Dogs Ill

Question
I had three puppies, all of them around the age of 6-7 months old. 2 of them
were brother and sister pomeranians, one was a lab/terrier mix. About four
days ago the female pomeranian began to show decreased energy, lack of
appetite, and progressively began to not drink water. Yesterday we took her
to the vet because her stool was not only diarrhea like, but began to display
blood. At the vet they tested her for parvo and according to them it came out
negative. (Though I saw the test stick - where if the dot is bright blue, then it
is positive - and the dot was present but very faded). The female pom passed
away about 2-3 hours after the vet visit. The vet only gave her and her
brother  2 -60 ml supplement injections, some sort of antibiotic, and anti-
vomiting injections. The supplement and the anti-vomiting injection were to
be administered 2 more times (8 hours from each other). Now my terrier/lab
has vomited twice, and is lacking energy. Do you have any advice as to what
to do, or how to care for them? I would extremely appreciate it. I definitely
want to save these little guys' life.

Answer

Hi Jess,

I'm sorry for the loss of your female Pomeranian. Did you ever get a diagnosis for her?

It sounds like your vet ran a Parvo "snap test". On this test tab, there several dots: a negative control, a positive control, and a Parvovirus sample spot. Seeing a single blue dot would mean negative, or a low antigen level.  A positive control may take 8 minutes for results to develop. You can read more about this test here:

http://www.drugs.com/vet/snap-canine-parvovirus-antigen-test-kit.html

Some dogs with parvo have negative tests, either because it is very early in the course of the disease or late in the course. Tests should be repeated on dogs that are strong suspects or used in conjunction with a CBC or blood smear.

If you suspect Parvo, don't delay in getting your terrier/lab mix to the vet. Parvo can kill in a matter of hours. Since your other dog died, insist on the blood smear test.

Parvovirus is very durable in the home and can persist  for months or years. You need to disinfect your home. Read more about that here:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/the_parvo_virus_in_the_environ.html

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Kill-the-Parvo-Virus-from-your-Dogs-Environment


I  hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,

Patti