How Do I Know If My Dog Has Parvo?

Rascal7847,

A parvo test can be administered by your veterinarian confirming
the diagnosis.  Bring your puppy to a
veterinarian immediately as the sooner parvo--or the other gastrointestinal
viruses that causes bloody vomiting or diarrhea--are treated the better the
prognosis.  Puppies can become
dehydrated, hypoglycemic, and hypothermic very quickly and need aggressive
supportive care.  

Parvo is a virus that attacks the lining of the small
intestine.  When the lining is damaged
the bacteria that aid digestion get into the rest of the body.  Parvo causes vomiting, diarrhea (often
bloody), anorexia, severe dehydration, and sepsis (whole body bacterial
infection).  The prognosis is good with
appropriate hospitalization and therapy—success rates are reported around 93%.

The treatment for Parvo is supportive care—most puppies
require hospitalization for intravenous fluid therapy, intravenous antibiotics,
anti-vomiting medications and pain control. 
In very mild infections when the puppy is not vomiting hydration can be
maintained with oral fluids and oral antibiotics—however this is rare.  If your puppy is not responding to treatment
at home have it examined by a veterinarian ASAP for hospitalization.

Parvovirus is a very contagious virus; infected dogs can
pass it through feces for 3 weeks after treatment.  Parvo is a hardy virus and remains in the
environment up to 1 year.  Diluted bleach
is used to disinfect the environment and prevent spreading the parvovirus to
other dogs.

Ann Falk, DVM

I had a small stray that I had adopted get it, and if the hospitalization cost is too prohibitive, as it was in my case at that time, they can give you the IV bags and whatever other medicine, and have you administer the treatment at home, for about half the cost or less. Pricking them twice a day is no fun, but it saved his life.

In addition, I had some fruit in the fridge and blended some of it together with a little added water, and with a dropper (maybe the vet can give you one if you don't have one) gave him a few spoonfuls of fruit juice to give him some energy and some degree of nutrients. Within 30 mins to an hour (along with the IV/medication) he was up bouncing around like his normal self.
You'll do this for about 2 or more days. But definitely take them to the vet ASAP...maybe even one of the weekend emergency vets (most aren't open over the weekend). There's really no time to waste. The dog might not make it through the weekend if you delay.

Take your dog to the veterinarian if you are concerned it has parvo virus.  There is a test that will be run to confirm a diagnosis of parvo.  Treatment involves aggressive supportive care.  With treatment the prognosis is fair to good without treatment it is usually fatal.

If your dog has Parvo he will have bloody stools. Other times it is possible for them not to. The best thing to do would be take him to the vet and get him tested. If it is positive you want to get the antibiotics in him asap, along with starting treatment.

The typical signs are usually, throwing up continually, diarrhea, not eating, lethargic and parvo has a distinct smell that is not very pleasant. If your animal is showing signs of these symptoms you need to get him to vet ASAP. It is a very serious disease and could be fatal if not treated.

Parvo is a viral and fatal disease. Some early symptoms of parvo are diarrhea, vomiting, high fever, depression, blood in stool, lethargy etc. For more details about Parvo disease, visit this link

To 'know' your dog has parvo, he/she must get a parvo test at the vet's office. The sooner you know, the sooner you can start treatment and that is KEY to survival. The test is a simple fecal swab (swipe of the butt). They then set a timer and come back when the time is up to see if the culture is positive or negative for parvo. It's fairly quick and sensitive enough to pick up parvo before many active symptoms present themselves.
The first things you will notice are lack of energy, vomit that usually has foam in it, diarrhea that may/may not have blood in it at first but WILL have a horrid odor that once you smell, you will never forget. Parvovirus attacks the intestinal lining of the dog's digestive system. You may see mucous coming out with the poop. This is the actual lining. This is why you do not force feed a dog with parvo. It only encourages the shedding which will grow back but will cause dehydration in the meantime, which is the usual cause of death from parvo.

I have written two articles on parvo. You may wish to read them.

How to Detect Parvo

How to Treat Parvo (at home!)

My dog is really                sick and weak he is puking and can't walk good
we have to carry him      he is drolling and has diarra he wont eat either ......could it be provo or possibly rabies ?? I'm so worried and I don't have enough money to take him to the vet!!! Please help me and   give me some advise that might help him   ..... And he is 11 months out !

Thank you

Canine Parvovirus most commonly affects puppies under 6 months of age. It causes depression, lack of appetite, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. The diarrhoea can be yellow in colour but quickly progresses to severe bloody liquid stool. The disease is highly fatal if left untreated and can progress very quickly and result in death within 48-72 hours.

Infection of adult female dogs can lead to abortion, foetal abnormalities and fading puppy syndrome.
Fading puppy syndrome is another form of Parvo which affect puppies born to unvaccinated mothers. The virus affects the heart muscle of the pups causing depression, weakness, respiratory difficulty, diarrhoea and death.

Sounds like your dog is very sick and possibly has parvo it needs to be seem by your vet asap

You will need to take him/her to the vet for a special test. They will
swab the dog's anus and use that to run the test. It takes 15 minutes
to get the result from the test.

I also wrote an article on how to detect parvovirus in your dog or puppy, HERE.

If it turns out to be parvo, I wrote an article on treating parvo at home, HERE.

Symptoms of parvo are, high fever, loss of appotite, vomiting and or bloody diarrhea, dehydration. In sevear cases, the animal will have a fowl smell radiating from it. And the Parvo virus is very contagious to other animals.
If you suspect that your animal has any of these symptoms, see your vet!

This is a Horrorable  virus.. I have lost 6 puppies and the mother and the older brother from the earlier litter. My Noah lived through it..but he wont go #2 now
He had diarrhea for a while now he wont go but he is farting .... Man it don't smell good..but who smells good when they fart... I don't know if they can get it  again..it been about  1 1/2 weeks....since he stop the diarrhea and blood...he throw up too....is this a something I should worry about .... I am very worried this is my last pup...he is about 1 1/2 years old... And I love my pets that died but he is helping me through it. He is eating like crazy! Not so much drinking.... I put water in his food and he drinks and eat...I hope he is ok!! I will take him to the vet  Friday!

You will know. Biuts of sick- crazy bad diareeaha (spelled wrong, sorry) Dogs that come with parvo (mostly puppys) usually die in 24 hours. If you have had parvo in your place before, you will have problems again- it lingers. I actually pulled my dog through it. I force fed (with a turkey baster) water and chicken soup. Pedialite (am electrolyte solution from drug stores) EVERY 15 minutes... ALL NIGHT_ AND THE NEXT DAY.

More accurately, bloody diarrhea... A 40 dollar test will let you know at the vet

Your dog will stop playing, start sleeping all the time, wont eat, have diarrhea If your dog starts to act this way, take it to the vet immediately!