Pet owners have been urged to look out for a virus that is spiking in some parts of the US and is lethal in dogs.
Parvovirus, often referred to as parvo — a highly-contagious disease that kills up to 90 percent of pooches — is above average levels in at least three parts of the country, New York state, DC and Missouri.
The most common symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea and loss of appetite. The virus is not tracked, so the total number of dogs to have died is not known.
New York health officials released an alert which said the Animal Care Centers (ACC) had diagnosed 14 dogs as of March 14, with the majority in puppies and younger dogs in Bronx and Manhattan facilities.
This far exceeded what is usually seen in a whole year.
And a shelter in Missouri has seen a sharp rise in cases in puppies, with some vets seeing two to three sick parvo-infected dogs every day, and sometimes even five or six. The uptick has been attributed to the warmer weather.
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