Parvo

Instead of writing my race stories, I have been battling parvo in my kennel. This is a dread disease which mainly kills puppies. It took ten month old Robin from us. One day he was his usual energetic, happy self, and the next day while I was feeding, I found him lying dead in his house. There were no symptoms except a tiny, almost imperceptible trickle of blood coming from his rear end. A week after Robin's death, four month old Smoke came down with parvo. He had all the dreaded symptoms - diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, and extreme weight loss. Within 24 hours, he had passed away. This is heartbreaking.

Sox and Cinder both got very sick, but after nearly a week in the house, they are both on the mend. They have started eating and drinking again and showing signs of wanting to play. One result of nursing them inside is that they are a good way towards being housebroken now.

Yesterday, Kindling and Spark got sick. Today they are no worse, so I am hoping they will get through this like Sox and Cinder have, and maybe the vaccinations we gave them several days ago will help them to have a milder case. Today, 17 month old Raspberry is sick. He is one of our best dogs and future breeding prospects. He still acts happy and energetic, so hopefully he is genetically healthy enough to fight this off.