After asking yesterday if my 4 week old sbt puppies could play in my garden I let them and they loved it.However walking my daughter to school this morning I was telling one of the other mums and she said that I shouldn't have let them as there have been a lot of cases of parvo in our area, apparantly it was in the local paper (didn't actually see it as it was used for puppies!) I have now been worrying as I would hate to think I have put them at risk at all, but I always thought that the disease could only be contracted either through contact with an affected dog or in an area were an affected dog has been. Mum is upto date with all her vacs and no other dogs have ever been in my garden apart from my previous dog 4 years ago and he was vaccinated too.I know this as my back garden has to be locked all the time as my daughter can open it so to be safe it is always bolted.I would be very grateful if anyone could help to put my mind at ease as I am a natural born worrier.

I think you should be ok, this is some info I found :

It is transmitted through contact with infected faeces. It can be carried by the dog via its hair and feet - therefore if you have not had any other dogs in your garden and your dogs have not been in contact with other dogs (including out on walks etc) you should be fine ;)

I am sure someone has more knowledge than me tho! :)

Parvo is an airborne virus.  I protect puppies with a mat soaked in Parvocide and a spray used each time anyone comes through the door.  I also use it to clean the whelping box/puppy run each day.

I can only find details on the web that say that Parvo is transmitted via Faeces or orally if been in contact with faeces via saliva - I just wondered if anyone knows of a site that give out any other info, obviously conflicting ideas / facts can be confusing.

Cheer :)

if the mum's up to date with boosters etc... her antibodies will afford some protection to the puppies as they won't be fully weaned yet. However, Val's precautions are very good ones even if the puppies are not going outside. Parvo can be carried on your clothes and shoes, is very resillient and as you know it's in your area at the moment, some parvocide is a good investment.

I've seen puppies die of parvo and it's not nice, but at the same time, you can interfere with their very important socializatiosn windows if you're too careful. No need to keep them in and if it makes you feel safer, give the area they are loose in a good spray too as a precaution.

Get some vercon and spray everything with it, they use it for foot and mouth, i use it all the time and it is brill, you can use it on anything and everything it wont stain and it wont bleach, you can wash the toys and dishes in it too.  i hope that helps you, dont worry too much, just keep an eye on them, first change in there behaviour and phone the vet asap tho just to be on the safe side. good luck

Parvovirus FAQ.

Cheers JG, so it's not air bourne as I thought - it is carried by either us or another dog which has poss come in to contact with the faeces therfore I would say be careful when you go out and about and throughly clean your shoes etc before seeing the pups? 

Thanks everyone for your replies.
I contacted our vet and asked if he had had any cases in our local area and he said he hasn't seen any at all,I also contacted the newspaper and asked if they could email me a copy of the article and they said they will asap.I have ordered some totalkil from www.petcetera.co.uk.I kept puppies in today to be on the safe side (even though they whined their little heads off at the back door.)
I will keep them in until I get the totalkil then I will clean a specific area where the shed and pen are going to go with it.I know now that it is not airborne which was my biggest concern but I will still clean everything with totalkil just to make sure.
Thanks again for all your help maybe I can stop worrying now (that'll be the day -ha!)
what would I do with out you all ????????????

When we have puppies, I keep a door mat absolutely soaked in parvoviricide (sp??) at each door of the house - and EVERYONE - and I do mean EVERYONE has to paddle in it before they come in the door!    If we've been going to shows/or anywhere else where there might be lots of dogs, we then pull a bale of straw apart and put it across the drive & soak that every day, so that when the car comes up the drive, it drives over it.    Might be over-egging the pudding, but better safe than sorry :)

Margot

I never thought of a door mat( someone mentioned a mat by the door but I must have had my dizzy head on because I didn't even click that they meant a door mat - DOH), I will do this aswell,as its better to over-egg a pudding than to not put enough in!
Thanks Lokis mum!!!!!!!
And Thanks everyone else for your input!!!!!!!

Yep, the mat by the door is an excellent idea and one I will be using in the future too - thanks! :) I only wish I had known of it a few years ago before one of my puppy families came to visit the litter and four days later the whole litter came down with Parvo. I think that has been the most stressful time of my life but thankfully every one of the pups pulled through. No more visitors now until the pups have had their first vaccinations and I will also be putting an "anti-parvo" mat at the door.

I've had a similar experience to you, Dog Gone It, with kittens - a family came to visit, were cuddling the kittens and said "oh they're so much healthier looking than the kittens we saw at ---xx  this morning"  I just grabbed the kittens from them, almost threw them out of the house and was round banging on the vet's door within the hour.   48 hours later they started showing the signs of cat flu, but I'd got antibiotics ready and waiting - it was a long haul, but they all made it.

That family didn't come back - and after that, I always made certain that anyone coming to see a kitten - or a puppy - doesn't look at any others before or after on the same day.

Margot