Abstract

Since its emergence, canine parvovirus enteritis has remained the most significant and important cause of enteritis in puppies between six weeks and six months of age. The aim of this study was to carry out a retrospective study in order to assess the effect of certain factors on the prevalence of the disease in diagnosed cases presented to the veterinary teaching hospital Annex, university of agriculture Makurdi from 2010 to 2016. The overall prevalence of the diagnosed cases of canine parvoviral enteritis has been at 5.7% for the past seven years. Age, sex, breed, vaccination status was showed to have been associated with the infection. Puppies of up to five months of age, males, breeds such as the Nigerian local breed, Alsatian, Caucasian, Rottweiler and Russian shepherd dogs and unvaccinated dogs are prone to this disease. Furthermore, this study revealed that early presentation and an aggressive support management of these cases had brought about a high recovery outcome of 85.4%. The distribution of the disease according to the season showed the highest incidence of cases occurred in 2012 (25.8%) and had descended down to (9%) by 2016 with most cases witnessed around January (22.5%) in dry season and June (15.7%) in wet season. The need for educating both veterinarians and dog owners about core vaccinations in dogs is paramount.