Canine Coronavirus

Canine Coronavirus is a relatively new disease in dogs. I first noticed this in my kennels around 1992. At first we thought it was Parvo, as the symptoms are very similar.

The main difference is that the patient does not develop bloody stools. If the Coronavirus patient does develop bloody stools, it is very likely that a secondary infection of Parvovirus has set in.

Similar to Parvo

Coronavirus is transmitted by ingesting feces from infected dogs, in much the same way as parvo. The incubation period is only a few days, followed by diarrhea, vomiting and severe dehydration. Adult dogs generally recover quite quickly, however puppies are at much greater risk. They quickly become dehydrated and lose weight very fast.

Although coronavirus is a diagnosed virus, I have found that prompt treatment with injectable Amoxil under the skin will prevent puppies from getting overly sick from it. This is not logical, as viruses are not treatable with antibiotics. My local Vet had no idea what the problem was at the time, but by experimenting with different treatments, we found that injecting ½ml of Amoxil suspension under the skin stopped the coronavirus from killing them... that and isolating puppies immediately they go off their food.

The way I stopped losing pups from coronavirus was by putting them on clean ground after coming out of the whelping kennels, and using Amoxil injections immediately a pup was off colour.