Puppies and Parvo

On Sunday, April 14th we adopted 2 chihuahua/cairn terrier mix puppies. They are so cute, smart and loving! 

Flash (brown) and Frackle (black)

Flash is my and Monkey's puppy!

Frackle belongs to Unicorn and Ladybug!

Saturday, (the 20th) Flash (6 weeks old) threw up. He still wasn't feeling well on Sunday so I was going to take him to the vet on Monday. Monday morning he was eating and acting normally and hadn't thrown up again so I thought he was ok. Then, Tuesday morning he stopped eating, started vomiting and had diarrhea so we took the first appointment available (2pm).

The vet immediately tested him for Parvo and it came back as the highest positive she had ever seen. She told us he needed to be hospitalized and that even if we hospitalized him he might not make it. He was given a 20% chance of survival if we didn't hospitalize him (with death most likely with in 24 hours) and only a 60% chance of survival if he was hospitalized (with $1000+ a day for 3-5 days). Our vet gave us the information for the 24 hour hospital (a 45 min. drive) and we went home to decide what to do.

That evening my husband had a job interview at 5:30 and then we were going to take Flash to the hospital. Once I got home the lady we adopted the puppies from had sent me some information on the virus and home care for the pup. I did some research too and found that most puppies die, not from the virus but, from dehydration or starvation. So, we got some pedialyte, puppy formula and I got out my essential oils.

For the first 24 hours I force feed the puppy the pedialyte every 1-2 hours and rubbed oregano (diluted with coconut oil) on his paws. {Frackle is also getting the oregano treatment as he has been exposed to the virus but has no signs of being ill.} The next day I started alternating the pedialyte and the puppy formula and continued with the oregano oil because he was no longer vomiting.

At about 2:30 this morning he ate 4 pieces of his puppy chow and kept it down! At 4:30 he ate 8 pieces of puppy chow with no vomiting!  At 7 am he ate some more puppy food (not exactly sure how much but a fairly small amount). I am still supplementing the puppy food and water with the pedialyte and continuing with the oregano treatment but he is doing MUCH better. Last night I read that pups that make it through the first 4-5 days usually make a FULL recovery within a week...this is great as he is now on day 5!

He is still sleeping a lot and I am still waking him up every couple hours for fluids and the oregano oil. When he is awake he is playful and pretty active for a sick puppy. The pups will be 7 weeks old on Saturday and I am pretty sure he will make a full recovery. In the meantime, bleach is my new best friend as it is the ONLY thing that will kill the virus! We are also praying a LOT...both that Flash recovers and that Frackle doesn't get sick!