Canine parvovirus causes severe haemorrhagic gastroenteritis with high mortality in unvaccinated dogs, and treatment in intensive care causes significant additional stress to already profoundly ill animals.
Parvovirus causes severe and rapidly progressive suffering. Affected puppies become profoundly ill within 24-48 hours of infection, experiencing relentless vomiting, bloody diarrhoea, and systemic collapse. The gastrointestinal damage destroys the intestinal lining, causing secondary bacteraemia and septic shock. Puppies in intensive care require continuous IV fluid administration, repeated blood glucose monitoring, and antiemetic injections. The stress of hospitalisation, handling, and invasive procedures adds to the burden of disease. Most devastating is that parvovirus is entirely preventable: vaccination costs less than one day of intensive care treatment and protects reliably for several years. Communities and shelters with high vaccination coverage simply do not see parvovirus outbreaks. The welfare case for universal puppy vaccination is unambiguous.