Puppies died after parvo shots. Was it the vaccine or the disease?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Female | unspayed | 1 year and 7 months old
My friends dog had a litter of 5 puppies and after 2 months he took his pups to the vet and gave them vaccines for parvo virus but after that day the pups got lethergic and got very sick and then after 6 days all pups died. The vet said that they had parvo virus. But before giving them the vaccine the pups were healthy and active. What can be the problem ?
4 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on March 1st, 2017
I'm very sorry to hear that this happened! Unfortunately, there is no way to know why the puppies got sick and died unless an autopsy was done on one or more of them, or some testing was done before they passed away. Parvo is certainly one possibility - the incubation period for this virus is 7-10 days, so this means that they were probably exposed sometime before their vet visit and began showing symptoms a few days later. They also could have had distemper, canine herpesvirus, or a severe intestinal parasite burden - all of these can cause death in young puppies as well. I would not expect the vaccine to have had anything to do with this, since it would be extremely uncommon for all of the puppies in a litter to all have a serious vaccine reaction. Serious reactions are quite rare, and normally affected dogs become extremely sick immediately and die within 24 hours - so the timing doesn't really fit either. It's likely that the timing of the vaccine was a coincidence, and the cause of death was an infectious disease or some other unrelated event. Again, I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend's pups.
4Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on December 25th, 2016
The incubation period for parvo is 7-14 days, so unfortunately, Deisel can still get parvo. Receiving the vaccine yesterday will not prevent him from getting it, as he was exposed previously to receiving the vaccine. I'm very sorry your other dog died! I would monitor Deisel, and take him into the vet immediately if he shows any symptoms of parvo.
3Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on April 25th, 2018
Generally symptoms resolve within 7-10days of exposure so it would be unlikely that any initial exposure would manifest later but it us possible he could become exposed beyond this. Regular, routine vaccination is vital to reduce the risk.of these serious diseases
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on May 7th, 2018
Distemper parvo vaccines are usually given every 3 weeks until they are 15-16 weeks old so he likely got a booster of the same or similar vaccine as he received when he was 7 weeks old. This is normal and not going to harm him either way. Today's vaccine should be effective whether or not he received one at 7 weeks old. He will need another distemper parvo vaccine in 3 weeks and again in 6 weeks from now. Your vet will also recommend some other vaccines dpenedent on your area. I would not take him to public places like a dog park or pet stores until he is completely vaccinated. I hope this helps!
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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