Trigger's and Jace's Story AND Questions about AFTERCARE of treating PARVO at home

Realized that I probably should've posted here instead of AskCureZone, so reposting with new title (It originally was not going to be so long and detailed.) LONG. Thanks for reading. Would appreciate input on the questions at the bottom.

Hi. I am a fairly new lab breeder (have just had my 2nd litter) and have never had to deal with parvo, so I have spent the last 2 weeks educating myself so that we don't have another tragedy. My momma had a litter of 14. They all grew and thrived and at 8 weeks, they all got a clean bill of health to be released to their new homes with complete health certs and vaccinations. For the next month, Trigger and Jace were in and out of my house. Both are owned by working young women, so I puppysit on occasion to help them out several times over the last month. I also kept a pup from the litter and another puppy was still at my house waiting for my sister to come get her the week that Trigger began showing symptoms. At one time that week, all 4 puppies were there together. I have about an acre of fenced yard where they went out, but mainly stayed around the door. OTherwise, they were confined to my kitchen, where I had raised the entire litter. I cautioned all the new owners to be extremely careful where they took their pups, but I do not know where else the owners took them during that time. All I know is that somehow, through them, us, or someone else bringing it in on their shoes,or however, it got brought to my place.

Here's what happened:
Mine (Little Bit) and my sister's (Lana) pups were at the house, Trigger came to visit for the day. When he got there, he pooped, and it was full of what looked like roundworms. His owner took a sample to work with her to look under microscope, and sure enough, that's what it was. I was baffled, because every pup had been cleared of all worms before leaving me, and this was the VERY first indication that he had worms. I gave him panacur. He left and that night (early morning) he started vomiting. (this was Wednesday) His owner had to go to work, so I told her to bring him back and I'd keep an eye on him. He stopped vomiting for a day and started eating chicken and rice and drinking again.(and he had his 2nd dose of panacur) He was supposed to have gone to the vet that day for his 2nd round of shots, but his owner got called back to work and he missed it. (We have different vets, but I offered to take him to her vet but she refused, saying she'd take him in the next day.) The next morning, he would drink water, but was not interested in food. Throughout the course of the day, he became more lethargic, and would just stare at the water. He was still getting up and walking around and the owner called her vet to see what they said. He did not have temp at the time. One of the other pups had thrown up a couple of times, but never stopped drinking water. She threw up one last time, then scarfed down a bowl of chicken and rice. I took her to the vet the next morning to make sure that she was okay, and she checked out fine. Since this had happened, I was believing that Trigger had just eaten something that didn't agree with him, too. I didn't want to force him to eat or drink to make him vomit more, so I was just keeping a close watch on him. He was not getting better, was throwing up a little, was still peeing, but had not had any poo. Late that afternoon, he had very watery, vile smelling diarrhea. I didn't see blood, but from what I had heard of parvo, I was suspecting that he had it, and knew we needed to get him to the vet ASAP. By this time it was after 5, and the vets office had closed. The owner left a message for her vet, who was a close friend of hers, and after what seemed like hours, she finally called back. She told us to call the Emergency Vet and then she would meet us at her office. (Vets call out had to be logged with them, I guess??) What happened next was TRAGIC and perhaps the worst thing I have ever experienced. Especially now, since I know I *had* everything I needed to save him at my fingertips, had I only known then what I know now. That makes it even more difficult to live with and will be something I carry with me forever.

The vet met with us. She did a parvo test (showed negative), did a fecal test which showed the worms were dead, told us to give last dose of panacur the next day. She took xrays to make sure there was no blockage. Upon looking at the xrays, said that everything looked normal and there was no blockage. She said that all she could do was "supportive care". She said that she could keep him there, start him on iv fluids, Antibiotics , and anti-nausea meds OR we could take him.. she would give a 120ccs of fluid sub q, something for nausea and Antibiotic injections, plus send oral meds with us of the same. Since it was the weekend, and didn't want to leave him up there alone, we opted to take him home based on the fact that he didn't have parvo and when asked, the vet told us that if it were something contagious then the other pups would be exhibiting symptoms. We were to give him water and pedialyte to keep him hydrated. The next morning, he was still refusing to drink, so we gave him water and pedialyte through a syringe. At this point, he was still getting up to pee, and there was no vomiting or diarrhea. By noon or so, he began to get more and more lethargic and his condition deteriorated dramatically. We contacted the vet and as soon as she got back to us, we rushed him back in. IV was immediately started, and he stayed there. Easter morning, he seemed to be better, standing up and wagging his tail. We were hopeful and were praying that he was on the mend. We were told that if he had a blockage that was wood, like mulch or something soft, that it would not show up on XRAY by the tech that was tending to him that night. I know in my mind, I believed since it wasn't parvo, that it probably was a blockage of some kind, based on what we were told. At this point, I didn't think that what he had was contagious because none of the other puppies were showing any symptoms. If the other pups weren't showing signs, then they most likely had not caught anything. That night when we visited, he was still sitting up, but not much energy at all. Monday morning, they began a barium series on him to see if there was a blockage. The idea was that they would put the barium in and take xrays every 2 hours. By noon Monday, his condition had again deteriorated when Becki and I visited him. They took him to do Xrays and the office was closing for lunch, so we had to leave. At the next xray reading, when she realized the barium was not going through, she rushed him to the operating table. He went into cardiac arrest,and our sweet, beautiful boy lost his fight around 3pm. She told us that when she opened him up, that the intestines had telescoped, and his organs were enlarged(speculated the night before that he had liver shunt or something congenital wrong with him--which I wasn't buying AT ALL)and he was septic.
Gee, all of this sounded familiar.. because as soon as he started getting sick, I started researching to try to figure out what was wrong with him. ALL of these symptoms pointed to PARVO!!

Now thinking back, Trigger did get scratched in the eye by a cat the night BEFORE he woke up vomiting. COULD THIS HAVE TRANSMITTED THE DISEASE?? How long is it AFTER they are exposed do they actually show symptoms. (He was scratched by cat around dinner time, and started vomiting in the early wee hours).

The following was written at a different time, so please forgive the times that I repeated myself.

I think after a rocky roller coaster ride, our buddy, Jace is finally on the downhill slide of this terrible disease. After losing one puppy at a vet that misdiagnosed parvo, and made many, many questionable decisions regarding his care, I believe we have managed to save his brother. He began showing symptoms of parvo the day after his brother passed (2 sisters who were also in the same home have not shown any symptoms whatsoever) As soon as he showed those first sign, we rushed him to my vet. (Trigger had a different vet) While the first one (Trigger) was sick, we began to do research on what could be wrong with him. All signs pointed to parvo, but he tested "negative". So we let him come back home to the house. After his tissue was tested, it was confirmed that he did, indeed, die of parvo.
At my vet, Jace tested positive for parvo. After what I had seen happen to Trigger, I was not at all surprised, and I spoke to the owner of Jace about alternative methods to treat parvo. I let her know that if it were my baby, she would not be staying at the vet overnight. I felt that being at home and having 24hr care was the best thing for him. The owner decided to leave him at the vet for IV therapy (Tuesday morning). We looked in on him several times that day. The next morning, I went to check on him and he had chewed his IV out twice, and had been offered and accepted food and drink. He was going home. That night he probably overdid it with his family ( he has 2 very small children in his household.) The next morning, the owner called me at the crack of dawn to say that he had vomited again and was not eating or drinking again. We took him in for fluids and decided at this time to use Colloidal Silver and follow the advice of many who have had great success using alternative instead of conventional methods of parvo tx. The vet had prescribed Cerrenia and Amoxicillin and added reglan when we took him in on Friday morning for his fluids and told the vet that he was still vomiting some.
For those 2 days, I researched MORE and tried to weed out the quackery and embrace the things that were consistently surfacing as successful and came up with a plan of treatment since leaving him at the vet's office over the weekend was not an acceptable option. For the first day and a half, we used the meds the vet gave us, then we wised up on a few things.
1- Sub Q fluids from vet (120 ccs q 12 hours- but dosed 2 extra times because the camel hump disappeared before the 12 hour mark)
2-Tamiflu 2x /day (750 mg capsule in 7.5 ml pedialyte, gave 2 ml q12 hrs) Started Friday evening
3- Colloidal Silver 5 ml every hour- started Saturday morning (Dc'd Amoxy)
4- Parvo Tea (started Saturday night when temp began to rise and no real improvement) Dc'd Reglan and Cerrenia)Used recipe that doesn't contain garlic. Gave 15 cc every hour.
5- Acidophilus started Sat afternoon ( dissolved in a small amt of pedialyte)
Around 3 AM, switched to CS enemas because of it being vomited up twice. Did for about 3 hours, and then no more vomiting.
All fluid were warmed to a little above body temp before administering.
Around 530 AM, he began drinking a little... by 630 he was nibbling on chicken.
notes: he began pooping pretty regularly after we started giving him the parvo tea , runny dark feces, .. he was peeing all along.
He started out with no fever. It began to rise Saturday, and during the night got to over 105 deg. We put a cool towel on him to cool him off. Over the course of the next few hours, it went back down, and by Sunday afternoon, it was again within normal range. I offered him a smorgasbord of things: Chicken, rice, broth, oatmeal, liver, plain yogurt. He ate some chicken and oatmeal, then yogurt, and liver. Today, he has eaten everything he is offered and his energy level is up. I am watching him at his while his mommy is at work. He is resting while he can before the kids get home, too.
So, now for my questions:
I have him on a product called "Lifeguard Jr'.. it is a children's chewable antioxidant formula that is put out by Starlight, a company that I have been a distributor for almost 20 years with, to boost his immune system and keep it healthy and strong. (find it here: http://www.teamstarlight.com/80697101)


What else should I be doing?
** Colloidal Silver ?
gave him 1/2 tsp of what we have right now (Iniva 1100ppm) How much (what ppm?) and how often? and for how long? (Was supposed to be on the Antibiotic amoxycillin for 7 or ten days? but we took him off that when we started the silver)
**Acidolphilus? Gave him one mixed with his food today
**When should he get his 2nd and 3rd vaccs? Should've gotten his 12 week last week, and 3rd booster originally would have been due the first week in May. ( They do the 5-way shot here in Florida or at my vet, anyway)
**Does his poop need to be sprayed each time with bleach? If so, for how long?
**Should I still be concerned about my pup at home who I won't even let go back out in the yard yet being exposed since she has only had 2 of the 3 shots? We hve bleached everything and she hasn't shown any signs at all of it. Can this puppy be around her at all? Would she have already shown signs? What is the incubation period?
** How long should he be eating bland food? Is it okay to introduce his dry kibble with some canned food (Nutro ultra large breed puppy and Science diet beef canned?)
**Can he re-infect himself while he is recovering?
**Could Trigger have gotten parvo from the cat scratch to the eye a few hours before he began to show symptoms?
thanks so much for any info you can give!!!
sam. Tweet