What Went Wrong With The 7 Puppies And Their Mother?
AnimalCare 
Apr 22, 2012 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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This is a most unfortunate case, relayed to me yesterday.
A lady who runs a shelter had applied to claim for the vaccination of 7 puppies (rescued with their mum) and we had approved it.
However, right after vaccination, 5 of the puppies came down with diarrhoea and vomiting (the typical symptoms of parvo virus).
If you remember Winnie Low’s case, Brownie and Angel (son and mother, also rescued) were vaccinated too, and the next day, Brownie collapsed. He was diagnosed with parvo virus and his blood count dropped to a frightening level very quickly. We thought we would have lost him, but he was put on drips with antibiotics and RetroMAD1 was also administered. Brownie recovered and was discharged after 4 days. Today, he is very much alive and kicking, having a happy life with Angel (his mum) in Winnie’s home. We think RetroMAD1 along with the conventional antibiotics and drip helped but our vet did not think so. He said the antibodies from the vaccination kicked in after 4 days and that hastened the recovery. Brownie already had the parvo virus dormant in him from birth but was protected through breastmilk. The moment Angel stopped breastfeeding the parvo started rearing its ugly head and the vaccination (a case of wrong timing) made it worse as it weakened the body, so the parvo manifested in full force.
I suspect what happened to Brownie probably happened to these 5 puppies (out of the 7).
The saddest thing is that the puppies contracted parvo virus, went back and infected the mother. The mother came down really bad and the vet did not want to treat the mother and told the rescuer to bring the mother home (to die?).
The rescuer also suspects that the puppies contracted the parvo virus from the clinic as there were infected dogs there.
I have no way of verifying what happened and I do not think anyone can, so the concern now is just to treat the 5 puppies and hope they and their mother survive. I have suggested that the rescuer takes the mother-dog to another vet who would be willing to treat her. Surely we cannot let her go down without any attempt to treat or at the very least, to put her on drips to reduce her suffering. Apparently, the rescuer was also rejected by another vet. Some vets who do not have isolation wards, will not take in parvo cases.
The question here is: do we vaccinate or not? While we know vaccination saves lives, it can, at times, destroy lives as well.
The lady is very upset and said if she had not got the puppies vaccinated, all of them would still be alive and well. In this case, she is probably right.
It is so sad.
But, on the other side of the coin, what about puppies that die of parvo or distemper because they had not been vaccinated?
A classic case of Catch-22, isn’t it?
I hope the mother and the 5 puppies will be treated and will survive. I hope the 2 remaining puppies will not be infected. They have been isolated.
I hope with the vaccination, their antibodies will kick in and the puppies will survive (these puppies are on drips now). But the poor mother had not been vaccinated. Her chances would be bleak, as attested by the vet, and that is why she was rejected by two vets.
So you see, if the mother had been vaccinated, she might not have contracted the disease brought back by her puppies, allegedly from the clinic.
This case happened in another state, not in Selangor.
I’ve checked with a local shelter, and was told their vaccinated animals do not contract parvo or distemper even if there is an outbreak at the shelter due to new animals being brought in with the dreaded diseases. At most, they get a fever, but they all survive…because they had been vaccinated. In such cases, vaccination saves lives.
Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2012/04/22/what-went-wrong-for-the-7-puppies-and-their-mother/
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