A woman has shared the first parvovirus symptom after after puppy died from virus
Roxie, a five-month old Rottweiler began vomiting last weekend when Megan Bradley, first noticed something was wrong with her.
The dog had contracted parvovirus which brings on severe diarrhoea and vomiting in dogs.
Her condition deteriorated rapidly, despite being taken to the vets.
Heartbroken Megan took the decision to have her put down as vets said that she was in so much pain and keeping her alive would be cruel
Megan told the Liverpool Echo : "From Saturday, she was still eating but she was vomiting up little bits of water."
"We then noticed that she was having diarrhoea as well, so we thought that there might be a bug or she had eaten something bad, but then she just went downhill so fast.
"She got to the point where she wasn’t moving, she wasn’t getting up to walk. She just wasn’t feeling herself.
"We took her to the vets and they gave her an anti-sickness injection but they said her temperature was looking fine."
However, things took a turn for the worse and Roxie's condition continued to worsen.
Megan added: "On Monday she went to the vet and then she was drooling, the sickness had stopped but the diarrhoea was really bad.
"By Monday night, she was at the stage where she was basically dying in front of us.
"She was starting to bleed from her bottom and she was breathing quite heavily."
Megan took Roxie to the PDSA vet in Huyton, Merseyside, on Monday night, but she was so weak that had to be carried to the car and taken into the building on a trolley.
On Tuesday, she received the call from the vet saying that Roxie was in too much pain to be kept alive.
Megan said: "It feels like the dog has been taken away far too quickly. We haven’t had long enough with her. It felt so hopeless, it’s awful.
"It was a shock. She was the most bouncy puppy in the world. To go from that to not being able to lift her own weight off the floor."
It is unsure exactly how Roxie contracted the deadly virus, but having lost her dog, Megan has advised pet owners to be careful with their pets and to take them to the vet as soon as any vomiting symptoms start.
Megan believes that she might have picked up parvovirus from parks in the area.
The Blue Cross states that parvovirus spreads through body fluids, including in a dog’s poo and vomit.
It can survive outside the body – for example in the grass at a park – for at least six months.
As a result, Megan has urged dog owners to pick up their poo as soon as possible.
A spokesperson from Liverpool Vets, said that they had not noticed a spike in cases of parvovirus, but said that they have seen a vomiting and diarrhoea bug spread in the area each winter.
According to the vets, the best way to save puppies is to vaccinate them.
If a second dose is given before 12 weeks of age then a third should be given when the dog is aged between five and six months.
