antibodies continue to be active. That is why in North America ALL VETS give shots finishing at 16wks at the very earliest, and three rounds of them. Parvo and maternal antibodies function exactly the same in North America and UK. British puppies don't somehow have immune systems functioning differently....

Vaccine manufacturers can easily get involved in a race to promote their vaccine as being able to be given to ever-younger puppies - because some naive vets and clients will then gleefully leap on it and choose it over competition because they can give it earlier and pretend it offers protection. When really they are just riding on herd immunity and low levels of the virus in the UK (compared to the US) so they can market their product - and woe betide any of those pups which are not protected and come into contact with it.

That's exactly what has happened this year with this outbreak. We know there have been more puppies bred and produced and bought than usual, so of course the number which are unprotected due to being vaccinated too early will also be greater - and the risk of parvo is then also greater. It's not rocket science.

I wouldn't really trust a vaccine manufacturer to put safety and health over profit. Big pharma puts profit first.

Seven years ago, when my youngest was a puppy my vet advised that the best time for him to be vaccinated was 20 weeks to avoid maternal antibodies unless I was taking him to a high risk area. He also did not give lepto 4 and advised lepto 2 only necessary if travelling to an area of confirmed cases. In the early days of parvo (early 1980s) a breeder friend of mine nearly lost vaccinated puppies. The vet said the vaccine maybe didn't work because of maternal antibodies and advised in future her pups had final vaccine at 16 weeks.
Another possibility for the increase could be that these people breeding for money may not have bothered to have mother vaccinated at all. If puppy owners were unable to get to vets for vaccination due to covid the pups may not have any immunity from anywhere.

Another possibility for an increase in cases is that immunity that builds up slowly by natural exposure as pups socialise and meet other dogs in training classes etc. hasn't been happening due to lockdown.   When lockdown ends people and dogs start mixing and there is the risk of a much larger amount of virus being exposed to the pup in a short time.

Another sad story maybe related.  Someone I know lost their 4 year old spaniel rescue a week ago.  Had some loose bloody poo and vomited once during the day but seemed ok demeanour wise, by the evening became lethargic and clearly unwell called the vet and told the vet that that he was very poorly.  Vet said to bring him in in the morning.  Early in the morning he died.  Vet said it was HGE without doing any tests.   Difficult with rescues as you don't know their health history but there could have been other possibilities here.

Oddly enough the non US based/funded research my dogs have been part of since 1982(not the same dogs for all the time since than obviously) requires titre testing BEFORE any vaccination(for vaccines that have tests available)

Rather than guessing at what age the inherited maternal immunity wanes(& there are documented cases where it has never waned) I prefer to be guided by truly independant qualified researchers & not vets with a monetary interest in unnecessary double vaccinations. Some of the researchers are qualified veterinary surgeons & some are Immunology scientists, but they are not paid by any company & their research is funded by the diagnostic tests they perform.

I have no problems with titering before or/and after vaccination. If you titre test under the age of 20wks though, and it comes back positive, you can't know if that is due to maternal antibodies or vaccine...(if you've vaccinated).

I guess you can keep titering until you get a negative result and then vaccinate but the alternative approach is just to vaccinate every 3 weeks until you get past 16-20wks and to be careful about where you go until after that. OR vaccinate once, wait till 20wks and then titer once to see if that vaccine worked. As I don't like sticking needles in pups in the socialisation period, I just give a couple of DHPs with the second at 20wks. The DHP components of the vaccine are actually very safe. It's the Lepto and bacterial components of the vaccine which cause the vast number of adverse reactions - which I don't give.

But people can't just vaccinate at 10wks and stop all vaccinations and titers thinking a puppy is done.

So vaccinate every 3 weeks from 10 weeks to whenever? Really?

No what my regime is titre at 10 weeks

Positive result wait 4 weeks & titre again

Positive result wait a further 4 weeks etc

When the titre test is negative that's when the dogs single vaccination is done. I would never vaccinate a dog at any age that had a positive titre test

Vaccinating every 3 weeks is inviting over vaccination & causing vaccinosis.

Since 1982 this has been my regime & interestingly none of my dogs has ever needed a "booster"

The duration of MDA was studied. The reported half-life for maternally transferred distemper and canine infectious hepatitis IgG was approximately eight days in puppies and, on average, passively acquired antibodies to distemper and canine parvovirus declined to insignificant levels at about 10–12 and 15 weeks, respectively. It has been suggested that dog growth rate contributes to the kinetics of MDA disappearance, with rapidly growing breeds eliminating antibodies more rapidly than slow growth breeds.

That's your choice Ann.

>Vaccinating every 3 weeks is inviting over vaccination & causing vaccinosis.

And that's your opinion. It's also what 99% of North American vets do.

Personally, I minimise vaccines but I'd rather do that than take repeated blood draws from a puppy within the socialisation period, but it's your choice.

I'm not sure why you're trying to argue with me. Do whatever you want with your own puppies. I took issue with this statement:

>Adults & puppies over 10 weeks of age should only be given 1 vaccination

10 weeks of age has nothing to do with it. When the maternal antibodies have worn off, one DHP vaccination should be given.

Out in Canada, there was one breeder within my breed who would titre test their litters before vaccinating.  They were the only people in the breed (so far as known) to do that however and it was costly so for the most of us, vaccinating after arouind 10 weeks, and then a couple of weeks later, was the norm.   And apparently that worked (ie we had no cases of the diseases vaccinated against).   I don't know what fellow-breeders, within the breed, do in this country, but again, we continued with our vaccination routine.

This latest re Parvo is different and worrying.

Oh and because I didn't see any point boostering my lot after around age 7 years (and in general, still don't)  I had my then vet on notice to warn me, should something like Parvo become common again locally so I could wheel my lot in.  On balance I'm not going to be panicked to get my Whippet updated at this point.

> I'd rather do that than take repeated blood draws from a puppy within the socialisation period

Absolutely, that is problem with titre testing, it's more traumatic for the pup than simply vaccinating.

> Vet said it was HGE without doing any tests.   Difficult with rescues as you don't know their health history but there could have been other possibilities here.

HGE is quite common and there have been some really nasty strains around in recent years.  One killed my collie last year.  No distinctive smell (not that I'd know it, I've never encountered it but there was nothing unusual), and the vets never thought it was parvo for a second.  They did warn me that my other dogs were likely to get ill with it too, but none had any symptoms, thank god.

My boy had HGE, smell was horrific.  My boy went down hill rapidly.  He went to to the toilet outside the vet so the vet could see it and at the time he said it was either Parvo or HGE.  It's very similar in terms of symptoms.  Fortunately as soon as he got on fluids the speed of recovery was really quick whereas with Parvo they continue to get worse.  Testing faeces is how they distinguish scientifically I believe.