Finding hope among the behavioral impact of parvovirus in shelters

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Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: What are the biggest drivers for isolation in a shelter setting?

Meghan Herron, DVM, DACVB: In a shelter environment, you have a number of dogs living in close proximity, and so infectious diseases can spread like wildfire if you're not careful. Canine parvovirus is our biggest concern because it is highly contagious, may not always present symptoms right away, and can be fatal. So, when dogs show signs of certain illnesses, unfortunately, we do need to isolate them from the rest of the population. Quarantine housing is equally as stressful as the isolation because you must limit how much a dog is walking, they can’t go through certain hallways, or have playdates where socialization and training occur for a normal shelter dog.

Christman: What does that mean for puppies being isolated from parvovirus?

Herron: The puppy socialization window is critical because they gain exposure to various stimuli that they can then not be afraid of later in life. This would also hopefully prevent phobias or fear aggression towards people or other dogs. Isolation, by design, must be sterile and boring, so there won’t be much contact or stimulation. Exposure to early illness creates a likely chance of major behavioral issues which are absolutely devastating for puppies.

Christman: What does isolation protocol look like for you?

Herron: If a dog tests positive for parvo, we move them to our treatment center. We are one of the few shelters in the country to have an ICU to treat parvo in-house. Sadly, a lot of shelters resort to euthanasia for puppies that test positive for parvo because they don't have the resources to treat them and protect the rest of the population. I don’t blame or judge them for protecting the rest of their dogs as best as they can.

Christman: Is there anything you can do to help puppies being treated for parvo?

Herron: It is important to recognize behaviors and body language that indicates a dog is stressed or afraid. Some signs may be avoiding people, shaking, ears back, a crouched tail, etc. This could be due to their discomfort while being sick, but an astute eye is able to see if those signs persist once they’re treated. Because then, it is about their mental well-being.

Put yourself in the puppy’s perspective of being behind bars and how busy a shelter is. If we’re treating multiple puppies at once, we may use partial visual barriers so another puppy may not be stressed from what is happening right next to them. We also have classical music or reggae playing overhead because those musical genres have proven to be calming. At night, you want to have as much sensory deprivation as possible by turning the lights down or off and turning the music off. If there are conversations or recurrent beeping, you can add sources of white noise as an additional buffer. When handling the puppies, we make sure our tables have a no slip mat, so they don’t flail or expose their sensitive paws to the cold table.

Christman: What are some ways we can have puppies out of isolation quicker?

Herron: Gigi's was one of the first to get Elanco's canine parvovirus monoclonal antibody (CPMA) treatment, the only USDA conditionally approved targeted treatment for parvo.

This is a state-of-the-art intravenous treatment where mAbs seek out and attack parvovirus itself. They neutralize it before the virus has a chance to destroy the cell. Parvo is so fatal because the virus attacks quickly dividing cells, causing the GI tract and bone marrow to be two commonly hit areas. If that happens, the GI tract is destroyed leading to sepsis. With bone marrow suppression, dogs cannot have a proper immune response. 

The second a puppy is showing signs of parvo, CPMA is the first line of treatment, even before fluids. We have data since we started using CPMA—around one year ago—that shows the length of stay in our treatment center has shortened by two full days with this treatment. We are able to save money on ICU care, but mostly importantly, that is two more days a puppy is able to socialize in a normal way rather than being stuck in a kennel.

PM-US-24-0560