Needing answers about puppy...parvo or not parvo??

I have a 3 month old female registered pitbull that has been vacinnated....i had to have surgery and she got sick while i was gone for 4 days----she was sick and her bowels were bloody and her vomit smelled like nothing id ever smelled---except for once before when another dog of mine had and i thought he had the flu back a couple years ago....i nursed him back to health and he is fine. so being worried that she couldnt keep anything down i took her to the vet that has had her now a little over 24 hours--they did a parvo test which was negative--have her on IV fluids--"they"also told me that parvo is like AIDS and can show present a week after it doesnt show another time you test for it...Im not a millionaire---but i do love my dog and want the best for her---do i take her to someone else or let her continue to be treated with 2 IV's with the starting fee of 240 for the 1st night and 75 each day after--im scared and confused but DO want the best for her. no attitudes plz

I am a breeder of Labs and Parson Russell Terriers. I had two Lab puppies, who got sick when they were about 3 months old. One Sunday, we noticed that one Lab puppy had become lethargic, anorexia, and depressed. We brought him in the house and put him in a crate to rest. By the end of the day, he was dead. The next morning, my son took him to the San Diego County Veterinarian for a necropsy. Later that day, the other puppy started exhibiting the same signs, so my son took him to the local state-of-the-art animal hospital. I was at work 120 miles away.

The vet examined the puppy and said that he did not have to do any tests because he was sure the puppy had Parvo, since they had another puppy there who had tested positive for Parvo and who 鈥渉ad the same symptoms.鈥? He wanted to admit the puppy to give him IV fluids and antibiotics, which he estimated would run about $1,500. My boyfriend is a vet in another city (where I work as an attorney), so I have lots of knowledge about treating dogs. My son called me and put the vet on the phone. When the vet told me what he wanted to do, I told him 鈥渨e all know that this puppy will live or die whether he is treated at the hospital or at home, but he is better off at home with his family if the family can provide the fluids and antibiotics, so show my son how to give lactated ringers and send him home with the puppy.鈥? Since what I said was true, he showed my son how to do this (he is 40 years old and competent to do this procedure), gave the puppy a shot for his nausea, and gave him antibiotics.

My son treated the puppy, who was up and running around within 3 days. If you are able to learn the simple technique of giving fluids at home and can give antibiotics, you can treat your puppy if you do not have the money to pay for an extended hospital visit. I have heard of other people letting the vets put their dogs down when they do not have the money to pay for treatments like this. I can well afford it, as an attorney, but I believe that often times the pet鈥檚 owner will take better care of the pet than a busy hospital. BTW, the necropsy report came back about 6 weeks later stating that the other Lab died of bacterial pneumonia and not parvo! Many illnesses have similar symptoms.

This same hospital treated a 3-month-old puppy for nausea from eating contaminated pet food a couple of months ago (before I received the necropsy report on the Lab puppy). This was at the beginning of the pet food scare. My caretaker took the puppy to the same animal hospital for treatment. Without giving her a Parvo test, and without her having either a fever or diarrhea, the vet surmised that she must have Parvo and gave her Flagyl at the office and to take home. She got much worse within the next 24 hours and was admitted to the hospital with ataxia-like symptoms the next night. She faded pretty fast, and luckily I visited another vet for reproductive services the day after she was admitted, told her the whole story, and the vet told me that they were killing my puppy by giving her Flagyl! Flagyl is contraindicated for puppies, because they have immature livers. The puppies鈥?livers cannot process the Flagyl and it is toxic to their systems.

This well-known vet told me of a study done on a group of puppies of varying ages who were all exposed to Parvo inadvertently. The puppies over 20 weeks of age got the Parvo, but the puppies under 18 weeks did not get Parvo! This was contrary to their expectations. They concluded from these results showed that puppies who nursed on mothers who were fully immunized against Parvo cannot get Parvo until they are 18 weeks or older. If the puppies are immunized for Parvo during this period, a Parvo test will give a false positive. I took my puppy out of the hospital where she was being maltreated, and I took her to a different hospital that is affiliated with a vet school and she made a full recovery. This other hospital is about 30 miles away and the bad one is only 5 miles away, but I will never set foot in it again. It is new and everybody goes to it, but my personal experience and the stories told to me by the reproductive vet about the stories she has heard of what they do there give me the incentive to drive the further distance for competent treatment.

Conclusion: Learn to do simple life-saving procedures such as subcutaneous fluids. Also, do not blindly believe everything that your vets tell you or accept all of their treatments of your dogs and puppies. Verify that they are not harming your animals by doing internet searches or talking to other vets that are associated with vet hospitals, etc.

Good luck!

Annette

Whether it is parvo or not, based on the symptoms, the treatment is the same - supportive care with IV and hospitalization. She is a very sick dog and whatever she has, she needs this type of care to have a chance of survival.

At that price it sounds like you have your pet at an emergency vet clinic. Any regular vet will do the IVs for a bit less but your dog will not be watched round the clock. You may want to call around. Most cities have a "low cost" vet clinic. Most of them are called City Vet's. Do a little research and I'm sure you will find a cheaper option. Good luck with your baby!!

Keep her where she is. I am guessing that it's the same vet that vaccinated her. You trusted them then, trust them now.
Hopefully, she just got into something while you were away and she will get better. The good thing that I have learned from my 3 labs is that they are usually pretty resiliant.
I'll say a prayer for you and your puppy

That's a very hard decision. I think that you should take her to someone else. I know that you don't have money laying around like junk mail, but, even with human illnesses, it's always best to have a second or if necessary, even a third opinion. Stick with the one that has most experience, best sounding diagnosis, or cheapest. Make sure to do all of this in a timely manor, I'm not sure how much time she has to waste!
I hope you and your pit bull puppy the best! Good Luck.

Yes, that is Parvo. Hope your puppy gets better.

I work at a vets office and where I'm at we see parvo alot. Yes they are right Parvo can be in the system and not show up on a test or anything for a week or sometimes more..They are right about the IV's as soon as we get a dog with parvo in we take it straight back and start the IV's we have managed to save several I know it is expensive but it does work.