Please bare with us, we’re updating and moving some of our pages around.
In summer of 2021 Canine Parvo virus hit our kennel. Despite vaccination, half our dogs came down with the virus and became sick. Some really sick. We’re going to share our experience with this terrible virus and the supplements of vitamins and herbs we used to help save our dogs.
- We’re not vets.
- We’re not telling you what you should do.
- We’re not selling anything here. (pictures below are just to see the items)
We simply hope our experience helps others.
*** Parvo is a hardy virus that lives in the environment for quite some time. Our vets have confirmed a recent uptick in cases in the Charlotte area. Anyone considering getting a puppy from us in 2022, should be aware that your pup and anyone visiting our property may be exposed to the virus. Please read on, research the virus, and make sure you are familiar with this sickness.
For anyone buying a pup from us in 2022, this page is not meant as a substitute for treatment. Nor is it meant to defer our responsibility as breeders. We will discuss Parvo and how we’re covering it in our health guarantee with all new 2022 puppy owners. ***
Parvo is a virus that attacks the intestines of the dog. It causes severe diarrhea and vomiting. The dog stops drinking water and stops eating, and can die of dehydration.
Parvo incubation period is typically 3-5 days, but has been recorded up to 14 days.
#1 Rule: Treating Parvo early makes a huge difference.
Once the virus gets a strong hold. Once the dog is completely off food and water for a number of days, it’s ten times more difficult to bring them back and the dog will likely require IV fluids.
This is really tough, because GSPs are active outdoor dogs. Ours are always eating sheep poop, frogs, or some furry forest thing, that gets them puking, and/or puts them off their food for 12-24hrs.
In the future, for any new dogs (since Parvo can only be contracted once), anytime we see vomit AND diarrhea, we’ll immediately begin treating for Parvo. That’s one of the great things about a natural approach, is that preventive/early treatment doesn’t harm.
We had no experience with Parvo before it struck. When our first dog became sick, there was no fever. Because he is such a big, strong, healthy dog, it wasn’t until the second or third day off food, that we suspected a problem.
We thought most likely an intestinal blockage. (Which is always a fear with these forest roaming eating machines.)
We threw all the standard vet treatments at the first dog. Of course, health emergencies ALWAYS happen at night, on the weekends. It cost us quite a bit of money and the road was slow going. We only supplemented with natural stuff, thinking he had to have the vet prescribed meds and that would be enough.
When our second dog became ill. It was likely, she had Parvo, but of course we couldn’t be sure. We gave her a few supplements early on and made a vet appointment for her right away. When she was positive for Parvo, we did a mixture of vet prescribed and the natural remedies here on this page. Her struggle with the virus was much shorter than the first dog.
THEN, our nightmare happened, our pregnant bitch, Piccolo started with the vomiting and diarrhea. Here’s where we had to make decisions and ultimately the reason why we decided to put this page up.
When we went to our vet, I think the next day of Piccolo’s first vomiting, our vet tested her positive for Parvo and straight up said, “With this Virus, you really have to focus on saving the Dam and not worry about the puppies. It is what it is.”
The vet went on to prescribe all the same meds that were prescribed to the other dogs, AND suggested hospitalization for even stronger antibiotics and other meds.
We didn’t like this answer at all. Piccolo was in good shape and we were on top of it right off, so we decided NOT to put her into hospitalization and treat her at home.
Out of everything the vet prescribed, only ONE medication was approved for a pregnant bitch, Amoxicillan. The broad based antibiotic, of course if you know about meds, doesn’t actually do anything to a virus… what it does is prevent secondary infections due to the virus eating away at the intestines.
At this point, not wanting to simply give up on the puppies, we were basically forced to take an “all natural” approach with Piccolo. But this was only the start of our difficulty, because while you can throw a ton of good herbs at sick dogs, so many of those good herbs, they specifically say DON’T GIVE TO pregnant bitches!
Ultimately, our all natural approach got Piccolo drinking and eating again real fast, within 48hrs (I have to double check our notes). And from there she only improved… and delivered 6 happy, healthy babies a few weeks later. So with virtually no vet meds and the stuff below, she had the fastest recovery of all the sick dogs.
#2 Rule: Stop the Vomiting & Hydration
Hydration is the key to Parvo. If you can’t keep the pup hydrated, you’re in trouble.
With our sickest dog we were giving him syringes of liquid every 30 minutes for a couple of nights. Even if they’re puking they need that liquid in them, even if only a fraction of it is absorbed.
Even if your pooch is spewing poop, if they eat and drink, you can get the good stuff in them, that will help them. So the first thing we concentrated on, was stopping the vomiting.
What we found was that the same “solution,” doesn’t work for every dog. You have to try one, see if it works, then if it doesn’t work, move on to the next.
Ironically, the vet prescribed med, I’ll have to grab the name of it, fell into the same category. It seemed to work for one dog, but had absolutely no affect on another.
Between that med and these other four, we got everyone’s vomiting under control.
#1) Paxaid – You give this every 15 minutes until vomiting stops, then move to every 4 hours. Whatever the bottle directions say, what I point out here is that Piccolo kept puking this up. She was puking all of this stuff up, but eventually, this is the one, that after continued use of just giving it over and over and over, her stomach eventually settled.
#2) Chamomile Tea – This one worked really well. It was the one thing that worked for one dog and nothing else was needed for that dog’s vomiting.
#3) Activated Charcoal – You take 2 or 3 capsules, break them open and mix them with 8oz of water. And give 10 ml at a time, every hour or so. <<— Need to recheck our notes for this dosage. Again this page isn’t final yet.
#4) Ginger – Minced fresh ginger.
#5) Vet Med –
#3 Rule: Attack the Virus
After settling the stomach, to the point where the dog can swallow and keep liquid or a bit of food down, we next went after boosting the immune system and trying to weaken the virus directly.
#7) Colostrum
#8) Egg Yolks
#9) Golden Milk
#12) Grapefruit Seed Extract
#13) Olive Leaf
#15) Amoxicillan
#4 Rule: Stop the Diarrhea
#14) Kaopectate
#5 Rule: Soothe and Repair the Gut
#5) L-Glutamine
#6) Saccharomyces Boulardii
#10) Marshmallow Root
#11) Slippery Elm
