German Shepherd Parvovirus. For many friends who raise German Shepherd dogs, it must be extremely uncomfortable when they see their dog contracting parvovirus. Today the editor will tell you how to prevent and diagnose parvovirus, and what kind of disease parvovirus is in detail! I hope this content can be helpful to you!

Why are German Shepherds infected with parvovirus?

Parvovirus is a non-enveloped, isometric DNA virus . Dogs, especially puppies, are extremely susceptible to infection, mainly through direct and indirect contact, such as feces, urine, vomit and saliva of sick dogs, food and bedding contaminated by the virus, etc. can all spread the disease to dogs kept in groups. Field, the incidence rate of this disease can reach more than 50%, and the fatality rate is 30% to 70%.

Parvovirus is an infectious disease. So it usually has nothing to do with what your German Shepherd eats, but everything to do with the environment it is exposed to. Sometimes dog owners wonder why their dogs are infected with canine parvovirus? My personal analysis is that this may be due to the long survival period of canine parvovirus. It can usually survive in contaminated areas They can live on things for five months or more and are highly resistant to cleaning agents and most disinfectants. That is to say, dogs that have not been vaccinated may be infected if they come into contact with contaminated things.

What are the symptoms of parvovirus in a German Shepherd?

There are two main types of clinical manifestations of parvovirus, namely myocarditis type and enteritis type. Myocarditis type generally has no obvious symptoms and appears healthy, but will suddenly die due to cardiac insufficiency, irregular heartbeat, heart failure, and difficulty breathing. During anatomy, pulmonary edema, cardiac fibrosis, myocardial degeneration and necrosis, or heart enlargement and myocardial softening can be seen.

The clinical symptoms of enteritis type are more obvious. The body temperature of sick dogs after infection can reach 39.5~40.5℃, but sometimes the body temperature will be normal. When the disease occurs, the dog may be depressed, refuse to eat, vomit, and have loose stools. The feces will initially be gray or yellow in color, and later turn into bloody stools like tomato juice, accompanied by a special fishy odor. In addition, the sick dog will lose weight rapidly. Due to repeated diarrhea, the sick dog will be severely dehydrated, resulting in sunken conjunctiva and loss of skin elasticity.

A dog suffering from parvovirus can die within 1 to 2 days if it has an acute attack; if it has a chronic attack, the entire process can take up to 1 week. Generally, parvovirus can be basically diagnosed based on vomiting and tomato juice-like bloody stools.

Treatment of parvovirus in German Shepherds

1. Injection of high Free serum to increase antibodies. Currently, monoclonal hyperimmune serum is the ideal serum, and canine parvovirus monoclonal antibody injection is used for the treatment and emergency prevention of vomiting and diarrhea caused by canine parvovirus. In addition, some multivitamins can be supplemented appropriately according to the situation.

2. When the dog’s condition improves and starts to eat, it should eat less and more often. Slowly increase food intake, and do not eat too much suddenly, which may cause gastrointestinal discomfort and lead to loose stools again. After feeding, the dog can be given food or multi-enzyme tablets to help digestion. For dogs that have stopped having bloody stools but still have loose stools, Dogs that are able to eat can be given antidiarrheal agents.