If you’ve ever dealt with Parvovirus, you know it’s the worst. It is by far the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with in dogs and puppies. It is relentless in how it takes over their system, and it has nearly around 90% fatality in puppies. One summer I had my puppies on concrete each day, enjoying the fresh air, and I had given them milk replacer as a bit of a treat that week. They were weaned, but what pups don’t like milk? Well, it turns out flies like them, too. Flies had landed in the milk replacer and died. Seven days later my pups started getting the lethargy, the long stare into space, the drool that is clear and stringy, hanging from their mouths. Their stool go looser and looser, liquid that went from green, to brown, to pink, with some being red. They stopped eating, got dehydrated, and either whined in pain or went silent. Neither felt right. It’s nearly impossible to sleep any kind of sleep when your puppies are sick like this. I was devastated.
I did my best with giving fluids subcutaneously, and my vet only allowed me to drop off two. I distinctly remember showing up at the clinic with four sick puppies in the back of my SUV. And she looked at them and looked at me, and said “Pick two.” Granted it was the office manager, not my vet; my vet would’ve never said that to me. She’d have found a way to take them all.
I got the call 24 hours later that they weren’t improving, and in so much pain that she recommended euthanasia. My two at home weren’t faring any better, and they passed shortly after.
It’s so painful as a breeder. You think you do everything right, but these things still happen sometimes. Why does it happen?
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First off, there is a window of susceptibility with standard vaccinations. When puppies consume colostrum from their mother the first few days, they receive a passive immunity. Essentially, they get some soldiers from mom’s immune system. While they’re super strong soldiers, they do die out, and they aren’t capable of teaching the puppies immune system how to make more. This is why it’s considered passive.
Around 5-7 weeks of age, those soldiers are dying out, and they are no longer strong enough to fight off an active infection. So if the puppy gets Parvo in this window—which will be slightly different for each puppy—they will get an active infection. However–and this is the thing that sucks–the standard Parvo vaccines are a lot weaker than the actual virus, not just because they can’t replicate, but because there isn’t a lot of virus in them to trigger the immune system.
This window of time where the virus is too strong for the mother’s given passive immunity, but her immunity will still wipe out the vaccine, is called the window of susceptibility. This is when puppies get Parvo, even with breeders who are seemingly doing everything right.
I had thought I had it all sorted out. I had the puppies at a new location—no Parvo! But then someone wore the wrong shoes and spread it to the new place. I was again sick to my stomach thinking I have no safe place. And then I found Neopar, a parvo-only vaccine from a company, NeoTech. I had heard of it before, but I couldn’t believe it. NeoTech explains that their vaccines—designed specifically with breeders in mind—were designed to bypass the mother’s immunity, where the vaccine can then mingle with the immune system and create a response. NeoTech explains that this is due to having a higher vaccine mass inside their vaccine.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t believe it. How could they make a vaccine that was strong enough to do that that wasn’t dangerous? Yet, here I was with another round of Parvo, and something had to change—what did I have to lose?
According to NeoTech’s own research and testing, they were able to give puppies at 3 weeks of age their vaccination, and 90% of the puppies gained protective immunity from that single vaccination. It’s crazy to give a puppy a vaccine at 3 weeks. Mom’s immunity is way too strong at that time to need it. BUT, it was something they did just to show the efficacy of their product.
If you have Parvo in your area or on your property like I do, the recommendation by NeoTech is to give the Neopar vaccine at 5 weeks, and again every 2 weeks. In watching Parvo at my property, I have seen all of my dogs are protected until they are a few days older than 6 weeks. This is why I give all my puppies the vaccination at 6 weeks of age.
Interestingly, my puppies tend to sleep for 2 days after receiving Neopar; I can tell it’s really challenging their systems. It works, and they get immunity. Since using Neopar, I have not had a single case of Parvo. It may be controversial, but for those who are interested in a minimal vaccination protocol, I have tested it, and the single dose at 6 weeks seems to be enough for life. I have had puppies get that single dose and then run around in the yard where there is active infection, and we still haven’t had a case of it.
I’m also grateful that, unlike most other vaccinations for dogs, there isn’t any mercury in these vaccines. They have another one for distemper, and a combo one called NeoVac DA2, and that covers distemper and two strains of adenovirus. With Neopar and NeoVac DA2, the dogs are covered for 4 of the 5 things in the 5-way vaccination; it’s missing parainfluenza.
I sleep better at night now. I used to get anxiety during the last two weeks, while the puppies were in the window of susceptibility—especially since they all were spoken for at that time. Now, I sleep like a baby, I’m not worried. And I am so grateful for NeoTech for making a solution I can stand behind.
I will mention this is not a sponsored episode. I have never spoken to the NeoTech company. I decided to test it and share my story. I’ve been fully using NeoTech vaccines for 18 months and couldn’t be happier. If you buy your vaccinations at Revival, they are available there and reasonably priced. It comes in a 10-dose vial or an individual flat of 25.
It’s worth mentioning that many veterinarians are unfamiliar with this vaccination and the company, and will likely not carry it.
I hope this helps a few of you! It tackles one of the big four puppy problems: Parvo, Giardia, coccidia, and worms, like roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. For the other three I use the MOOM I created, and the herbal dewormer I created, which is Swan Essentials Perfect Log Herbal Dewormer.
Good luck! And I hope you get back to sleeping like a baby those last few weeks!
