FEBRUARY 1, 2019
Welp, I had to unexpectedly say goodbye to Buffy and Cordelia today as the SPCA needed me to take these two parvo pups.
They don’t die from the virus, but from the symptoms. They got fecal transplants today before they came to me. We are treating symptoms and they are getting lots of love and reassurance from the foster mom. I promised them I’d do everything in my power to take care of them, and that we’d still have playtime even if we are quarantined!
Here we all are in the playpen, the mom studying up on fluid maintenance rates in puppies and thinking about what I could cook for them that would be completely irresistible, even for a sick baby.
Please send all your best wishes to my new little snuggle loves, Yoshi and Mewtwo (lmao on the names). They’re as good at looking at the camera as Farley, so I’m taking comfort in that familiarity.
FEBRUARY 5, 2019
Update from Parvo Central:
Is it possible for humans to die from the effects of parvo puppies? Because I think the end is near lol.
YALL, I have never seen so much poop in my life. Literally, the cumulative amount of poops I’ve seen in my 34 years is nothing compared to the amount of poop I’ve seen in the past 5 days. Shit. Is. Everywhere. As soon as you clean it up: Shit. Is. Everywhere. Again.
The puppies are quarantined, but they’re feeling better, so the poops are ALL OVER the playpen and ALL OVER the puppies, one of whom is dying to escape to the couch.
They have chewed and shredded more puppy pads than they have shat upon, so I am in there sliding around in my once adorable strawberry galoshes doing decon at least 4-5 times per day, which means I am producing at minimum 1 load of laundry per day that is the direct result of poop.
Mewtwo is >20 lbs, which is twice Farley’s full grown size, but is producing poops the size of my Farley Eugene. To me, this does not count as puppy! As it turns out, she is spaz pup when she isn’t sick, so she has used all of her weight to shift the playpen around, thus dragging poops all over the tile. She has managed to spray poop outside the puppy area and loves to play a game I like to call “parvo poop rubber stamps”.
The puppies are going to make it, but the verdict is still out on the nurse/hospital manager/ foster mom/personal puppy chef/poop cleaner upper — ME.
FEBRUARY 6, 2019
Some pictures from our wind-down routine. There’s music. There’s dancing. There are lots of treats!
Both babies have learned to sit, and spaz pup Mew has learned to give me her paw. Yoshi is still working on it.
The hardest part of this, and despite what my post last night might have you believe, is not actually the poop, but that you can’t love on them the way you’d love on babies who weren’t in isolation. They can’t snuggle on the couch or sit at your feet under the cutting board, or follow you around the house just to “be together”. It sucks for everyone.
So between all the poop clean ups, and when we can’t go outside, I just have to make time to suit up and go into their area and give them what all beings need: love and attention.
We are ending our nights on a good note: learning new tricks and getting lots and lots of puppy massages and reassurance that a brighter day is coming and they won’t have to live this way forever.
PS there is NO poop in this photo. I gave them a paper towel roll to destroy.
I gave them a paper towel roll to destroy.
JANUARY 12, 2019
I have learned so much since the Parvo Pups came into my life. I thought I was signing up to do a lot of extra medical care, but what they needed most was extra love and for me to understand them. They also apparently needed a personal janitor which I have become, lol. Parvo puppies have to remain quarantined for a long time. After 10 days without symptoms they are considered well, but will still shed the virus, though it loses efficacy. These babies began to feel better pretty early on, so the challenge has been figuring out how to keep them busy, stimulated and happy while in isolation. What makes them the happiest is when I come in and we do tricks for treats, and sit together, just like all the other pups get to do on the couch (only a little more cold on the foster mom’s ass.) These babies have reminded me that every being — even ones who smell like poop, and especially ones who sometimes act cray— need someone to try to understand them. And they have taught me to find compassion when I’m annoyed by their behavior. They are really great babies who just need love, and it’s been a fun challenge to figure out how to do that in not-so-ideal circumstances. They’re going to make their forever families so happy one day. For now, it’s still my turn to love them and nurture them and clean up all of their poops. I love these stinkers!!!
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FEBRUARY 15, 2019
10 days of no Parvo symptoms means we are officially in the clear! Here’s what we’ve been up to.
Post-Adoption Update
VIDEO UPDATE AFTER DEPARTURE