Parvovirus is a non-enveloped, isometric DNA virus. Dogs, especially puppies, are extremely susceptible to infection, mainly through direct and indirect contact, such as feces, urine, vomit and saliva of sick dogs, food and bedding contaminated by the virus, etc. can spread the virus.

Irish Water Spaniel

In group-breeding dog farms, the incidence rate of this disease can reach more than 50%, and the fatality rate is 30% to 70%.

There are two main types of clinical manifestations of parvovirus, namely myocarditis type and enteritis type.

Myocarditis usually has no obvious symptoms and looks healthy, but it can suddenly lead to death due to cardiac insufficiency, irregular heartbeat, heart failure, and difficulty breathing. During anatomy, pulmonary edema, cardiac fibrosis, myocardial degeneration and necrosis, or heart enlargement and myocardial softening can be seen.

The clinical symptoms of enteritis type are more obvious. The body temperature of sick dogs after infection can reach 39.5~40.5℃, but sometimes the body temperature will be normal. When the disease occurs, the dog may be depressed, refuse to eat, vomit, and have loose stools. The feces will initially be gray or yellow in color, and later turn into bloody stools like tomato juice, accompanied by a special fishy odor. In addition, the sick dog will lose weight rapidly. Due to repeated diarrhea, the sick dog will be severely dehydrated, resulting in sunken conjunctiva and loss of skin elasticity.

A dog suffering from parvovirus can die within 1 to 2 days if it has an acute attack; if it has a chronic attack, the entire process can take up to 1 week. Generally, parvovirus can be basically diagnosed based on vomiting and tomato juice-like bloody stools.