Mostly these are not very serious. Cats and dogs (especially dogs) can vomit very easily and also can very easily get diarrhoea. This stems from their need in the wild to immediately eat any food found before the pack moves on or before a rival steals it. Nature has provided them with a safety mechanism to prevent poisoning: if they are suspicious about the food or it doesn’t feel right they can make themselves sick by eating grass. If the food irritates the stomach it will cause the stomach to contract and therefore cause vomitting. If the food has allready passed the stomach and causes irritation of the guts, the guts will react by passing the food through very quickly and by diluting it with fluid causing acute diarrhoea. Mostly the animal will cure itself by not eating for a day or two giving the stomach and guts time to recover.
Dogs and cats are fairly resistant to real food poisoning but they can get it in the same way that humans do so hygiene is important for them too. It is always wise to remember that some causes of food poisoning (for example salmonellosis) can be caught by us and passed on to our pets or vice versa!
A particularly nasty cause of diarrhoea and vomitting is infection with Parvo virus. Parvo virus is a very resilient little virus that can very easily survive outside the animal. especially if it is surrounded by faeces. Cats and dogs (and humans) have their own viruses and generally cats won’t infect dogs and vice versa but the strain of virus that dogs get did originally (1978) mutate from a cat virus.
Parvo virus is not only resilient but also very infectious. An animal only needs to pick up a small amount of virus to become ill. One gram of faeces can contain enough virus to infect a million dogs! So tiny bits of dirt on a shoe can be enough to spread the infection.
Parvo virus is a real killer. There are no drugs available which will kill the virus so all that can be done is to support the body as best we can until the natural defences kick in. Even if properly treated, immediately after symptoms
– have started, most animals suffering from Parvo will die. Treatment is often costly as most animals need to be hospitalised to go on a drip and they need a tremendous amount of nursing and medical care. Animals which do survive often take many months before they are fully recovered and some of them are left with very sensitive guts.
Despite strict hygiene measures it is difficult to keep Parvo at bay in the Shelter because:
I) The Shelter deals with a large number of animals.
2) Space is at a premium, kennel sharing is often unavoidable.
3) The animals are under stress because they are in unfamiliar surroundings and they are often in poor condition when they come to the Shelter.
4) An animal can start to pass virus in the faeces before it shows signs of disease.
5) Resources are not unlimitted. As usual. protection is much better than cure. Vaccination these days gives good protection provided it is given at least a week before the animal gets into contact with the virus. This is the reason why you must not take your puppy out walking until at least a week after its final vaccination.
Parvo virus is truly a a devastating disease to deal with. Animals which get it are desperately ill and despite intensive (and expensive) treatment, most of them will die.
SO VACCINATE YOUR PET AND KEEP ITS VACCINATIONS UP TO DATED