I have read through the archives and have gotten allot of valuable information about puppies and helpes, but I could not find any information on identifying ways to tell if your bitch has gotten it when she is not in whelp or bred. I was at a dog show 4 weeks ago with a young bitch. Three days after the show she developed signs of eye conjunctivitis. I treated her with Terramycin for 2 days and it cleared. She went down to the kennel to visit and 3 days later one of my stud males and 2 females had "pink eye" also. I also treated them with Terramycin. It cleared in 2 days as well. One of my 4 year old females was scooting around like her butt hurt, I laid her down and turned her over and saw 3 small blisters on her vulva. One of the blisters kind of looked like a white head. I used baetadine on a q-tip and applied it carefully to the blisters. I could tell that it hurt her. She usually lays in a frog position, but she has been laying with her back legs sckooched under her. It seems to be sensitive to her. My first thought was herpes so I went to the forum and several lectures and papers written by others , but nothing clearly says that I should see blisters. I read that the eye discharge is common, but I would like to know if others have seen blisters. I will be taking her to the vet tomorrow for a titer test as was posted on the forum but until then I would like to know if possible. Can anyone offer some insight. Thank you in advance.

CHV when it goes through an older puppy or adult canine is nothing more then a bad cold. Most of the time it's very hard to detect. It lasts about 48 hours and is gone. Your dog may experience a runny nose and a little green discharge if that in the eyes. Conjunctivitis is not part of this. It's more likely she picked this up at the show and is transferring to other dogs. As far as blisters are concerned, I have never heard of that being associated with CHV on an adult either however I am not a vet. I still would check with the vet but I do have experience with CHV and what you are describing does not sound like it. It' really a nothing with adult dogs. In fact we want them to contract it and have it pass so they develop the immunity and not have problems with new borns contracting it at birth.

Yes, I've heard the blisters on the vulva being a sign of herpes infection in an adult bitch. Can you get them titered to see what their exposure level is?

I plan to call my vet in the morning to bring both girls in for a titer. I have never had a titer test done, Is this a blood test they would send off? If so How long to get results back?
I was planning to breed my 4 year old this winter, from what I have read if this is herpes, the exposure was good and she will build up immunity , but I must keep her isolated the last half of her pregnancy to prevent a re-exposure that will affect the puppies. Am I correct?

I would check with your vet to be sure that enough time has passed since exposure to produce antibodies for testing.

A herpes titer is a blood draw but be sure of the lab your vet uses.

I had one done on 2 dogs and Antech sent it off to Cornell but antech sent it back as a "feline herpes titer". I called cornell to find out that feline is totally different than canine.

I refused to pay the bill. Had blood drawn again and shipped it directly to Cornell and my dogs came back negative for exposure.

I have been very careful with breedings ever since.

Hope your dogs come back covered because than you don't have to worry about pups.

Pups are exposed to herpes last 3 weeks of gestation and first 3 weeks of birth if the mother has never been exposed. If mom has had exposure prior, than pups are safe in utero and beyond.

Therefore, if your bitch titers negative for herpes than stay away from dog shows until the pups are born and at least 3 weeks old.

edited to add: do your testing now as it took about 4 weeks to get my results from Cornell.

A negative titre does not tell you much other than if there has been a *recent* exposure. The Ledbetter lecture illustrates that 90% of our dogs have been exposed, yet still continue to experience outbreaks of CHV.

http://ondemand.thecanonhouse.com/CHF/Ledbetter/Ledbetter.html


I encourage everyone, even those who think they know all about CHV to listen and watch this informative lecture....especially before they give out incorrect advice about CHV. CHV outbreaks can recur in the same bitch. Stress (including pregancy and surgery) can trigger the flare up of latent CHV. CHV can present with conjunctivitis.

Thank you for posting this Karen. It was up once before and can't be posted too many times.

I've been hearing the same as you stated lately from long-time breeders. The titres aren't all they're cracked up to be as there can be a flare-up of a previous infection that lies dormant. Frightening and nothing I know of to prevent it fully.

It's not a short video but worth watching it and learning more.

http://ondemand.thecanonhouse.com/CHF/Ledbetter/Ledbetter.html

Thank you everyone for the information you provided. I brought my 4 year old girl with the blisters on her vulva to my vet this morning and he thought that a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test to identify and isolate the virus would tell us for sure if the blisters are herpes blisters. He did 2 swabs, on 1 swab he expressed the blister and on the other he swabbed the remaining 2 blisters. We should have the results back this week possibly Wednesday. He felt that if the PCR identified that she did have the virus, given all the other circumstances, eye conjunctivitis etc, The titers would undoubtably be high. After watching the lecture in its entirety, I am glad I posted and am now armed with all the information I now know about CHV-1. Thank you all again.

how contagious is this? Can a human spread this like they can parvo?