Outbreak Update: Day 14

Day 14: All parvo and non parvo babies cooing happily on their fresh puppy pads, tiny tummies full. They ALL eat and drink. R2 adults fed and watered. JDC team playing in R1. Day 14 of lockdown, and somehow we’ve made it through this nightmare—I honestly couldn’t see any hope at times.

Some of the happy bubs now were VERY sick, VERY flat and one of the lessons learnt, they need A LOT of physical affection and encouragement. Each one of them. They need a very warm temperature 24/7 and they need to he held through the worst hours – especially at night. They drink a drop of water after 5 days- then look at you. Then they try again, if that makes you happy…

I have no illusions that we might face a setback once the lockdown is lifted, but we’ll manage it as best we can. Life has to go on and return to normal—or at least something close to it. There will still be isolation and intensive daily decontamination, but each group will gain a bit more freedom.

I couldn’t save the first four puppies—they went downhill too fast. The little ladies showed symptoms I’d never seen before in parvo. Little bub Barry just lay down and passed away instantly; he is the only one we lost out of his litter. The vet thinks the virus hit his tiny heart. But the rest of the pups stuck with me through thick and thin, and we made it!

I don’t know why this happened. There is a very real possibility that one litter was already carrying it – and we’ve got two very young litters a day apart. It’s also possible that an uninvited traveler from overseas, roaming on the rescue premises without permission in late December, brought in a strain the vaccine didn’t cover. The two biological samples already provided for testing at Massey will hopefully shed some light. From now on, rescue site access will be limited for anyone who entered NZ in the past 14 days (except AU).

I’m incredibly thankful to EVERYONE who shared their wisdom and donated supplements, PPE, Sterigene and funds. I followed every single piece of advice, and the pups received ALL the recommended supplements in addition to supplies provided by vet, electrolytes and subcutaneous fluids bags and equipment (and staff training!)— Powerade, vitamin C, colloidal silver, rosemary, pumpkin powder, turmeric, manuka honey, and many more! So many incredible people joined forces to help these babies, and this is the result!