A Gloucestershire vet has revealed the true cause of deadly dog disease 'parvovirus' and spoken about the tragic origins of the illness.
Mike Daly, of Woodlands Vets Brockworth explained how the original 'parvo' outbreak spread like wildfire back in the late 1970s.
He said that it was not originally seen in dogs but had actually been passed on from cats, so due to not having been seen before a lack of vaccines meant that dogs were 'dropping like flies'.
He said: "It was passed on from cats in the late 70s, dogs were dropping like flies - dogs in every surgery in every area were attached to drips all over the place, even on the floor.
He explained that this 'was before the vaccine'. He said: "It was awful, if they got it and survived they'd have heart problems in later life, all those young pups."
The vet even said that "people used to say that you could smell it back in the 80s" but that he did not know how true this was.
It was just a week ago that a six-year-old pug called Lola sadly passed away just 12 hours after being taken to the vet. The family explained that Lola had only ever been walked in the Matson and Robinswood area.
How is it actually passed on?
Vet Mike, who qualified in 1981 just a few years after the original outbreak, said that it wasn't the countryside that would be more likely to see contraction of the disease but highly populated urban areas.
He said that the virus was passed on through diarrhea in areas where more unvaccinated pets were walked than other places.
So if lots of dogs are walked where you walk your dogs and the pets taken there have not have their vaccinations then this is the most likely place your pup will pick up parvovirus.
Mike said: "Enteritis can be passed from diarrhea which in turn passes the parvo. And if the dog's own immunity system is threatened then this increases the risk.
"The more dogs that are up to date with their vaccinations means the risk of spreading it is much less.
"Parvo is higher in town centres where there's more unvaccinated dogs. The odd case will pop up from time to time because an immune-vulnerable dog will pick it up and who will then go down with it.
"You have the outbreak in the areas where you're likely to have the biggest number of unvaccinated dogs and the largest footfall of them being walked."
He explained that gastritis is a stomach problem which can cause a susceptibility to gastroenteritis which comes as a side effect of parvovirus.
It is through the vomiting and bloody diarrhea that parvovirus is spread to other dogs should they step in it and lick their paws clean for example.
Most common cause
The Brockworth vet explained how the most commonly affected dogs would be young dogs who had unvaccinated parents.
He said: "Although dogs develop better natural immune systems as they get older, the vaccination which is given now is passed along to pups through suckling on their mothers.
"If their mothers have not been vaccinated then the natural immunity can not be passed through. If the mother is already vaccinated it passes on to the pup.
"So a healthy pup that's suckled well since birth will be ready for their full vaccination between 10-12 weeks and will have the best chance of immunity."
Speaking about his own practice, Mike said that they were 'quite lucky that majority of their clients vaccinate their dogs' and that they had not had any reported cases - he explained that their practice served Brockworth and parts of Cheltenham.
Links between late vaccinations and poor social skills as well as parvovirus
He also explained that they were looking to bring the age of vaccination down from 12 weeks which is the current recommendation as there is research that suggests that doing it then can affect a puppies social skills in later life and make them anxious.
He said: "Late vaccination has been a problem for socialising your pup, at 12 weeks this is right when they need to be around other dogs and people. So it has been a problem they can be more likely to get anxious, so we're trying to get them finished now at 10 weeks.
"Vaccination that's well controlled and means they can be socialised faster."
What about dogs contracting parvovirus despite being vaccinated?
Mike said that it was not common for a vaccinated dog to contract parvovirus and that if they have they may have already have a compromised immune system.
He said that "certain dogs are more susceptible, such as the black and tanned breeds, i.e. Rottweilers or Dobermans."
As cases are rare not impossible, he said: "In a one off case it's hard to make a judgement, you'd need at least a couple of examples or samples in order to see pathological strains that would suggest there was something that needed looking at within dogs immunity and the current vaccinations."
AAS Vets who have surgeries all over Gloucestershire posted on Facebook towards the beginning of January alerting dog owners to cases in the surrounding areas.
Writing on January 7, 2020 they said: "We have been notified a few times during this evenings consultation period that some cases of parvovirus have been noted in the Gloucester area.
"Please check your dogs' vaccinations are up to date!
"We have not had any cases at AAS, but the cases notified were from Matson and Brockworth areas."
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