Prevention and Control of Canine Parvovirus- Keep Your Aussie Bulldogs safe
If you’ve ever had a dog that has carried the canine parvovirus there are a number of steps you must take to ensure your new family member isn’t at risk of contracting this deadly and highly contagious virus. The virus can live in your soil for many years after the incidence.
Contaminated areas should be thoroughly cleaned. Household bleach dilute 1 part to 30 parts water. Commercial products may also be used, providing they are labelled for use against parvovirus as they must be potent inactivators. The same solutions should be used as foot baths to disinfect boots. Disinfection of hands, clothing, and food and water bowls is recommended. Pups should be kept isolated from adult dogs returning from shows or fun days.
Vaccination is critical in the control of the disease. Variants of the virus keep appearing, but current vaccines protect dogs against all strains of the virus. Vaccines containing live virus strains generally induce more effective immunity than inactivated virus vaccines (Merck, 2007).
The importance of vaccination extends to breeders who have brood females that are not vaccinated. Vaccination of the mother also protects her feeding puppies while they are too young to be vaccinated themselves. Puppies receive antibodies through their mothers milk which remains high enough and slowly drops approaching the time they can be vaccinated at 6 weeks of age. Vaccinations are recommended at 6, 12 and 16 weeks of age. The 3rd shot is optional but we’d rather be safe than sorry.
We now don’t allow the public to view our puppies prior to the age of 6 weeks, which is after the puppies have been vaccinated. Furthermore our puppy adoptees are advised not to place their puppies on the ground in public areas where dogs may have defecated carrying the disease. Its fine to carry your puppy and we recommend socialisation with other dogs after their 2nd vaccination. Puppy Preschool is highly recommended, but we like to wait till the puppies are 12 weeks old.