Wild Ideas Can Save Lives

Have you ever had an "aha" moment in the bathtub? How about an "aha" moment about the bathtub? Fifteen years ago, a puppy with parvovirus in an animal shelter was almost definitely a death sentence.

Stuck in the Status Quo

Not necessarily from the virus, which attacks the gastrointestinal system and is fatal when untreated, but by the "infection control" process of most shelters, which dictated the euthanasia of any parvo-positive puppies along with their littermates. For decades, this was seen as the most cost-effective and "safe" way to manage parvo in a shelter.

There Had to Be a Better Way

In 2008, it struck me that there had to be a way to save the thousands of parvo-exposed puppies euthanized in shelters every year. It was wild to me that a busy veterinary office could treat parvo without spreading it to clients' dogs, but a shelter couldn't. It felt like a way to save a lot of dogs by doing something I knew how to do from my years in private practice.

As I thought about possible ways to figure things out, it struck me that I had a built-in "quarantine ward" in my home (my bathroom) that had its own washable puppy pen (my bathtub).

So, I did it. I set up, in my home, what would become the first parvo puppy intensive care unit (ICU) for shelter animals. Plenty of people thought I had lost my mind; caring for parvo puppies is dirty, stinky, and exhausting. The virus causes bloody diarrhea that carries a unique and powerful odor.

Handling the puppies requires proper personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves and gowns, and the heartbreak from losing puppies to the virus can be brutal. Still, I just knew that we could do better.

It Worked

And it turns out that we could. With no medicine available to fight the virus directly, providing medical support was the path to survival. We needed to find cost-effective and easy-to-implement ways to support the puppies physically while they fought off the virus.

This involved providing fluids to combat dehydration and antibiotics to fight off secondary infections. We also showed that, with adequate safeguards, you could treat parvo in a shelter without spreading the disease. Soon, my home-based Parvo Puppy ICU was transferred to the Austin Pets Alive! facility, where we developed parvo protocols to share with others in animal welfare.

These protocols save over 80 percent of infected puppies from a disease that previously would have resulted in their euthanasia. Since starting in my bathtub, the Parvo Puppy ICU model has saved thousands of lives yearly.

Wee Snaw, a Parvo Puppy ICU survivor, previously would have been euthanized but is now thriving.

Source: APA! / Used with Permission

Getting there wasn't as easy as filling the bathtub, though. The biggest challenge was fighting the misinformation that exists in shelters. People don't understand how it is spread and how to prevent it, so the fear of it is larger than the reality of it.

That fear was so ingrained that I genuinely believe if I were not a veterinarian, we would have been forced to stop treatment by the state vet or some other authority. I was also surprised by the pushback from the veterinary community. I understand because the literature shows a much longer contagiousness after the illness ends.

However, that timeframe was never tested because it didn't need to be. It was only tested at a previous time, not daily until that time. We didn't have a laboratory to test that out, but we did have real life. We were faced with highly desirable puppies who would die if not treated (by shelter euthanasia or disease), and we were under a time crunch to move dogs through so that the maximum number of dogs could be saved. It was that desperation that spurred innovation.

Have a Bright Idea? Try it

The Parvo Puppy ICU was more than just a radical idea. It was a breakthrough that revolutionized how parvo is treated in shelters. It demonstrated that parvo-exposed puppies could be treated and saved, rather than euthanized, with minimal resources and risk of infection.

It also revealed that a simple solution, such as using a bathtub as a quarantine ward, could make a massive difference in the lives of thousands of dogs who deserved a chance to live and love.

By taking a risk and trying something new, I learned valuable lessons about innovation, compassion, and resilience that have shaped my career and life. I hope my story inspires others to face challenges with courage and creativity and to think outside of the box (or in the bathtub) when it comes to helping animals (and people) in need. You never know what amazing things you can achieve when you follow your heart and intuition.