The learning process while managing Parvo
How Parvo affects the human/animal bond
Sponsored by Elanco Animal Health
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA
You know, you're talking about survivability across, you know what we're talking about parvo virus in general, but then also a spectrum of care. You know, a lot of our pet parents may not necessarily have the physical means to go to a veterinarian or to financially afford those things. So how does that roll out into how we go about treating and managing Parvo cases?
Michael Lappin, DVM, PhD, DACVIM
It's It's been fun to watch over the last 10 years, because we did start recognizing that perhaps our optimal pathway, that critical care colleague and my group there at CSU would have hospitalized them all, they would have now had IV fluids, standard of practice excellence of care, but not everyone can afford that. And so, cash a number of publications, I think of Lauren Sullivan's outpatient protocol, that was one of the first ones published in the Ibex journal. It just kind of opened our eyes to that we would have some alternatives, rather than the $3000 to $5,000 bill and some of our specialty hospitals to actually give a really high standard of care, but not have to have hospitalization. So those types of things really started happening.
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA
Does survivability, vary versus home care versus in hospital care with the dogs with Parvo.
Fathom Woods
It can. Yypically when they come in, and they want to get treatment for at home, the vets will do an exam and make sure they're stable enough for like sub q fluids, because they won't, we won't send them home with like an IV pump and all that. That's only an ICU. And those dogs generally do really well. We send them home with 3 days worth of fluids and medication, we teach them how to do the sub q fluids, and they usually turn around really quickly. The ones that are in the ICU, you know, it can be a little bit different. They're typically more critical when they come in, sometimes crashing with a low blood glucose. Dehydration is a big one. And so those ones take a lot more care.
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA
And, you know, we're talking overall about, you know, right now, treating and managing Parvo puppies, puppies, more specifically, but, you know, the socialization period that you were just referring to, has a huge impact on the family and the human animal bond. So what does that like when you we talked about spectrum of care, the ability to, you know, treat, maybe they have another dog at home that they have to watch out for. So talk to me a little bit about what that means you have the Yeah, it's funny, you mentioned that I remember practicing and you know, still seeing it even 5, 6, 7 years later, they will be in the waiting room talking to another pet parent, like "Oh, this is Rosie, she is a Parvo puppy survivor." I'm sure you all hear that it does...It leaves such an impact on on the family and even I have had some clients that have literally like moved their dog [away]...and just a perception that'slike they take their dogthinking that their dog is going to get Parvo. I just find that very interesting that you know, it makes such an almost a traumatizing experience for certain pet parents, right?
Christopher Pachel, DVM, DACVB, CABC
The ripple effect is potentially huge. And I think I love the fact that we're talking about the differences of the client experience, not only based on the financial ability of what they can pursue in terms of care, but the demographics of every household are going to be completely different from one another. And the impact of hospitalizing a new puppy, a new family member, you're just on the cusp, in many cases of creating that bond. And we know based on on data and observation that the way in which we bond is affected by trauma, it's affected by what's happening in the environment. So when you have a naive pet owner, and I say that without judgment, but just they just don't know who comes into that situation, you'll kind of see the stars in their eyes, here's our new puppy, it's our new family member. And then you're navigating an acute crisis. It changes so much about that process that can absolutely affect not only that short term bond, the time of actually creating that bond with the puppy, but even the way in which that relationship gets formed from that day forward. That was a Parvo puppy. Then that can absolutely change so much about the way clients view that puppy. I see it, especially within my patient population later on where the owners may say, "Oh, well, you know, maybe Parvo affected this puppy." And so we never did anything else with socialization, we were so worried about what was going to happen next. Or maybe they had a previous Parvo puppy. And so socialization was just not even on the radar for them, because of that level of concern. So I think about the ripple effect within the family, the ripple effect for that particular dog and even subsequent generations, and how that learning process affects so much about how they approach those patterns.
