Pet Site HQ

Parvo (which is correctly known as Canine Parvovirus) is devastating, not only emotionally (words simply cannot do justice to how it feels to see your beloved dog healthy one minute, and incredibly sick the next, with vomit and foul-smelling, blood-filled diarrhea everywhere), but also financially.

From the moment you notice your dog is sick, the typical vet’s costs associated with treating Parvo just keep adding up (and up).

To start with, you’ll probably face bills of $25 to $50 for each office visit, and there will usually be more than one.

Then, your vet will more than likely want to do take a fecal matter sample for an immediate, in-clinic test, or a sample of your dog’s blood to send away for a full work-up, or even both. These will cost you anywhere between $25 and $100, depending on the type of test. (And note that these tests may not even be accurate - with the latest 2c strain, a dog that has Parvo may still test negative.)

If it turns out your dog actually has Parvo, then you should expect a bill in the region of $500 to over $10,000, per dog. These costs include items such as overnight stays ($50 a night), blood transfusions ($200 a time), medications ($100 - $200), etc. (And your vet will only give your dog a 50% - 80% chance of survival.)

Lastly, if the vet is unable to treat your dog successfully, you will frequently be presented with the option every pet owner dreads - the decision to have your dog put down, which will cost you up to $300.

So, all together, your bill at the vet’s for Parvo treatment will be between $850 and $10,450 - and that’s just for one dog. (As many people actually own two or more dogs, and when one of your dogs is infected by Parvo, the chance of any others in the same household getting the virus is very high, you can probably double these figures, at least.)

To put this in perspective, the average cost of owning a dog over its expected life span of 11 years is about $13,550, so you could spend up to 77% (i.e. three quarters) of this amount treating him for a single illness over a period of a week or so.

But, there are other options - you can both prevent Parvo and treat Parvo using safe, chemical-free products such as Parvaid, Vibactra Plus and Life Cell Support for a fraction of the cost of taking your dog to the vet, and with a much higher chance of your dog surviving the Parvo virus (on average, 90% or better).

Parvo prevention normally begins when your dog is still a puppy, in the form of vaccinations.

The whole topic of Parvo vaccinations, and vaccinations in general, is a hot topic at the moment, and there are, of course, many advantages and disadvantages.

But perhaps the most serious downside, where Parvo is concerned, is that most current vaccines (excluding Continuum and PROGARD, which are made by Intervet) are ineffective against the latest 2c strain of this horrific virus.

You therefore need other solutions, because you cannot assume that your dog is safe just because you’ve had him vaccinated. Since early 2007, there have been many stories in the media of fully-vaccinated dogs, including puppies and adults, being infected by and dying from Parvo.

If you want to know what these other solutions are, you’ll need to look out for Part 2 of this article!

Popularity: 3% [?]