Vaccination and parvo virus.

When we were discussing vaccinations on here recently and whether or not to go ahead with boosters I expressed a concern about my suspicions that parvo like any other virus may be capable of mutation and that as with the flu vaccinations for humans the vaccine makers possibly assess the latest strains and base the vaccine on that. Therefore if that is the case it would seem important to keep up to date with Parvo vaccinations. My suspicions were founded on an incident that happened to me a few years ago, when travelling to a distant part of the country to attend a funeral, my bitch who was due her booster (delayed for extreme family circumstances) contracted parvo, the vet at that time also suspected a mutated strain in that part of the country. There is absolutely no doubting parvo once you have seen it, the smell is distinctive and sweet/sickly/fishy is I think the way to describe it. My bitch after going on a drip and careful nursing recovered. The reason I am posting about this today is because I have just heard from a friend that her lovely little Mini aged 9 months is fighting for her life with parvo, the bitch is vaccinated but her vet thinks it could be a mutant strain. Clearly vaccination does not give 100% protection but if strains are mutating I would have thought some protection is better than none and you may want to think about this when deciding if to give boosters. I was intending to do some research on the possibilities of mutating parvo, it would make a good thesis for any vet students out there.

Ps I have not had chance to look into mutation and the possibilities, at the moment it is theory based on the above but I thought it might be a good idea to allert people anyway .This being the case I would appreciate it if people would take or leave this post as a warning and do not simply pick it to pieces. Thanks

thanks Mini. I hope your friends pup is OK.

There's alot of things being said lately about weather boosters are really necessary as often as we do do our dogs. (do do ) but after reading your post Mini I think I'll stick to my yearly boosters as normal. Thankyou

I do hope the pup pulls through, so worrying in one so young.

I think to myself, if we give children too much anti-biotic they get immune to it, apparently this is what is happening with our dogs and their vaccinations. My vet said she was 100% happy to boost every 3 years, I agree with her, we don't vaccinate our children annually so why our dogs?

Ok, if you show and your dogs mix in large circles of dogs from all around the country then maybe. But I'm happy with every 3 years

I see your point CC and that is true of antibiotics which you give for bacterial infection, but I understand it is different for viruses which have no cure only prevention. If a virus strain mutates as so many viruses do, it may be necessary to vaccinate against each different strain as it comes along. I understand with flu vaccs each year the W.H.O sample the strain about at that time and produce vaccine accordingly.

Well Jasper HAS to have annual booster's cos he's a PAT dog.

I would rather booster to be on the safe side

Me too Nae, if any of mine died of a disease at least I'd feel I'd done everything to try prevent it. I'd never forgive myself if the vet turned round and said they might have lived if I had got them injected.

I have never forgiven myself for not being up to date with Tillys vaccs, I was in a very difficult position at that time having recently lost two close family members and I was trecking back and forth 130 miles every couple of days to care for a third who was also dying, so it got overlooked. Although Tilly recovered she died a few months later on the operating table with pyometra and I am sure the parvo must have made her weaker and less able to cope with the op. Tilly had not been spayed because she was a fantastic bitch and I had hoped to breed a litter from her and had people waiting for puppies, but cicumstances at the time made it impossible

Oh Mini thats heart breaking, so sorry

Star is due her boosters in a fortnight and I have decided to go ahead with them. Her insurance policy will be void if I dont and I want her to be fully vaccinated for when we get another dog hopefully in a few months.