Doberman puppy lost the fight to Parvo at the Florida University Veterinary School

In Florida, a "breeder" had a litter of 8 Doberman puppies under his or her care. More than a week ago, all of the puppies got sick. And then five of them died. That breeder then got tired of it and took the three who were left to the Florida University Veterinary School and instructed for them to be euthanized.

The puppies all had parvo. Of the three, a little fawn girl died yesterday, and one of her red sisters died this afternoon. Only one is left, named Scorcha by those taking care of her. The Doberman Assistance Network has stepped in to help. If you'd like, you can donate to her care on the Doberman Assistance Network sponsorship page.

Sorcha has been sick for long enough that the deck is really stacked against her. She's under constant care in puppy ICU, on IVs for fluids and food. The best I can say about this is that she's under loving care, and if she pulls through, DAN will get her foster care with a rescue, and that rescue will find her a loving home.

I cannot countenance watching puppies grow that sick, for that long, and watching five of them die. I cannot. The details I've related to you are the only ones I know; I don't know the breeder's history of care otherwise, what vaccines the puppies did (or did not) receive, the condition in which they were kept. I can only make assumptions, and none of them are good. At least those poor little ones knew some love before they left us.

Edited to add:  As of 10 p.m., little Sorcha has died as well. I truly hope that the person who produced these puppies will take a hard look at how they do things in the future, or no longer keep dogs altogether. The Florida University Veterinary School tried their hardest, but sometimes it just isn't to be. So rest in peace, little ones. I'm sorry your stay here turned out the way it did.

Vaccinations: helping and hurting

Vaccinations can be a touchy subject, both in the human world and the dog one.

In general, I feel that they help more than they hurt. When they hurt, they hurt profoundly, as Roxanne who writes Champion of My Heart has found out when her dog, Lilly, had an extreme negative reaction to her routine rabies vaccination (500 days ago, as of June 4). Lilly has been in medical distress since then, has almost died, and has had one severe relapse. Roxanne writes that Lilly can never have another vaccine in her life.

(picture from Wikimedia commons. You'll see "why a tiger?" after the jump)

Doberman Health: Parvo

Back in November, the Doberman Assistance Network took in three puppies that they suspected had parvo. This may or may not have been the case (I guess there was some shady vetting going on down there), but it occurred to me that I haven't really talked about the bogeyman Parvo here. It's not a Doberman problem, specifically, so much as a dog problem. A puppy problem. I have heard it said that Dobermans and Rottweilers might be more sensitive to the parvovirus, though, and suffer more severe symptoms.

So, what is Parvo?

(little Bluebell, who pulled through just fine, from the Doberman Assistance Network Facebook page.)