Strength is the product of struggle.
Well, dear readers, it has been a worry-filled few days here at the Paine household.
On May 25th about 8:00 p.m. Ava begin acting very ill. She had been fine earlier in the day and was fine when I got home from work, but had begun to vomit and show extreme signs of depression, listlessness, and nonexistent appetite.
Because it was after-hours for our vet, I called the Paradise Valley Emergency Animal Clinic. I told the on-duty nurse Ava's symptoms and history. Because she hadn't been vomiting for long the nurse said if the vomiting, etc. continued in the morning to come in then. Ava was nice enough to wake me up at 4:30 a.m. with two nice bouts of stinky diarrhea. On the second bit, I noticed some blood in the stool and told Ed we needed to head over to the emergency vet's office. I then proceeded to scrape up the two poop's into separate Zip-lock baggies to show the doctor - yuck!
At the vet's office we filled out forms and gave the receptionist Ava's stats, her vaccination record, and current symptoms. The vet recommended we have her tested for parasites, canine parvovirus, and have an exam. The tests came out negative for parasites, but very positive for parvo. The doctor said that because she was just vaccinated for parvovirus four days before, it could be a false positive. However, Ed and I didn't want to take that chance (at 5.5 weeks old and 2.7 lbs., there's not much weight to lose and even a little dehydration could kill her) and with her other symptoms, it seemed unlikely.
Parvo is the number one killer for dogs, and usually strikes the very young or the very old. Treatment is fairly aggressive (and extremely expensive), and there's only about a 75-80% survival rate with aggressive hospitalization and treatment. Because parvo is viral, there is no cure, so treatment consists of keeping the body from failing due to dehydration and secondary bacterial infection. This means an IV for fluids, antibiotics, and constant monitoring of sodium, glucose, etc. levels. Parvo is especially hardy and difficult to kill (only bleach or time will do it) in the environment and can live outdoors for up to two years.
Thankfully, it seems that Ava contracted a fairly mild strain of parvo, has a healthy immune system, and we caught it very early. She was in the hospital for two days with round-the-clock care, and is now home and doing very well. She still has some recovery to do, but is eating well and acts feistier with each passing nap.
I spoke with Ava's breeder and she was kind enough to refund half of Ava's purchase price...she didn't have to and most breeders wouldn't have since parvo can be picked up virtually anywhere. However, we are pretty sure she caught it prior to coming to us as Oscar is fully vaccinated and she hadn't been anywhere but in our family room and backyard. The refund will help make a tiny dent in her hospital bill, so that's good news.
Hopefully all is well now. Have informed Ava that she better excel at potty-training like her big brother did or may just have to boot her buns to the curb. Am kidding, of course, but don't tell her that.
In other news, we were able to get Ed's new 36" television hooked up and operable last Sunday and he loves it. I've even watched a few programs this week while Ava sleeps.
On May 25th about 8:00 p.m. Ava begin acting very ill. She had been fine earlier in the day and was fine when I got home from work, but had begun to vomit and show extreme signs of depression, listlessness, and nonexistent appetite.
Because it was after-hours for our vet, I called the Paradise Valley Emergency Animal Clinic. I told the on-duty nurse Ava's symptoms and history. Because she hadn't been vomiting for long the nurse said if the vomiting, etc. continued in the morning to come in then. Ava was nice enough to wake me up at 4:30 a.m. with two nice bouts of stinky diarrhea. On the second bit, I noticed some blood in the stool and told Ed we needed to head over to the emergency vet's office. I then proceeded to scrape up the two poop's into separate Zip-lock baggies to show the doctor - yuck!
At the vet's office we filled out forms and gave the receptionist Ava's stats, her vaccination record, and current symptoms. The vet recommended we have her tested for parasites, canine parvovirus, and have an exam. The tests came out negative for parasites, but very positive for parvo. The doctor said that because she was just vaccinated for parvovirus four days before, it could be a false positive. However, Ed and I didn't want to take that chance (at 5.5 weeks old and 2.7 lbs., there's not much weight to lose and even a little dehydration could kill her) and with her other symptoms, it seemed unlikely.
Parvo is the number one killer for dogs, and usually strikes the very young or the very old. Treatment is fairly aggressive (and extremely expensive), and there's only about a 75-80% survival rate with aggressive hospitalization and treatment. Because parvo is viral, there is no cure, so treatment consists of keeping the body from failing due to dehydration and secondary bacterial infection. This means an IV for fluids, antibiotics, and constant monitoring of sodium, glucose, etc. levels. Parvo is especially hardy and difficult to kill (only bleach or time will do it) in the environment and can live outdoors for up to two years.
Thankfully, it seems that Ava contracted a fairly mild strain of parvo, has a healthy immune system, and we caught it very early. She was in the hospital for two days with round-the-clock care, and is now home and doing very well. She still has some recovery to do, but is eating well and acts feistier with each passing nap.
I spoke with Ava's breeder and she was kind enough to refund half of Ava's purchase price...she didn't have to and most breeders wouldn't have since parvo can be picked up virtually anywhere. However, we are pretty sure she caught it prior to coming to us as Oscar is fully vaccinated and she hadn't been anywhere but in our family room and backyard. The refund will help make a tiny dent in her hospital bill, so that's good news.
Hopefully all is well now. Have informed Ava that she better excel at potty-training like her big brother did or may just have to boot her buns to the curb. Am kidding, of course, but don't tell her that.
In other news, we were able to get Ed's new 36" television hooked up and operable last Sunday and he loves it. I've even watched a few programs this week while Ava sleeps.