My puppy has parvo virus-what to expect when she gets home

Has anyone had any experience with a parvo virus puppy? My baby Muna has been at the vet since last Monday on antibiotics and IV fighting this nasty bug. I am hoping she will be able to come home within the next couple of days. I visit her to encourage eating and to keep her spirits up. The house has been sanitized and all toys have been thrown away, but what should I expect. Will it change her personality? I have made alot of rice and chicken liver and frozen it for when she comes home, but I'm not sure what to expect.

There won't be much more you can do other than what you have done, remember the virus of parvo can live on for several months outside in soil, although lesser time in the house with proper sanitizing. She will probably have lost some body weight and seem a little sorry for herself, but she will need time and rest to get over it. I'd feed her little but often and not worry to much if she doesn't eat it all, but make sure she has plenty of water down to drink at all times. If she fights the disease off she should bounce back fairly quickly. It shouldn't change her personality, how old is she and was she vaccinated.

Best wishes to you and a speedy recovery to her x

So sorry to hear about your little puppy, and I hope she pulls through and bounces back, it's a vile disease If she's old enough to have had her jabs, it will certainly help her case and I'm sure she'll be fine.

Check with your vet about the chicken livers, as we are always told boiled chicken with rice, or fish, it's easily digested and absorbed, but any liver fed in quantity can cause the squits, so I'm wondering if this might be a bit too rich for her. Maybe somebody on here will be along to advise on that, just seems a bit odd to me.

If you're already having those heavy frosts over there, I think that kills off the bacteria outside your house, same as strong sunlight. You can buy a Dettol spray over here which kills just about everything, so once you've cleaned up all the areas, I'd give that a good spraying in every room, especially on her bedding and surrounding areas.

All the best with her and please let us know how she's doing, poor little mite.

Sorry to read you pup has parvo. Many years ago I had two pups with the parvo virus. One didn’t need to stay in the vets but my other pup did for about 5 days. When he came home he was very weak but after a couple of weeks he was back to his usual self. This did not change his personality at all. Hope your pup continues to improve.

I had a 10 week old pup with Parvo. He became ill about three days after I adopted him from rescue, he stayed in the vets for about 5 days on a drip but when he came home it took no time at all and he was bouncing around like the puppy he was.

He soon recovered and never had a days illness after that until he reached his fine old age and died of age related things.


Just looked at were you are and my pup was adopted from a rescue in Vancouver, Canada and then came to live in the UK with me.

Parvo actually lives longer through the winter... Freezing it doesn't kill it, it just goes dormant, so it'll live under the snow all winter. There is an anti-viral spray that we got through our vets to kill off parvo after we got a litter of parvo pups off the reserve, it works better than bleach, but I cannot remember the name of the stuff! It was pink, and came in a concentrated bottle that you diluted with water.

To be safe, do not let any un-vaccinated, young, or old dogs on your property for a year, especially since it happened at the start of winter... 6 months after the ground thaws is the rule of thumb.

What part of eastern Ontario are you from? My entire family seems to have migrated to Ottawa.

We are in Prince Edward County, near Picton. Will ask the vet about the disenfectant. Thanks for the advise.

Thank you for the well wishes. Vet says another 48 hours before she can come home. She needs protein now to rebuild her blood vessel strength and chicken livers are the only type of liver that do not cause runny stools in puppies. She is just 11 weeks old today and had only had her 1st set of shots and was due for the second set when she went to the vet 7 days ago. I have also been told that yogurt with probiotics is good for parvo pups to help rebuild their digestive immune systems. Ever heard of that?
Will keep you posted.

Sorry not got any advice just wanted to send your pup lots of positive vibes,Hope she recovers well. x

I learn something new everyday on here - didn't know that about chicken livers, so thanks for wising me up.

It won't be long until you have her back home to nurse back to full health, it's good news when a vet knows she's going to make it, a lot of them don't, this is such a terrible disease, poor little mite, but she's going to be ok.

I always feed probiotic yoghurt almost every day to my dogs so yes, take that advice from your vet, it has worked wonders for my youngster with her sensitive tum problems over the years.

All the best, once you build her strength back up, she should bounce back and be your little puppy once more. We're all routing for her on here.