Puppies of different breeds suffering from foul-smelling bloody diarrhoea and vomiting lie helplessly with sunken eyes as veterinarians pump them with IV fluids, antiemetic drugs and antibiotics. The puppies are victims of parvovirus enteritis , a highly contagious disease.
“I have not slept adequately in the last one week. I have to constantly monitor the situation of the puppy,” said M. Sekar, an owner of an Indian cross-breed puppy, who is visiting the hospital two times a day for treatment. The virus ravages the intestine of the puppies and they will not be able to take any food and depend only on IV fluids for survival. But standing by scores of people like Mr. Sekar in their hour of distress is the Infectious Disease Unit of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas).
The unit is the brain child of Dr. S. Thilagar, Vice-Chancellor of Tanuvas.
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“We pay a lot of attention to giving anti-rabies vaccine to dogs because it will affect us directly. But many do not bother to give vaccination for parvo and distemper as it will affect only the animal. We should realise pets are not toys that can be discarded once their utility is over. They are life companions,’ said Dr. S. Balasubramanian, Director of Clinics, Tanuvas.
Most of the pet parents fail to vaccinate their pets and hence witness their loved ones paying a heavy price for their negligence. If they had paid a single visit to a nearby veterinary clinic and given their puppies the DHPPI+L vaccine for five diseases — distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, para influenza and leptospirosis — in the sixth week, they would have avoided all the trouble. It should be followed by two or three boosters.
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The infectious disease unit regularly treats 10 to 15 puppies on a regular basis. Tanuvas Vice-Chancellor Dr. Thilagar set up the unit in 2015.
The unit has since treated over 1,500 puppies. Treatment is free and the pet parents have to pay only registration charges.
“Since there are no anti-viral drugs, the objective is to fight dehydration and malnutrition through IV fluids. Antibiotics are given to ward off secondary infections. The survival rate is 95%,” said Dr. M. Vijaya Bharathi, assistant professor, Department of Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine.
But breeds like Rottweilers, Doberman and German Sheppard are highly prone to the disease and the survival rate is not very high. “We give these breeds immunoglobulin therapy. Hydroxyethyl starch is administered to increase the volume of blood plasma,” Dr. Vijaya Bharathi said.
“There will be more cases after rains, particularly between June and August and again between December and February. Use bleaching powder to clean the environment as the disease is highly contagious”, he said. In the beginning, the puppies get the immunity from their mother. But it gradually decreases.
When told even vaccinated puppies had fallen prey to the diseases, he said it could be the result of failure to maintain the “cold-chain” of the vaccine. “Always vaccinate yours pets in a clinic run by qualified veterinarians and avoid visiting pet shops for treatment,” is his advice.
Dr. Vijaya Bharathi added that the prognosis of canine distemper, manifested by discharge from nose and eyes and fit-like symptoms, was very poor. “The saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ has a lot of meaning in the case of parvo and distemper,” he said. In fact, naturalist Ma. Krishnan has written about the death of his Kombai dog Indrajit, a victim of distemper.