The Disease Watchdog website shows Scone has lost 63 dogs and puppies to parvo and Tamworth has had 33 deaths – a dog has died every second day for the past two months.

Dr Robyn Edleston of Marius Street Small Animal Veterinary Clinic said they’d had one to two cases of parvo for at least the past six weeks, and she said it was a similar story at other practices in the city.

“Of these, only one survived because it was a pup in good condition,” she said.

In that case, the owner recognised the signs and  vets were able to give an early diagnosis. 

“They all could’ve had at least one vaccination,” Dr Edleston said.

“This is all from people not getting the full course of vaccinations. Once they are done, you need to keep pups isolated until they’ve had the full course. It’s a particularly bad season.”

She said she believed the dry, mild winters were causing the bad season because the virus was usually a spring and summer problem.

“Tamworth also has a high rate of unvaccinated dogs and strays,” she said.

Dr Mark Kelman from Virbac Australia said the research he’d been involved in showed that in Australia, we seem to get more cases in autumn, but more deaths in summer.

“It doesn’t explain why there are so many in the Tamworth and Hunter region,” he said.

“We have an epidemic in these areas currently. We were anticipating the disease, but not these numbers.”

As well as the pain and suffering caused to unvaccinated dogs, the cost of vaccination is a lot less than the cost of treating an infected dog.

The full course of vaccinations is $250-$300 compared to more than $1000 to get a dog treated, and Dr Edleston said you couldn’t be guaranteed your dog would live. 

“I’ve not seen a case of parvo in a properly vaccinated dog,” she said.

Dr Kelman said there was not sufficient herd immunity to parvovirus.

“It’s like whooping cough in humans. When we don’t vaccinate enough or enough members of the herd come into contact with the wild virus, they don’t build up immunity,” he said.

“As a result the disease is spreading in the community, so the animals who are vulnerable are the ones who are getting sick.”

Dr Edleston said parvo was a cruel thing.

“It’s not nice to treat and there’s a good chance the dog is not going to live and it involves round-the-clock treatment,” she said.

Dr Edleston said the virus was so bad that once it was on a property, it could be there for seven to 10 years.

“This is really disappointing because we’ve been trying to get the message out there,” she said.

“With any sort of new puppy, contact your vet and find out what you should be doing and when. Talk to the vet or vet nurse because if puppies have poor nutrition or have worms, the chances of them getting parvo is higher. People need to ask advice because no one is going to criticise them for asking questions; there are no stupid questions.”

Dr Kelman said for 99 per cent of dogs, it was better to vaccinate them if the owners were not sure.

“We’re working with the RSPCA to target some of these communities,” he said.

“Fifty per cent of dogs who get the disease are going to die, either from being euthanased or from the disease itself.”

To track the numbers of dogs reported with 

parvovirus, visit www.diseasewatchdog.

org.