WA – Horse Heaven Hills Urgent Care and the Yakima Humane Society have both seen a rise in Parvovirus cases recently.
The humane society said they started seeing an increase in cases around July and they’ve continued since then. The Executive Director for the shelter Sherri Haga said many of the cases they are seeing are owner surrenders because they cannot afford to pay for treatment.
“Parvo is exceptionally expensive and we’ve seen people bring in estimates anywhere from 8 thousand to 10 thousand dollars to care for an animal with parvo,” Haga said. “We’ve had several animals surrendered to us that were diagnosed with parvo but they just could not afford it.”
Veterinarian at Horse Heaven Hills Dr. Sheila Erickson said it is common to see an uptake in cases during the fall l for many reasons but they did have a surge a few weeks ago.
“it’s not uncommon for us to have 5 or 6 cases a week but there definitely was an increase where we were seeing 3 to 5 cases a day,” Dr. Erickson said.
She said the cases they are seeing are st5arted to dwindle now but it is important to take precautions so your dog doesn’t get the virus,
“Hands down the biggest prevention is vaccinating them,” Dr. Erickson said. “Until they’re old enough to be vaccinated or until they have their full series and they’re protected the best way to prevent it is to keep them isolated.”
Dr. Erickson says they do also get cases of parvovirus where owner’s try to vaccinate their dog themselves and do it incorrectly so it is important to go to a professional.
