ADOPT shelter treats dogs for parvo virus

Chris Stirn knows its horrors firsthand. She has witnessed the vomiting, the bloody stools, the loss of appetite and the dehydration. She has observed the lethargy and the weight loss.

As the medical services coordinator for Animals Deserving of Proper Treatment, Stirn recently witnessed a litter of eight puppies contract canine parvovirus, commonly called parvo.

Stirn said four of the puppies died, three were hospitalized, and one remained at the shelter during his entire illness. The shelter, she said, sees two or three litters become infected each year.

“It’s the worst, most common thing that can happen to a dog,” said Stirn, who has worked at the Naperville facility for two and a half years.

“I think a lot of people just don’t understand parvo. It can be a death sentence, but with treatment and care, (parvo puppies) can also do well. They can live long, happy, normal lives.”

Stirn knows this positive aspect to be true, too, as she recently adopted the previously parvo-infected pup that remained at the shelter, now a healthy 5-month-old canine.

The virus, Stirn said, “hits (puppies) really hard,” at least partially because of their less-developed immune system. The disease eats away at the lining of the intestines. And it’s resilient, unaffected by cold or heat or rain. It can live for months on as little as a hair particle.

Stirn said she “really bonded with (the single puppy). I would spend a lot of time with him. (In addition to caring for him weekdays), I would come (to the shelter) Saturdays and Sundays four times back and forth from (my home in) Downers Grove to care for him, administer his medications and make sure he was doing well.”

Stirn said she changed the pup’s original name from Opie to Uno, “because he was the only puppy left (at the shelter of the virus-infected eight).”

Because Stirn and her four children, two cats and a bird recently lost the family dog, Petey, to a debilitating condition, the addition of Uno “has been a joy to the family,” she said. “I helped him, and now he’s helping me and my family.”

Stirn and her family aren’t alone in their love for a formerly parvo-infected puppy. Shelter volunteer Mary Henderlite and her family added “the greatest parvo puppy ever” to its menagerie two years ago.

The household currently includes two dogs, two cats and a fish.

Henderlite and her daughters, Maddie and Grace, discovered the part-lab, part-collie-mix puppy during their Wednesday night volunteer hours at the shelter.

Henderlite said she had previously been unaware that puppies can survive parvo. Ten years ago, while living in Texas, her family adopted a puppy and didn’t know it had parvo.

“It went into seizures at our house,” she said. “We were just heartbroken (when) it died.”

However, this time was different.

“I knew ADOPT did everything possible,” Henderlite said. “(Parvo puppies) get great care there. ADOPT just puts everything possible into them. I don’t know that a lot of places would have done what ADOPT did.”

Stirn agreed.

“We’ve spent thousands of dollars treating puppies with parvo, and they don’t all make it,” she said. “But that’s what ADOPT does. That’s part of our mission — to better the lives of the animals.

“In many other places, these puppies would not have had the opportunity.”

Now, the once-ill puppy named Blue is the Henderlites’ greeting committee.

“He loves everybody and always has to say hello. He’s a licker, a really great dog,” Henderlite said.

“(Blue) is really smart, super friendly … the perfect dog,” Henderlite added. “From parvo to perfect.”

Ÿ Linda Kane is a volunteer and writer for ADOPT.