Didn't take the time to locate Mesa county but thought CO members might take an interest in this. Better to be safe then sorry check your vet records.

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2011/oct/parvo_in_adult_dogs

Veterinarians in Mesa County, Colorado are reporting an increase in cases of adult dogs suffering from parvovirus. One hospital saw eight of these patients in a two week period.

Parvovirus is usually diagnosed in young dogs that have not received their full complement of preventative vaccines. Protecting puppies from parvo is a race between declining maternal immunity (antibodies they receive from their mom), exposure to the virus, and vaccination. When maternal immunity is high, it deactivates the vaccines. As maternal immunity begins to fade, vaccinations become effective, but since we don’t know how much maternal immunity a puppy has received and when it begins to wane, we have to vaccinate multiple times to keep the window when a puppy is susceptible as narrow as possible.

Veterinarians typically recommend that puppies be vaccinated for parvo starting at 7-8 weeks of age (earlier vaccines will almost surely be deactivated), and then every three weeks, for a total of three (sometimes four) vaccinations. Most vets then recommend a booster at the first annual checkup and then one every three years from that point on. Checking a dog’s titer — the level of antibodies to parvovirus in the blood — is an alternative to giving routine boosters in adult dogs. At some point, vaccination may no longer be in the pet’s best interests because of advanced age or illness; this should be determined on a case by case basis.

The recent outbreak of parvo in adult dogs surprises me for a couple of reasons. First, it is so easy to prevent. A vaccine booster or titer check every three years should do the trick in most cases. I’m sure economic concerns played a role for the owners of these dogs in Mesa County, but this a classic case of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. While it is best for owners to schedule an appointment with their veterinarian for a checkup and any needed preventative care at least annually, a combo vaccine that offers protection against canine distemper, infectious canine hepatitis, canine adenovirus type 2, canine parainfluenza and canine parvovirus is widely available over-the-counter for about $6.00. According to one pet insurance company, their average claim for treating parvovirus is $717.59. Even with appropriate therapy, the disease can be fatal.

I also thought that adult dogs would be a bit more resistant to parvovirus than the reports from Mesa County seem to show. Parvo is widespread in the environment, and exposure to low levels of the virus in an otherwise healthy, previously vaccinated adult dog should act as a natural "booster" of sorts. I don’t have the details of these cases. Maybe these dogs weren’t well-vaccinated previously. Maybe they weren’t otherwise healthy, or they were coming across massive doses of the virus that overwhelmed their tenuous immunity. Whatever the reason, I’ll certainly be using this outbreak as evidence as to why adult dogs need to receive their boosters or have their titers checked on a regular basis.



Dr. Jennifer Coates

Thanks for the post. We do that shot every other year and next year is when they're getting it again. Couple hundred miles away at least.

Would be interesting to know the specifics about the dogs.

Thanks for the post!

We've seen several parvo cases here at our clinic in the last couple months too. We're in Northwest Indiana. The most cases we saw in 1 week was 3 and over the last couple of months there have been 8 cases come into our clinic alone. Only 1 of the dogs was a puppy, the others were adult dogs.

i have a vet apt on fri. for sierra i will ask about it. i have never done the shots for either of my 2 since we don't do daycare or boarding but with the new dog park that we are going to more i might ask about it.
thanks Len.

It must be hitting the south too. I'm in North MS and Lexi just finished a week long treatment from Parvo. She received all 4 of her vaccines for that particular virus but still happened to contract the virus that causes Parvo. Not only has she been vaccinated but she was also considered "older" at 7 months old. I believe she might have gotten it from the local dog park. She got through the intense treatment but it was definitely hard on her, she didn't eat for a week so she lost a lot of weight. I couldn't imagine losing her so thank God she survived. Parvo is such a fatal disease and what scary is that a lot of people that I talked to about Lexi had no clue what Parvo even was.

Turns out when we do the distemper it also includes the parvo shot so they have been getting it. Wonder how all these dogs are picking it up? Wonder if their not vaccinated at all?

Makes me wonder where the vaccines are being made, like maybe a certain country that was putting Melamine in children's formula a few years ago.

Then sold cheap which proves that a bargain isn't if our pets pay the price.

I know the dogs at our clinic either hadn't received the vaccines or the owners did it them themselves purchasing the vaccines from Tractor Supply Company. The danger in doing them yourself from places like that is not knowing how they were handled in shipping. They say they should only be out of the refrigerator about an hour and then they are no good.