Assessment of clinical management of Canine parvoviral enteritis in South East, Nigeria

Abstract

Canine parvoviral enteritis (CPE) is a highly contagious disease, infecting dogs mainly from six weeks to six months. In this study, one hundred and fifty well-structured questionnaires were used to assess the clinical management of Canine Parvoviral Enteritis (CPE) among Consultants, Clinicians and dog owners/breeders. The study revealed that 78 % of the cases were managed in clinics/hospitals, with 59.3% hospitalization and with a success rate of 58.6 %. The study also revealed that younger dogs 1-6 months were more affected and both sexes are susceptible to CPE. Exotic breeds were mostly affected by CPE (96.6%). Most clinicians (73.3%) did not know the CPV-2 strain most prevalent in their area of practice while 52. 6% were not aware of CPV-2 strain in the vaccine they use for their practice. We therefore, recommend that vaccines containing the predominant antigenic CPV-2 variant circulating in a geographical area be used to vaccinate dogs.