Never had a good chance

We had a 10 week old Boxer puppy come in on Monday that was very sick.  Labwork indicated a viral infection and by Tuesday, he had all the classic symptoms of parvo virus - something that we fortunately don't see too often anymore.  He was part of a litter of 4 puppies and the only one that was sick.  The owners - who have both the father and mother - had vaccinated the adults but had not had any of the puppies vaccinated.  The only way to treat dogs with parvo is supportive care and pretty much hope they can fight off the virus and recover.  Unfortunately, this morning he had gotten much worse and so we euthanized him.  It is particularly hard to euthanize a pet that has an illness that can be prevented with vaccinations.  All of us who were involved in his treatment will be haunted by his sweet face for quite a while.  Puppy and kitten vaccinations and boosters beginning around 6 weeks are extremely important due to the way their immune systems develop. The antibodies they receive from the mother protect them beginning at birth but these decrease over the next few weeks and the puppy and kitten need to develop their own antibodies through vaccinations.  Because it is not known how long the maternal antibodies will interfere with the vaccinations, we give a series of vaccinations for up to 16 weeks of age.  The owners have let us know today that 2 of the 3 surviving puppies now are showing symptoms of parvo.  Situations like this are heartwrenching for us and it is a sad day.
Jan Hueben, RVT