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Viral Enteritis

louisetope

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I have been sent this e-mail - please read through and take note.

If you have a young or old dog please read and be aware it is not just show dogs who are getting this.

URGENT MESSAGE TO ALL

Monday 24th September: We are incredibly sad to inform you that a young dog that exhibited at the show was taken ill during the afternoon. His owner took him straight home to her vet instead of staying at the show. He was kept at the vets and although appearing to stabilise overnight and through Sunday his condition deteriorated on Sunday evening and tragically he had to be given rest.

Although a little sketchy at the moment the veterinary advice is that this was a "Viral Puppy Enteritis of the Parvoid type". We understand the main symptom in this case was vomiting and dehydration but other dogs could develop differently. Veterinary advice is that there is nothing to panic about but just be aware and if your dog "loses any of its bounce" over the next few days or week or so get him or her looked at by a vet as soon as possible.

This message therefore is to all owners of dogs at the weekend, whether exhibiting or not and particularly if a youngster or oldie, please be aware of this and if your dog shows any flu or stomach upset symptoms get him or her checked out immediately and be vigilante until things have cleared. Even if you attended without your dog you may have taken the infection home so please be aware, with these nasty bugs you cannot be too careful.

Please pass this information on to anyone it may be relevant to who may not have seen it. If you have read this please email the club and let us know as we are currently trying to organise a mass ring around and everyone we can cross off will help.

UPDATE 25th Sept: The club has now spoken to most if not all of everyone recorded as being at the show. If you responded to this message or offered to ring other people or helped in any other way please accept our thanks. As the day went on the "bush telegraph" was outrunning us in many cases but it is better that people are told 2 or 3 times than not at all.

Our main problem is Sunday when there were alot of people at the showground we simply do not know the details off. If you know anyone who was at the Working Day/Companion Show/Funday please make them aware of this issue.

UPDATE 28th Sept: We now know of a young dog who was at the show who has become very ill with similar symptoms and others that were at Darlington show (the puppy who died was also at Darlington) the week before our show who are also ill. . Fortunately the owner was aware because of the warnings and was straight to the vets. The dog is on a drip but the vet is cautiously optimistic that the problem was caught early. Another puppy from our show is also ill and his owners are also glad they were alert to take swift action.

Veterinary test results have now confirmed that the illness was NOT parvo. Further test results are awaited.

There seems to be a great deal of similar illness around the country, including dogs who were not at the show. PLEASE be vigilant for some weeks to come with your young and old dogs. Don't relax once you have gone past 7 to 10 days after the show. Early treatment can often make all the difference so please be aware and keep passing the word around.

UPDATE 30th Sept: Speaking to the puppy's joint owner they now know that the commonest bacterial infections have been eliminated from the tests as well as Parvovirus. Further results on Salmonella and Campylobacter are awaited. The feeling is that these may show we are dealing with a virus which doesn't have a name but can be summarised, as it was in the beginning as Viral Puppy Enteritis.

The "good" news is that the virus, so far, only seems to be affecting puppies so hopefully adults will not be incubating and spreading it. The litter sister to the deceased puppy became ill in the week with violent diarrhoea and loss of vitality. Suspecting a virus, rather than bacteria, her vet DID NOT prescribe antibiotics as it was felt these could be detrimental. She was put on a regime of Probiotics, Kaolin and electrolyte supplement and after a few days improved and now is fairly well recovered. If your dog becomes ill you should make your vet aware of this but this does not mean this is definitely the way to go for your dog.

It is hoped that the incubation period for any cases picked up at our show is coming to an end and incidences of further cases will dwindle away. Of course it could still be carried by unaffected dogs so for a little while owners of younger dogs particularly may wish to consider staying away from shows.

UPDATE 10th October: Whilst several more dogs have been ill we haven't heard of any more fatalities. Several have been seriously ill, hospitalised on drips for example, but thankfully all have recovered. The bug seems to be widespread around the country though so the advice still has to be vigilance and safety first with particularly young dogs who seem to be the main victims of this virus. Whilst the incubation period for developing the illness from infection at our show has probably well expired now the bug seems to be widespread around the country so your dog could catch it anywhere, anytime. This may be the position for a good while yet.

Nicola L J Pearce

Animal Health Advice Officer

Trading Standards

01392 385372

08451551999

nicola.pearce@devon.gov.uk
 
Thank you for this information Louise, I had heard a bit about it -
 
Thanks Louise ,Its very worrying when things like this are doing the rounds
 
:cheers: Ta Louise, the more information shared the better :thumbsup:
 
If you have a young or old dog please read and be aware it is not just show dogs who are getting this.

I am very sorry to hear about this awful situation but curious at the same time to know if the dogs that have been afflicted had been appropriately vaccinated in a according to the veterinary regimen suggested by the British Veterinary Association or some similar equivalent? Are we talking about appropriately vaccinated dogs here, or dogs that have not been vaccinated in line with the BVA recommendations? What recommendations are the vets involved with the dogs afflicted giving to owners/or those in contact or potential contact with these dogs?

If they have all been vaccinated in line with that regimen then this is indeed a serious problem and one that must be closely watched, not just in the UK but abroad, as this suggests some sort of parvo mutation. On the other hand, if these dogs have not had all the jabs recommended perhaps this serves as a warning. I can tell you that I know parvo (or something very parvo like) showed up here in Eastern Canada too (I know of several litters affected earlier this year in this region, with multiple mortalities), but only dogs not vaccinated according to the sort of typical regimen recommended for pups (and not titre tested as an alternative) were affected.

Lanny Morry
 

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