death by parvo... who is to blame?

I ordered a beagle pup from alabama and had her shipped to me here in california and from the first few moments that I had her.. at 9pm sat night on in to early sunday morning she was continually throwing up and just plain sick. I called the breeded and she informed me that she must be just sick from the flight. When I had picked her up from delta airlines she was with out the food or water that was to be succured to the kennle and given to her during layovers.... come to find out she was not given food or WATER for over 13 HOURS!!!! While in the care of Delta airlines... There for I figured she was just suffering form extreme dehydration. One hour later the breeder calls me and tells me that another one of the puppies she shipped the day before with my baby had just passed away from PARVO!!! I rushed my baby... Alley we called her... to the vet and sure enough she was in the Advanced stages of parvo. She later died that day and I not sure where to lay the blame. The breeder agrees that the puppy must have had parvo before she was put on the filght since she has had 2 other puppies come down with parvo since but places the blame of death on delta airlines because Alley and her sister Millie were deprived of Water for so long the Parvo advanced faster then it would have normally? Delta is doing an investigation on what really happened with the puppies while in their care and I am just so unsure as to where to go from here.

Also... the pup was given her second parvo vaxination just 48hrs before she was dropped off at Delta Airlines... Could that have anything to do with it? Is it possiable for Parvo to manifest in 3 days and kill a 7lb puppy that was deprived of food and water for overe 13 hrs? I'm just not sure?


Thank You!

 

First of all, the blame is on the breeder.
She should have been full awre of what was going on with her puppies and if any acted out of place, she should have known better than to ship them. Secondly your required by law to have the puppies fully health examined by a veterinarian days before the puppy is to fly. The vet should have picked up on it as well.

As for Delta. I've never had any problems with them. I ship all my puppies on Delta Pet First, and they've all recieved excellent care. HOWEVER, if the airline attendants were negligent or the cargo people it could have advanced an ongoing sickness.

There are several strains of parvo. Some have been known to kill small puppies with in days. sometimes imediately before any onset of symptoms are present.

I've experianced parvo first hand on several occasions with some rescues in the past, and I was only able to save one (in veterinary care) after symptoms were present.


I'm very sorry for you loss. But yes. Parvo, along with all other diseases can be caught even during vaccinations. They are not immune to it until theiy've recieved their 3rd round, and even then its not 100% effective. it just minimizes the risk of infection.

 

the puppy did have a health certificate... she seem a vet the day before she got on her filght... and he signed off on her being perfectly healthy.

at first i thought that maybe when she was given her parvo shot just before the flight and then she was deprived of hydration for so long that the parvo vax might have just manifested and took over her body.

then the breeded informed me that there are others on the ranch that are also infected so this could not be the case.

 

chances are extremely high that since you purchased your pup from Alabama she was a product of a puppy mill operation.
They supply to pet stores and people anxious to purchase puppies. Probably not a reputable breeder but more into it for the $$.
Personally...I would call the vet who "signed" the health certificate.
I would want to fully know if he/she did indeed physically see the pup prior to the flight or if they simply sign a health certificate, or does the "breeder" have many copies of signed health certificates.
I'd call the vet...start there to see if you can get any answers. And I HOPE you are getting your money back and not the offer of a replacement pup.

 

Wow Mary, you wanted to make your statement heard!!! LOL (wink)
***I deleted all the extra posts. Jamiya ***

Well, its highly unlikely that the vaccination gave her parvo since they use a killed virus. Did you get a heatlhrecords with the stickers from the vaccinations containing the lot number and serial numbers? i always put those on my records. And the vet always gives me the vials so i can do that. She knows how meticulous I am about my records.

However, I wish you good luck. Puppymills suck. Royally and so do bad breeders. At what ages did she get her shots, do you know? sounds to me like she shouldn't have gotten two shots yet. I give mine their first round of shots a couple days after they turn 6 weeks. then again a day or so after they turn 8 weeks and then again at 13 weeks. But my puppies ar giant breed. I also don't liek to let mine go on a plane until they're at least 9-10 weeks old. If people are going to pick them up, they can at 8 weeks. but I don't like shipping them that young. and I always make sure they've had no reactions to the vaccinations within 48 hours before I 'll put them on a plane. I get the health cert the day before they fly and insure that there are NO problems.

I guess it could have been an oversite. I just find it hard to belive that a beagle puppy would pass a health exam the day before it died of parvo... By then it should have been pale in the gums, lathargic, an blood in the stool.
I don't know if all vet clinics do fecal during a health exam, but mine does... they go over them top to bottom...

I would honestly contact the breeder, and if you signed a contract, follow the steps in it. if she offers to replace the puppy, ask that it come from a diffrent breeder.

 

my sincerest apologies for the slight hiccup...I was trying to post at work and it kept timing out on me. I didn't realize it kept posting. My bad
I know when I get health certificates for my foster cats, that are going out of state, the vet has to signed and give their office info on the certificate. The original HC goes to the adopter. so contact info should be on the HC - if not I would question why not. I'm a skeptic by nature anyway.
The pup's temp should have been taken by the vet and if she was that sick I would think there would have been in increase in temp the day the HC was done. They would check ears, eyes, do a fecal exam. These are things that need to be noted on the HC.
I hope you are able to get your money back...I would not want another pup from this "breeder" if she's lost that many pups to parvo.

 

I definately think the breeder should have taken responsibility. I personally wouldn't ship any pup until well after their last round of Vaccinations. I don't even take mine out in public till after that. My early socialization is usually at family property or mine with family coming over the see pups etc...

Each breeder is different. Location doesn't matter as puppy mills are all over the US. My chinese Crested came from Alabama. He'd gotten into an ant pile and did look pretty bad when he arrived but his shots had been given on time, all health certs available etc...

The problem in getting the breeder to take responsibility for this pup is that the records show that the pup has had all vaccinations...and with the health cert. having been signed a third party deemed the pup healthy before being shipped to you. Depending on the contract between you there may or may not be a health guarantee for a specific time frame...a year, lifetime etc... Definately read over it and discuss your thoughts with the breed candidly and freely. If you discuss rather than attack and request compensation based on certain parts of the contract the breeder will feel you respected them as the breeder of the puppy and will likely either replace the puppy or refund money or put you on a reserve list. If you ask that the puppy come from another breeder ask that it come from a breeder that is a close friend of the original breeder...I doubt the breeder of the pup will go that route but heck it's worth a try.

I'm sorry for your loss definately and I do hope the situation you are in is made right by the breeder. Even if the airline is found to be a fault a good responsible breeder would do what they could to replace a puppy produced by them and lost in transit etc...

Sara

 

Sara is right, you might have a difficult time getting the breeder to accept responsibility. But vaccinations and health certificate not withstanding, the incubation period for parvo is 3 to 7 days. In all likelyhood the pup was infected when she got on the plane. She was probably infected when the vet examined her (if indeed she was really examined) and not showing symptoms yet.

If the breeder lived near you, you could persue the matter in smal claims court. But it's more difficult, seeing as you are so far distant from the breeder. Maybe you could drag the breeder before Judge Judy?

 

Really? Most vaccines I've seen use modified live virus. There was also that soloject 7 problem almost 5yrs ago where many dogs became ill with parvo within days of recieving this vacc. Myself and several other people I knew and some I only heard about who used this vaccine all had pups come down with parvo at the same time. This was nationwide also.

Also just because she got her vaccs isn't a guarantee, if the pup has an unsually weak immune system they still might not build up the antiboties and resistence.

There are also different strains of parvo and new ones can, do and will develop which leads to less resistence and ineffective shots. There was a killer strain going around that was killing even dogs who were fully vaccinated and older dogs from 9 months up to a year which is pretty rare. There was also one I had read about that the virus could spread through the rest of the system and cause death within 2 days. A friend of ours also lost 2 pups and had neocropsies done at 2 different vets with deaths undetermined, they tested for parvo as one thing and that was negative. The bodies had to be sent off to the university vet (I think it was) and they found a mutated strain of parvo different from others and one that wouldn't show up on a normal test.

I have read some very interesting and scarey stuff when I researched parvo, viruses can mutate pretty badly and cause an epidemic.

 

Hey True.

Your right, most are modified live, but theres also a killed as well.
I belive Innotec and (can't think of the darn name) use Killed virus.

I heard a while back about the parvo scares with the Spectra. Hince why i always look.

Its quite possible to get a disease after vaccinations. Nothing is 100%


I've got a friend who breeds Yorkies. She doesn't let her puppies leave til 13 weeks. and insures they have their shots. She just had one come up with Parvo. The vet just happened to have treated a parvo case a few days before the puppy was in for its health check and sure enough, that pup got parvo even after having all 3 rounds of the vaccination. Its doing ok right now. but grim looking.


Luckily the only cases i've ever had to deal with on parvo were from rescues or fosters. Its so sad and such a weird disease. I was told there are new strains of parvo and one of kennel cough that there just isn't a protection from since its mutated fromthe original, theres not a vaccination for it. Scary....

 

:cry: :cry:
Ohhh thats so sad, Im so sorry for your loss, I would be devastated if something happened to my Zepplin..








He's had his 2nd lot of injections, and after the third I thought they were ok and safe.. :|
He's growing so fast, and this scares me a little..When is it safe to take them out????
My vet said after the 3rd should be ok.. :?:

 

I wait till a few days after the third round.

Sara