Can Canine Parvovirus Patients Be Treated Outpatient?

"The newest hip topic is what we call OPP, or outpatient parvovirus," says Justine Lee, DVM, DACVECC, DABT, founder of VETgirl.

"Can parvovirus patients be treated outpatient? Yes. Two recent studies came out and they were both published in 2017 and they looked at outpatient parvovirus. Now, the prognosis for parvovirus is 90% with in-hospital treatment. Without patient therapy it's 80%, so that's still pretty darn good.

Now, I will say that 1 out of every 4 to 1 out of every 5 dogs dies of parvovirus, and all patients should be appropriately volume resuscitated. In other words, puppies need an IV catheter, they need an IV fluid bolus, they need IV dextrose bolus if they're hypoglycemic, and they need to be treated ideally in-hospital. But, if an owner has financial limitations, some of these cases are savable. So, we do want to make sure to offer owners the best care that we can, but work with them if they have financial limitations. So, I generally recommend at least 1 day of in-hospital therapy, and then potentially using a modified outpatient protocol to help work with your pet owners and saving those puppies at the same time."