I have a question regarding how to restrict the possibility of bringing infection into the house. As many of you know i have an SBT and a outdoor cat and am bringing home a 7 week SBT in just under 3 weeks time. He will be vaccinated at 8 and 10 weeks but in the intervening time i will obviously be taking cleo out for walks in other dog populated areas and the cat roams the entire neighbourhood - how do i prevent infections coming in on their feet until the pup is fully vaccinated? Are antiseptic wipes (for the dog) ok? And any suggestions on whether the cat will need a sponge down too - if i can catch her that is!

Alex,
I think you're on the right track with the wipes. Also discourage Cleo from sniffing around other dogs' poop & pee spots. That's where the infections tend to occur where puppies get ill. Perhaps a wipe across the nose would help...surely, it couldn't hurt.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the greatest expert on this. My mother always believed in keeping a puppy safe inside the home & yard, just like with an infant. When I had puppies, I always had a fenced in yard... so I didn't have to deal with the issue of daily walks until they were a bit older.. usually around 4 months I'd let them begin to explore... Parvo has always been in areas that I've lived in too... I wanted to give plenty of time for those vaccinations to work. I did not want the slightest possibility of illness to occur.

good luck dearie :D I hope your papers are going well too ;)
toodles

HI Toodles - procrastination is the order of the day i'm afraid, finding it impossible to do ANY work!

I wouldn't be worried about this if i didn't have the other animals - but there is no way that we can keep the cat inside - she'd start screaming blue murder, and take it out on anything she saw! And cleo wouls be a big misery if she didn't go out walking - was just wiondering if the wipes would do the trick though?

I really wouldn't worry about the cat....just keep cat & puppy separated until he's a bit older. It would be more of Cleo walking around & bringing in possible viruses & bacteria... antibiotic wipies after toweling her off should work without too much problems. What does your vet say?

Procrastination rears its ugly head once again, eh. My husband wondered how I ever got anything done because I was absolutely terrible with it. Now you have something else to focus on.. new puppy :D The mind doesn't need any excuses to wander around in the Spring [$ now you add to its ease ])

Och, you'll do quite nicely [$ everything will work out in the end like a bad romance novel ])

the cat seperation is also not going to be possible! She is a screamer and will bother the naeighbours much more than a dog barking if she thinks something is going on that she doesn't know about. Also because we live in a flat we don't have a massive amount of rooms to keep them all in - roll on the end of my course is all i can say, cos then we get to move out to the country, witha house with stairs and everything :D

Please if any of you have any advice having bought a pup into a house with adult dogs i would be really grateful - i don't want to be the cause of pup getting sick when i could have done something to preventit! I remember Mari saying something about garlic oil (i think)?

Cleo

Providing the dogs your baby comes into contact with have been vaccinated she'll be fine. Therefore as long as your existing dog's vac's are up to date you have nothing to worry about. The pup is highly unlikely to catch anything from the cat either.

Relax and look forward to having another baby:-)

hth

Pam n co

Thanks Pammy :D - before i spoke to the breeder yesterday i hadn't even given a thought to them bringing in infection on their feet or anything, so got a shock when she said i ought to be careful! Just wondered what others had done in the same situation - would be terrible to catch something because of where i had walked cleo...

Hi cleo what I said was if I am taking a puppy out or to shows I put garlic oil on their feet to stop them picking up any deseases , and I take my wet wipes with me to wipe it off before getting back in car . Garlic is good to take as well , great for the immune system . lol Mari

Thanks Mari - will invest in some garlic oil i think! Also stock up on the antiseptic wipes as they should kill any bacteria shouldn't they?

Cleo, when I have unprotected puppies at home I use Parvovirucide diluted on a pad by the front door for everyone to walk through. I also spray my home, dogs and humans to deal with air borne viruses. Parvovirucide kills bacteria and viruses, including rabies! Have a look at www.animal-health.co.uk.

Isn't that the same stuff everyone walked through on big sponges during the whole foot & mouth breakout??? Well, over here we were walking through it anytime we went to zoos or stables.

No toodles it was not to my knowledge it was bicarbonite of soda , . as that was the only thing would kill off foot and mouth bugs ,[ STRANGE] Val is right whenever I have a litter I use similiar to Val on a mat at front door at back door and I make people take their shoes off , but guess what I still got a virus with the last litter of puppies , Vet says it was probably brought in by feral cats and birds or a fox . But you try your best . lol Mari

Hi Val,

Have just ordered a nice big bottle of the stuff! I just wanted to check that it is safe to use to wipe the animals feet with too? Will it cause problems if ingested? - ie, cleaning there feet? Can i use it to wipe round cleos nose if shes been sniffing where lots of dogs go?

Lots of questions i know... :D

Mari, Thanks again for the advice. Hope this all goes according to plan! Can't see any foxew getting into my garden (surrounded by about 12 foot of brick wall!) and kuga sees off most of the other cats so hopefully the garden will be safe - though i am probably going to put a peice of cloth seeped in the stufff on top of the wall, so she has to walk over it before she comes into the garden! Don't think she's going to like me very much... Oh well :)

It'll last you for ages Cleopatra! Dilute it as directed, 5ml per litre of water I think, and it's safe to use. I put it into a spray bottle - garden centre type - and use it on visiting humans covering their eyes. I use it on the whelping box once a day and spray the air over the puppies after visitors have been. I groom for a living and spray myself everytime I come in from the parlour - you never know what I will come into contact with out there - and I'm still alive!! Many problems are brought in on the soles of shoes, hence the soaked pad outside the door, but many viruses are air borne, so the spray.
I'm fortunate to have a large garden and while I have unprotected puppies, my big girls are house bound. If they do need to go out, then they are sprayed, covering their eyes, and their feet wiped on their return.
I'm sure that we all deal with infection differently, but this has worked well for me for years.

i also use vetkem or parvocide in a dip at the back door so everyone has to walk through it, i also have the shoes taken off as an extra precaution,--be VERY!!! careful about any of the spray getting into dogs eyes, i witnessed an incident where a person with a pup had company and as they came in they had there clothes etc sprayed, -the pup was running around the new visitors but within minutes it started to close its eyes, they where swollen and very painfull, the pup landed up blind for quite a while but regained its vision with medication, it had 2 huge white/blue ulcers in its eye from the spray,

The pup i am getting will be about 7 weeks give or take a few days, so the danger of infection is slightly less due to the protection from the mum?? I have no problem being careful at all, especially with cleo and the cat going out - there is absolutely no way that i can keep them in for 4 weeks they will both go crazy! Do you think it necessary in this situation to spray myself and visitors on entering the house? I am going to have a no shoe rule anyway - as we can leave shoes in the hallway outside our front door. Will have a soaked pad on the wall to for the cat.
Any other tips, as i want to be careful, but don't want to slip into obsessive! ;)

hi
parvo-virucide helps prevent agaist parvo,distemper,rabies,influenza,kennel cough,e.coli,salmonella and
Ringworm,can be used on woodwork and concreate ect i also use it in washing machine when awshing dogs bedding,any paved areas and kitchen floor should be washed with parvo wash,
If you seen my post i added under mystry viruse you will know why, Adult dogs can carrie parvo with out any simptoms of the viruse,parvo can be carried on clothes hands feet fur and paws ect,
it lives in infected area soil,concreate ect for up to 6mths arfter infected,
if your intrested in this wash and carnt find it at pet shop near you,can get catalog and mail order from them at THE ANIMAL HEALTH CO LTD tell:01787 476400.
there based in essex,household disinfectants dont kill parvo.
heres a site you might find helpfull has some realy good info on preventing ect, http://www.pressenter.com/~dvmvis/canparvo.htm
http://www.vetinfo.com/dparvo.html#Parvo%20-%20surviving%20puppy%20in%20litter
Good luck with your new pup.

ps sorry about spelling ect its 4am couldent sleep brains gone to sleep but body hasent.lol

Thanks Pemrouge, I'm all stocked up! Didn't think about washing bedding, but that will be done along with an entire weekend of scrubbing before the pup comes home on the monday. Do you think that it is ok to water the garden with a dilution of it? Do want to be extra careful because of the cat wandering around the whole neighbourhood...
Scary that i never even thought of these things when i had cleo as a pup, and there used to be foxes and everything in my garden back then!