Canine parvovirus causes a devastating and often fatal gastrointestinal illness in unvaccinated dogs, with prevention through vaccination being the most important welfare protection available.
Parvovirus causes some of the most severe suffering commonly seen in veterinary medicine. Affected puppies experience violent vomiting and hemorrhagic diarrhea, becoming rapidly dehydrated, septic, and collapsed. The disease progression from normal puppy to near-death can occur within 24-48 hours. The suffering involved is extreme and the treatment requires days of intensive hospitalization. That this devastating disease is entirely preventable through a single course of vaccination makes it one of the most important preventable welfare harms in companion animals. Vaccination is a fundamental responsibility of dog ownership.