can dogs get parvovirus more than once?

Question

My Puppy got parvovirus about 3 months ago and luckily she pulled through. I'm worried that she will get the virus again as there is a lot of cases of parvo showing up in the city where I live. I just really want to know whether she can get it again and if she is able to will it be full blown like last time?

Answer 1

No, since your dog has had the disease, she now has immunity against the virus, just as if she were vaccinated.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?ds=2&articleid=467

Immunity and vaccination

If a puppy recovers from CPV-2 infection, it is immune to reinfection for probably at least twenty months and possibly for life. In addition, after recovery, the virus is not shed in the feces. There are many commercially prepared attenuated (modified) live CPV-2 vaccines available. Although some people have expressed concern about the possibility of attenuated live vaccines reverting to a virulent strain after being given and then causing disease, studies have repeatedly shown that this does not occur. Commercially prepared vaccines are safe and do not cause disease.

The primary cause of failure of canine parvovirus vaccines is an interfering level of maternal antibody against the parvovirus.
The primary cause of failure of canine parvovirus vaccines is an interfering level of maternal antibody against the canine parvovirus. Maternal antibodies are the antibodies present in the mother's milk during the first 24 hours after the puppy's birth. The age at which puppies can effectively be immunized is proportional to the titer of the mother and the effectiveness of colostral transfer of maternal antibody within those first 24 hours. High levels of maternal antibodies present in the puppies' bloodstream will block the effectiveness of a vaccine. When the maternal antibodies drop to a low enough level in the puppy, immunization by a commercial vaccine will work. The complicating factor is that there is a period of time from several days to a couple weeks in which the maternal antibodies are too low to provide protection against the disease, but too high to allow the vaccine to work. This period is called the window of susceptibility. This is the time when despite being vaccinated, a puppy can still contract parvovirus. The length and timing of the window of susceptibility is different in every litter.

A study done in 1985 in a cross section of different puppies showed, that the age at which they were able to respond to a vaccine and develop protection covered a wide period of time. At six weeks of age, 25% of the puppies could be immunized. At 9 weeks of age, 40% of the puppies were able to respond to the vaccine. The number increased to 60% by 16 weeks, and by 18 weeks of age, 95% of the puppies could be immunized.

There is a newer Type 2 strain of vaccine known as a high titer, low passage vaccine. When using this vaccine, the percentages of puppies immunized are much higher at an earlier age. Some early studies are claiming 90% of the puppies are protected at 9 weeks of age and almost 98% protected at 12 weeks when this new Type 2 parvo vaccine is used.

When we examine all of the information about maternal derived antibodies, windows of susceptibility, throw in breed susceptibilities, the possibility of unidentified strains, and the effectiveness of different vaccines, we begin to see why there are so many different vaccination protocols and why some vaccinated animals still develop the disease. Drs. Foster and Smith recommend a protocol that will help protect the widest range of dogs. We realize that with our protocol, we will be vaccinating some dogs that are not capable of responding and we will be revaccinating some dogs that have already responded and developed a high titer. But without doing an individual test on each puppy, it is impossible to determine where the puppy is in its immune status. We also realize due to the window of susceptibility, some litters will contract parvovirus despite being vaccinated. By using quality vaccines and an aggressive vaccination protocol, we can make this window of susceptibility as small as possible.

Answer 2

It is a VIRUS. Once they have had it, they have developed an immunity to that virus. It is like why we cannot get Chicken Pox omre than once, or Mumps more than once.
Now that the puppy had had it, she will not get it again. They will still vaccinate her, because the parvo part comes WITH the rest of the combo vaccine, and she will still need the rest so she doesn't get distemper or any of the other viruses.

Yeah..call 5 local vets and see how many of them actually HAVE the rest of a 4 way combo vaccine WITHOUT the PARVO!!!!!!
I will tell you it is ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is not worth the money for them to buy an entire tray of each "part" and hope they can use it before it expires!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

No, she has immunity now for life. Vets do have vaccines as a single unit, so you should be able to get one without the paro.
Also, they do not need the shots every year.
Read the Wisconsin University weblinks
http://svmweb.vetmed.wisc.edu/articles/68/5/39
http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/8413.html
They is a lot more on the web about this.

Answer 4

Get your dog all of there shots I heard a dog could get it more than once but it usually strikes puppies and elderly dogs

Answer 5

yes, we bought two pups to keep our older dog company, they were inoculated, but the young male died at 5 months old from parvovirus and we were told he had got it from his mother? his sister is tested regularly now, so far so good..

Answer 6

yes if shots are not kept up especially in pups and old dogs,another disease that is growing that is a lot like parvo is corona

Answer 7

yes.my uncles puppy died a few days ago and now we fear the same will happen to the mother.the puppy was not old enough for its shots.if she has had her shots she shouldnt get it again .hopefully she wont

Answer 8

I would have thought that your dog now has some immunity against the disease but you need to keep her shots up to date.

Answer 9

normally this is a virus of puppies if she has had it hopefully you have had her vaccinated and she is now protected

This is a worrying disease

Answer 10

yes