Parvo virus-no respecter of dogs!

My landlords Labrador gave birth to twelve beautiful puppies about three and a half months ago. One died shortly after, leaving eleven bouncing bundles of joy. The father is the resident Boerbull and mom is a black Lab.-lekker cross! Well, they grew and we found homes for three of them, leaving eight which we hoped would also find good homes. Then another one died and one more went missing, leaving six. That was about three weeks ago. The six were settling in very well, commandeering everything, from the brooms, the slippers, the towels, and anything else which was of carry size, as it generally goes with such attractive little terrors. Then, tragedy struck! We realized something was wrong as they were not looking at all well. They had not as yet had their shots and so I first suspected billerie, even though I had not pulled any ticks off them; mom & dad have the usual odd tick as is always the norm. But then, after they all began showing signs of severe lethargy and appetite loss, not drinking and not interested in anything, I suspected something else and distemper came to mind. A vet friend told me however that distemper has not really manifested in these parts for quite some time and so I was again at a loss. And then, last Friday-I think it was-my memory came back and I recalled the days I worked in Southdale Pet Shop-in the early eighties-and a batch of puppies displayed the same symptons, killing the whole litter within a few days. Parvo virus aka: cat flu, the deadly puppy virus from which there is very seldom any respite. And, of course, had it been billerie, the odds of all puppies contracting it at the same time is not very likely So, the landlord got the vaccine from the chemist and Monday we administered it to the remaining six but by the following morning another two had died. Of the remaining four, I think two are hundred percent, and hopefully one of the other two is also coming round. But the other one, who was the 'macho sir' of the bunch, is very sick and I spent eighty percent of last night trying to care for him. He is extremely emaciated (we have been doing the chicken liver thing but he is not interested). Using a syringe, I put a few drops of water on his tongue every hour or so to combat the inevitable dehydration which is what accelerates the deterioration, and have been doing the only other thing available which is to pray. I know our father in heaven loves all of His creatures but, I have never in the past-as yet had any joy from any such prayers. I do, however, not abate with the treatment as well as the prayers, because who knows if and when our creator might just stretch forth his hand and make our day. Such a beautiful bunch of life! Such a tragedy, we bewail. But, the remaining three are showing strong signs of recovery and so, once again, all is not lost. We will, I believe, have at least three (perhaps four) to once again bring smiles and laughs to all who are privileged enough to meet them. And I console myself by thinking that all of the others will go straight to that happy place for puppies in the sky!