Recently, we’ve discussed how our partnership with Siskiyou County Animal Control has brought us dozens of dogs from local hoarding situations. Well, when it rains, it pours! Just days after accepting another wave of abandoned puppies, four came down with parvo. A fifth fell sick a few days later. Rescue Ranch’s regular protocol prevents the spread of infectious disease. But caring for puppies with parvo makes our daily work even more challenging. Thanks to our staff’s quick response and diligent care, all five puppies are now parvo free!
Rescue Ranch puppy protocol prevents spread of parvo
Any unvaccinated dog can contract parvo from contaminated soil or feces. Moreover, parvo has an incubation period of up to 14 days before symptoms appear. Since many puppies come to us from high-risk areas, we have to assume they’re infected before arrival.
Because of this, Rescue Ranch follows the same protocol for every new litter. Upon intake, all puppies are weighed, dewormed, and vaccinated. Litters are kept in separate sanitized spaces for a 2 week quarantine before mingling or meeting the public. Staff closely monitor all puppies. If a pup shows any symptoms–including lethargy, diarrhea or vomitting–they’re immediately transferred to the clinic for a snap test, observation and treatment. If the test is positive, the sick pup’s littermates go under heightened watch and staff follow parvo protocol while caring for the rest of the litter.
Care for puppies with parvo is laborious–but worth it!
In this case, the puppies with parvo came from bad situations in two different areas of Siskiyou County. As soon as the first pup tested positive, staff put bleach foot baths outside and inside all puppy kennel doors. Caretakers wore gloves and gowns for handling the exposed puppies and carefully disinfected before interacting with healthy animals. It’s laborious and time-consuming, but essential.
Our latest run-in with parvo gave Sanctuary operations manager Laura Finley an opportunity to try the new monoclonal antibody treatment for the four sickest pups (the fifth had mild symptoms that resolved within a few days). This treatment is a one-time injection administered by a vet, followed by the usual medication and supportive care. It’s quite expensive (our cost was $242 per 1 mL) but worth it to give these innocent pups a fighting chance. Great news: four of the five bounced back quickly, and all five pups have now tested negative! Four are back to romping in playgroups as if nothing ever happened, while the fifth continues to recover in the clinic. Thankfully, no further littermates have fallen sick.
However, Sanctuary staff can’t rest yet. In a perfect world, every puppy yard would be on concrete, which is easy to disinfect. As it is, the dirt and gravel in the infected yards must be dug out to a depth of 8 inches. This means removing the wire panels surrounding each yard and saturating everything, inside and out, with chlorine bleach. Then fresh gravel will be trucked in.
It’s an ordeal, but it’s worth it to know that–thanks to Rescue Ranch–these pups now have a bright future. That’s our mission, after all, and why we “Do it for the Dogs” rain or shine!
