1 Aug 2022
A South Yorkshire family cut short their holiday after their 13-month-old German short-haired pointer developed a particularly severe case of the infection.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Murphy spent nine days in intensive care at Paragon Veterinary Referrals in Wakefield after becoming ill with parvovirus.
A 13-month-old German short-haired pointer had to spend nine days in intensive care after becoming seriously ill with parvovirus.
Murphy’s owners returned home from holiday in Tenerife after vets at Paragon Veterinary Referrals in Wakefield told them it was one of the worst cases of parvovirus they had ever seen.
Internal medicine specialist Andrea Holmes said: “Murphy came to Paragon so weak he was unable to walk and he was taken via trolley from the car park directly into the isolation ward.”
Although he had tested negative for parvovirus three times, a further assessment confirmed he did have the infection.
He was kept in isolation from other dogs and needed a feeding tube to administer liquid medication.
Murphy’s owners Shaun and Michelle Stead – from Swinton near Doncaster – caught the first available flight back to the UK with their 17-year-old son Taylor when they were alerted to his condition.
Mr Stead said: “Andrea and Ben [Safrany, specialist in training] said Murphy had a very high strain of parvovirus and it was very rare to see a case this bad. He’s fully vaccinated, but there are rare cases when it can still infect dogs.
“If he hadn’t been vaccinated, there’s no way he would have survived. We’re just so grateful to everyone who’s cared for him and that he’s on the mend.”
News of Murphy’s case comes only days after practitioners at the MyVet group of practices in Ireland warned owners there of a surge in parvovirus infections.
