Aug 5, 2009
By CHRIS VANNINI Special to The Oakland PressWithin a matter of days, Ron Nabarrette’s pit bull, Cupid, went from healthy to vomiting and dying. The dog had contracted parvovirus, a disease that kills dogs within a week and is quickly spreading across southeast Michigan. Nabarrette, 32, is from Pontiac, an area where the disease has killed hundreds of dogs this summer. Symptoms of parvovirus are a sudden onset of vomiting, diarrhea, and a loss of appetite, said Karen Fidell, an emergency and critical care doctor at Oakland Veterinary Referral Services in Bloomfield Hills. “If I could explain this in one word, it’s ‘deadly,’ ” said Kathryn Tucker, the assistant manager for the Animal Care Network, a nonprofit organization that helps dogs in the area. Tucker said the organization is getting almost 100 calls a week from people who believe their dog has contracted the disease. The disease also has broken out in areas around Flint and Detroit, she said.
The biggest reason for the rise in the amount of cases is that owners have not gotten their dog vaccinated, often because of financial reasons, Fidell said.
“I think the vast majority are new puppies that people had just acquired and they don’t have the funds to take care of them,” she said. “Pontiac is probably the hotbed. It’s a low economic area and you get a lot of pit bulls, Rottweilers and other breeds that are more susceptible.”
The parvovirus vaccine should be started when dogs are about 6 weeks old, Fidell said. It can cost anywhere from $10 to almost $100 per shot, she said.
Tucker said many people who do not have the funds to properly raise their dogs are adopting puppies, and too much breeding has led to overpopulation. Along with the vaccination, Tucker advises people to spay and neuter their dogs and keep them away from other dogs, especially strays.
If a dog contracts the virus, the only cure is immediate aggressive care at a veterinary clinic, which can cost anywhere from $800 to thousands of dollars, Fidell said. If untreated, the dog can die within a week.
“Most dogs with parvo, if they’re treated aggressively in a good setting, they will survive. Over 80 percent do,” she said. “Untreated dogs will die, guaranteed.”
Tucker and the Animal Care Network have been getting care for the sick dogs as much as it can, but often the dogs have to be euthanized because it is too late and the dog is suffering too much.
Fidell said the poor economy likely will cause the disease to spread along with other diseases.
“We don’t see much (canine) distemper anymore, because we vaccinate so well, but we could see it come back in the future,” she said. “Parvo is highly contagious and spreads very easily.”
Nabarrette said he did not get his pit bull, Cupid, vaccinated because he didn’t have the money.
“I didn’t have the money on hand and I really regret it,” he said. He is getting his other dog, a 7-year-old Rottweiler, vaccinated this weekend.
“I can’t lose another one,” he said.
The Oakland Press/DOUG BAUMAN Karen Fidell of Oakland Veterinary Referral Services holds a 6-week-old puppy that’s in isolation and infected with the parvoviru