Trichy: With the wind season gaining pace in the past week, a viral disease called 'Parvo' has begun taking a toll on the dogs in Trichy. The lack of awareness on the treatment for the disease has put canines at the risk of death.Being an air-borne disease, the Parvo virus has already infected several dogs in the city. This was evident from the number of dogs that were brought to the veterinary poly clinic in Palakkarai in Trichy. There are 13 such polyclinics across the district and sources said that all clinics were witnessing a rise in such cases since the commencement of wind season.An animal welfare activist claimed that the polyclinic in Palakkarai received 20 to 30 cases of Parvo daily in the past week. "Though viral diseases affect dogs normally, it is virulent during the wind season," said honorary animal welfare officer G Ramakrishnan.He pointed out that there was a huge gap between the number of affected dogs and those being brought for treatment. He blamed the public for not identifying the virus and not bringing the affected dogs to veterinary centres for treatment.It was observed that majority of pet lovers were unaware of the symptoms of Parvo. Affected dogs will exhibit symptoms such as diarrhea with blood, fever, weight loss, weakness, etc."People can easily notice that affected dogs would not take food for two days continuously. This is a major symptom. If not treated immediately, the dog may die," said Ramakrishnan.People's unawareness would result in the disease spreading to other dogs in the area. Doctors advise five to seven days treatment to save the dogs from the virus."Parvo affects pups from when they are two months old. Once infected by the disease, the dog will develop immunity to fight the virus. But they should be treated when they are affected for the first time," said clinician Dr V Varadharan, veterinary poly clinic, Palakkarai.Stating that most dogs infected by Parvo are left untreated to die, Ramakrishnan suggested organising camps in all areas by NGOs to identify stray dogs and vaccinate them, to prevent such diseases including rabies. It may be noted that there was no survey on stray dogs in the district.

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