Gowrie Vet Clinic veterinarian Dr Nigel Brown reported five cases himself last week.

“Look, I think it’s fair to say we’re still seeing a lot of parvo coming around, and cases (coming) through, and sadly there are still puppies and not such young dogs dying with the disease,” Dr Brown said.

He suggested that Inverell might be perpetuating the virus because a large number of dogs were unvaccinated.

“Essentially, if you’re going to be trying to control, whether it be dogs, or cattle or sheep, you’ve got to be using a high enough level of vaccination, and we’re talking here over the 70 per cent to be able to have any chance of giving the virus nowhere to live, so it dies out. 

“And that’s just not happening around here.”

The virus has legs in the fact that it can be transmitted from dog to dog via their coat, paws, faeces and saliva. Humans can carry the virus home by contact with an infected dog by stroking an infected area of their coat, being licked by that dog or treading on infected faeces. 

Dogs can shed the virus without showing any outward symptoms of the infection.

“People wander around town, they tread in dog muck on the pavements, and bring it back in, they wander around the back where the dogs are, (the dogs) fancy the smell on the boots, licking it and Bob’s your uncle, they become infected like that,” Dr Brown said.

“The virus is particularly resistant to soaps and things, so there’s actually an anti-viral disinfectant that we tend to use because it is known to be active against this virus.”

Vigilance with a vaccination schedule is the key to prevention.

Those who plan to breed should vaccinate their bitch prior to serving her so she accumulates antibodies to pass to pups through the initial colostrum and milk. 

Because the antibodies will break down, Dr Brown said their clinic recommends pups receive their first parvo shot at 6 weeks, a second between nine and 12 weeks and the third from 12 to 14 weeks. 

He felt that older dogs with an unknown history should receive two doses of the vaccine within two weeks, and the animals should remain isolated from other dogs until a week after the second dose to minimise the risk of picking up the infection.

Those dogs on a regular schedule are often given an annual booster, but Dr Brown implied that depending on their history, more geriatric animals might be vaccinated every second or even third year because they have been addressing the virus for years.

People who suspect their dog might be infected can look for certain symptoms.

“The very first signs that people could see is a dog off-colour, just a bit doughy and not even keen on its supper that night. Especially in the younger animal,” Dr Brown said.

Vomiting and reddish, discoloured diarrhoea are symptoms seen as the virus advances. Dr Brown said the diarrhoea tends to have a very strong odour.

“Because what happens is that the lining of the intestine is affected, and it breaks down so you get some bleeding into the intestine and it’s that smell of that digested blood and partly digested blood that gives the faeces its smell.”

The virus causes dogs to become dehydrated, lose critical salts and because the integrity of the intestine is compromised, normally safe bacteria can become dangerous.

“We tend to use intravenous drips, something to stop the vomiting, something to stop the secondary infections,” Dr Brown said.

“Because parvo’s a virus, the virus itself is not usually affected by antibiotics, but the secondary infections that get into that really weakened gut, they’re a problem as well.”

Dr Brown advised that any person looking to adopt, purchase or take on a new pup or dog, to ask for a vaccination certificate to present to their own vet to ensure the type or parvo vaccine and dates are appropriate and up to date for the new pet.

He also stressed that for a dog without a documented vaccination history, one shot is not enough. 

“That is not a complete course. If you get a good, solid vaccination, that’s your best preventative as a pet owner.”