Bowen’s Road to Recovery From Parvovirus

I apologize for the lack of posts/updates for those who may have looked here for news on Bowen since he was diagnosed with Parvovirus last week, Wednesday. He was well enough to come home last night, and has continued to do well at home so far.

Bowen this morning.

First off, I have never dealt with a dog with Parvo before, so this was a very scary time for me. I’ve gone through big emotional ups and downs over the past 5 days! I suppose I should start from the beginning (you can skip through if you’ve received my e-mails)…

Bowen first vomited on Tuesday (7/24) afternoon. I didn’t think anything was wrong because, well.. Let’s face it, dogs barf all the time for random reasons. He continued to play, take treats, and accept/seek affection. By evening, Bowen was losing interest in food and had an awful episode of diarrhea. It was the worst diarrhea I’d ever seen, and smelled. I knew if he hadn’t improved by morning that I was taking him straight to the vet. Unfortunately, by Wednesday morning Bowen had an even bigger decline in health. He had vomited overnight (entire stomach content), was lethargic, depressed, hiding, vomiting, refusing food, and still had that awful diarrhea. I had never seen my boy in such poor shape. I got him in to the vet by 9am that day.

Bowen was admitted to our local vet clinic to see Dr. Andrew on 7/25. He was examined and taken back to be given fluids to help with dehydration. I was told that if he did not show any signs of improvement over the next few hours that they would call and we would go over the option of having blood work done. I made a call to CCI to let them know his status and where he was. They said to go with what our vet felt was best. By late afternoon I got a call from Dr. Andrew with the “good/bad news”. From what I was told, Dr. Andrew’s assistant had an extra Parvo test (snap/color change test) and asked if he’d like her to do one for Bowen. Dr. Andrew didn’t see how it could hurt anything, and to everyone’s shock.. Bowen was positive for Parvo. It’s one of those phone calls where you nearly drop the phone from shock. I automatically thought, ‘Is he going to die?!’ I mean, what did I know about Parvo at that point? Sanity came to my rescue before those words tumbled out of my mouth, and I asked Dr. Andrew, “What do we do next?” Dr. Andrew had us come down to the clinic to pick Bowen up to take him to the emergency vet clinic. He had already spoken to the head vet on staff, and caught him up to speed on Bowen’s case.

By the time we got Bowen to the ER clinic he had a slight fever, bloody, uncontrollable diarrhea, and he was still dehydrated. They were able to run blood work on him, and fortunately his white blood cell count had stayed normal. We were told that in most Parvo cases, the dogs get much worse before they get better. They said they often call the family with bad news (drop in white blood cell count, infection, dehydration, vomiting, fever, etc.) but that the dogs generally have a big turn around by the next day. I hoped that my boy would be one of the few that didn’t have this happen, and I am happy to say that he is one of the few!

While Bowen was at the ER clinic we started the big cleaning fest. Bleach/water is what we’ve been using. Everything that we can see that is on the ground or Bowen height has been highly sanitized at least once. The yard has been saturated with a 50/50 solution and the grass is holding up for now. If I have to bleach it until it’s dead, well.. I don’t care. I want the Parvo as gone as I’m able to pull off. We did throw away his bedding because it wouldn’t fit in the machine, and I didn’t feel comfortable with just steam cleaning it or spraying/soaking it in bleach/water outside. The fur-kids will just have to make due with temporary bedding until Bowen’s done shedding the virus. He is still a carrier of the virus, and will be shedding the virus through his feces for a little while longer. We will be doing another big cleaning in 1.5-2 weeks after Bowen’s shedding period is over, and can bring in new bedding/toys at that time. I’ll be sanitizing the yard for the next 6 months – year. Fun stuff.

On 7/29 we dropped off our newest CCI puppy, Cherokee, with our friend who would keep him for the next month-month and a half. (More info on this later.) My mom and I quickly headed over to the ER vet clinic to see our boy. Bowen stayed at the ER vet for 3 days with 24 hour care. We were notified that the only thing keeping him from coming home was the fact that he was not eating. They asked if we could come in and try to get him to eat something. We suited up in booties, gloves, gowns, and stepped in some bleach/water solution before entering the isolation room. Oh my did Bowen perk up! He heard our voices, saw us and started doing as much of a full body wag as he could with the energy that he had left. I nearly cried seeing that my boy was ok, and happy to see us. He wiggled and wiggled until he found a good place to lay his head in our laps to be loved on. The vet tech in charge explained the set up and situation. He was in a fairly large cage with soft bedding, pee pads, water, and a paper plate with some pretty fancy dog food on it! Quite the set up!! The vet tech said he wouldn’t touch the food, and they had to press on his bladder to get him to urinate earlier in the day. Palm to the face moment. It never occurred to me that Bowen was refusing to urinate and eat because of what he had been taught. He did not want to potty in his kennel, and even when allowed to go on a pee pad he was never given the “hurry” command. He was also being fed on a paper plate with food that he’s never seen before. It looked like canned corned beef hash with some veggies in it. Again, no one ever told him it was “ok” to eat. Poor boy! I asked for some dry kibble, and had Bowen “sit” and “shake”. He quickly gobbled up a palm full of kibble. We praised and praised him. He ate about half a cup before his tummy said no more. The vet tech said if he didn’t vomit then he’d probably be able to go home that night.

Bowen kept his food down, and we were able to pick him up at 8pm that same night. We were given some medication and care instructions for him for the next couple of weeks. Mostly we had to make sure he continued eating, no vomiting, and maintained a good energy level. Then we got to pick up our boy! He was so excited to be outside again and see us! He hopped in the car (and I like to think that he was just super excited) and peed a river, lol! I think he was just excited, and was in a place that made him feel comfortable and at east. I honestly didn’t care. Plus, I had put down trash bags, a tarp, and several blankets and towels.

I got him inside, and gave him a warm bath. He was falling asleep in the tub. I know his energy level was low, but I think the warm water and scrub down felt good to him. He laid down on the floor while I toweled him off and nearly fell asleep. Everyone at home came to say hi, and he wagged for each person he saw. He ate about a 1/4 cup of food and toileted before bed. This morning he was bright, hungry (ate about 3/4-1 cup of food), and happy to be loved on. He is still really tired, but happy to take treats, food, and seeking affection. Getting back to normal one day at a time!

So the sad bit of news on my little guy is that he has to be out of the house until he is fully vaccinated. We (Dr. Andrew and I) are thinking he can come home by mid-September at the latest. He is staying with a puppy raiser friend that I trust and she lives less than 10 minutes away! I’ve been told that as long as I wear clean clothes, shoes, and have clean hands that I can visit him as soon and as often as I’d like. Cherokee has been symptom free for the entire time since Bowen’s diagnosis. We were told to keep an eye on him for the next 10 days since exposure to be sure he doesn’t have Parvo too. It looks like his mom’s antibodies and first round of vaccines have kept him safe.  My family and I miss him already, but know he’s in good hands.

I’ll never know exactly where or when Bowen picked up the virus. It is a rare case that he picked up the virus as he is out of the general 3-6 month age range (when their immune systems are not as strong). It generally takes 3-5 days for symptoms to show, so I’ve decided not to waste my time raking my brain to think of where he could have picked it up. It is transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated feces. The dog does not have to consume them directly. It could simply be from stepping in contaminated feces and licking their foot. Parvovirus is a very hearty virus and can live and survive in several climates/situations. Vaccines at 99.9% effective, so please don’t worry too much. For some reason, Bowen is just one of the dogs that “fell through the cracks” as one person mentioned. Since we had Bowen appropriately vaccinated, and our vet did everything right, the manufacturer should cover majority (if not all) of Bowen’s medical bills. For those of you who have young dogs, I’ve been told that it is beneficial to get another booster for Parvo after their final series to be on the safe side. Please talk with your vet about your dog’s vaccination schedule.

Thank you again to everyone who has been so loving, kind, generous, and supportive throughout this ordeal. It has meant the world to me and my family. We love, and cannot thank our CCI friends/family, the vet staff at Arbor Animal Hospital, and Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital enough for all that you/they have done for us and Bowen! Bowen is on the road to recovery. We can all give a sigh of relief  :)

Just a funny side note: Apparently, Bowen won over the staff at both vet clinics. He even got a potential adopter if we couldn’t pay for his care! Unfortunately for her, we are able to take care of him with the manufacturer’s coverage. Plus, this boy has just stolen our hearts and won’t be going anywhere unless he graduates as a service dog!