There’s one section of the Santa Maria Animal Center dedicated to sick dogs.
While animals with contagious diseases are often isolated, this section of the facility has a few indications that the virus being contained is a bit more serious than most. One telltale sign? A tub of bleach and water, with which visitors must clean their shoes after setting foot in a particular stretch of hallway.
Also, the quarantine signs.
A few of the canines at the center, run by Santa Barbara County Animal Services at 548 W. Foster Road in Santa Maria, have been diagnosed with parvovirus, which can be deadly to any dog—but particularly puppies.
First of all, know this: Parvovirus is canine-specific. That means only dogs can get it. The virus doesn’t transmit to humans.
That being said, parvovirus is serious bad news for the canine community. While it’s vaccine preventable and fairly straightforward to treat, it’s remarkably contagious and has an incredibly high fatality rate if left unchecked. Even then, it can take a tremendous toll on a dog’s health and is particularly devastating to puppies.
On Oct. 15, the Santa Barbra County Public Health Department sent out a press release noting a recent upswing in local parvovirus cases and encouraging pet owners to take precautions to keep their dogs safe.
“Santa Barbara County Animal Services is seeing an alarmingly high number of cases of parvovirus in dogs in Northern Santa Barbara County, including five confirmed cases of parvovirus coming to the Santa Maria Animal Center in the last two weeks,” the press release reads. “Of great concern this year are a number of animal owners that have been refusing treatment and taking sick dogs home from veterinary offices.”
The release notes that the majority of cases have come from the Preisker Park area and Orcutt’s Bradley and Rice Ranch roads.
“The concern is that we’ve seen a large number of cases recently … and one of the big concerns with this particular year as opposed to past years is the reports we’re getting from the veterinarian community that people are not treating,” said Stacy Silva, community outreach coordinator for Santa Barbara County Animal Services. “They’re choosing to take the animals home as opposed to seeking treatment for them.
“If you don’t treat the parvovirus, the dog’s chances are very slim for survival,” she added.
That apparent pattern of behavior is raising red flags because professionals have no idea what’s happening once the dog is out of their care and sight. Are the owners keeping the animal isolated until it recovers or—more likely—dies? Or are they allowing their pet to continue to roam, depositing the virus throughout new areas, new neighborhoods?
And that brings us to an unsavory portion of this story. There’s no way to talk about parvovirus without discussing its method of transmission. The bug causes several symptoms—including fever and vomiting—but the most dramatic is what Jacques Drazsnzak, a veterinarian at Evergreen Animal Clinic in Santa Maria, describes as “stinky, gross, voluminous diarrhea.”
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals notes that the virus most commonly affects a dog’s intestinal tract, leading to “bloody, foul-smelling diarrhea.”
Once it’s out in the open, parvovirus sticks around. The county’s Silva explained that it can live in an environment for years, then flare up when conditions are right. It can wait in dirt, in grass, or on virtually any surface with which a dog may come in contact—and it’s not necessarily obvious to spot. While the telltale signs of a sick dog look and smell horrible and are easy to avoid on the ground, it’s not so easy to identify parvovirus that’s remained behind after cleanup and has transferred to a dog’s fur.
“Typically [dogs] pass through an area that has it, and it gets on their coat or their paws or whatever, and as they’re grooming themselves, they’re ingesting the virus,” Silva said. “That’s pretty much the most simple way I can explain that.”
And cleanup isn’t so easy. It takes 10 minutes of exposure to a bleach solution (one part bleach to 30 parts hot water) to kill parvovirus, and that’s on a hard, non-porous surface.
“The problem is it’s on your grass, it’s on your carpet, it’s on your couch, it’s everywhere,” Evergreen’s Drazsnzak said. “It’s relatively impossible to decontaminate your environment.”
So what can you do?
A lot, actually.
Somewhat surprisingly, Drazsnzak said that the staff at Evergreen has heard some reports of parvovirus in the area, but hasn’t actually seen any cases come through the office, which maintains records on about 10,000 dogs.
That doesn’t mean the county’s data is flawed, however.
“We have a very vaccinated population,” Drazsnzak said. “Our clients, they come in, they comply with vaccinations.”
Vaccines are a hot-button issue in this country—at least for humans, he acknowledged. That’s not to minimize any concerns people might have about vaccines for their dogs, but Drazsnzak feels that the two categories are separate, especially when it comes to parvovirus.
“The vaccine itself is safe. It is ridiculously inexpensive,” he said. “You wouldn’t have an article about this if people were getting vaccines.”
The county’s warning echoed that sentiment: “If you have a puppy, contact your veterinarian to receive the canine parvovirus vaccination series.”
Drazsnzak explained that while any dog can contract parvovirus, the at-risk population is generally 6-week- to 6-month-old dogs.
Animal Services’ Silva explained that the only legally mandated vaccine for dogs is rabies, but emphasized that prevention is ideal. For people with unvaccinated dogs—especially puppies—that means getting necessary shots for the animals. For people with dogs showing signs of parvovirus, that means isolating the sick animal from other animals; keeping it away from areas where other dogs might pass through; and cleaning up food and water bowls, bedding, and washable outdoor areas, such as patios, with that 1-to-30 bleach solution. But don’t overdo the ratio thinking more bleach is better, don’t spray it on fabrics, and certainly don’t spritz your dog with it.
Finally, the professionals agree: Seek veterinary help. Drazsnzak said that pretty much all vets will have an in-hospital test known as an ELISA (Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbant Assay) test, which involves a simple fecal swab that’s put into a particular medium for 20 minutes to yield reliable results.
Also, know that supportive treatment for parvovirus is effective in controlling the symptoms. It’s expensive—which is another reason animal health officials are pushing the vaccine—but it’s pretty much the only option once the virus gets into a dog’s system, other than letting it run its course and hoping for the rare best.
“It’s important to say if you choose not to have your pet treated, here’s what happens: They’re going to die,” Drazsnzak said. “They get sicker, get bloody diarrhea, and vomit, and die.”
What to watch for
Parvovirus triggers specific symptoms in dogs, listed here in likely order of appearance:
- High fever
- Lethargy
- Depression
- Loss of appetite
- Vomiting
- Bloody diarrhea
How much should I worry?
Jacques Drazsnzak of Santa Maria’s Evergreen Animal Clinic said that, for him, the list of the most concerning diseases a dog can get starts with ones that transfer to humans—specifically from your pet to you or your children.
“The top of that list is rabies,” he said, “which is a 100 percent fatal disease.”
He also noted parasites as a primary concern. Roundworm, for instance, which—like parvovirus—is spread by contact with feces, can cause blindness in children if the larvae hatch in a human and end up migrating into their young host’s eye.
Parvovirus, while harmful to dogs, poses no threat to humans. It’s also vaccine preventable and highly treatable, so it’s only something to really worry about if the conditions are right (or wrong, as it were) for a particular animal.
While there’s a current upswing in local cases, that doesn’t mean county services are overwhelmed. Community Outreach Coordinator Stacy Silva said that a total of 14 cases came into the shelter last year, and this year seems to be on a similar track. The fact that about half a dozen cases recently showed up at the shelter in just two weeks, coupled with veterinary reports of pet owners refusing treatment for their animals, put the county on alert this fall.
Silva noted that news of parvovirus shouldn’t stop anyone from welcoming a new four-legged friend into their home, if they’re looking.
“Oftentimes, when a case of parvo is out in the community, people get a fear of adopting from the shelter,” she admitted. “However, all of our animals available for adoptions have been vaccinated for the parvovirus and have a clean bill of health.”
Contact Executive Editor Ryan Miller at rmiller@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 23-30, 2014.