What is Parvovirus Infection?

According to Veterinary Partner, this virus barely existed before the 1970s, but in no time became a major cause of death in dogs. Currently, it is a primary cause of severe illness and death for puppies and adolescent dogs; fortunately, vaccinations are an effective route of prevention if performed on the proper schedule.

Parvoviruses are a large group; almost every mammal species, including humans, seems to have its own parvovirus. Fortunately, each virus is specific. For this reason, when a dog or puppy in the family has parvo infection, the human family is safe. That said, the canine parvovirus is not as specific as some of the other parvoviruses. It will affect most members of the dog family (wolves, coyotes, foxes, and etc…).

Whether or not infection happens depends on the interaction of three factors: host vitality (including immune experience/vaccination status); virulence of the virus (including virus strain and how many viral particles the host is exposed to); and environmental factors (other stresses and/or concurrent conditions). Obviously, these three aspects interplay somewhat (a stressful environment will reduce host vitality, a dry environment will reduce the number of viral particles, etc…).

Would you like to know if your dog’s Parvo vaccination has created a high enough antibody titer? At ABVC we can now with a simple test let you know within 1/2 hour if the antibodies are high enough or insufficient.

Get your dog tested as soon as possible. Ask us for blood sampling and titer tests.

Learn more about Parvovirus in dogs here.

Reference: Wendy Brooks, DVM, DABVP for Parvovirus article by Veterinary Information Network (VIN®)