Canine Rotavirus

Canine rotavirus is a virus that isn't very well known, since it doesn't usually cause symptoms in adult dogs, and in puppies it causes mild diarrhea that usually resolves without complications within a few days.

Still, it's important to know about this disease, since it can become serious if it affects weakened animals or those with a weak immune system, or if it combines with other digestive diseases like parvovirus, potentially becoming fatal. Let's look at the symptoms of canine rotavirus, how it's transmitted, and its treatment.

What Is Canine Rotavirus?

Canine rotavirus is a type of virus from the Reoviridae family that affects dogs' intestines. It infects the intestinal villi, interfering with the ability to absorb food.

There are different strains of rotavirus that cause diarrheal illness in different animal species and in humans, mainly affecting children. Although rotavirus strains are species-specific, these viruses can mutate easily and jump from one species to another fairly often.

That's why this disease is common in developing countries where people live close to livestock in poor hygienic conditions. Canine rotavirus in particular generally doesn't affect humans, but it could potentially be transmitted.

How Is Rotavirus Transmitted?

Rotavirus is generally transmitted through contact with the fecal matter of infected animals (fecal-oral route). Dogs with still-immature immune systems (puppies), those with weakened defenses, and those living in overly stressful environments have a higher risk of infection.

What Symptoms Does Rotavirus Cause in Dogs?

Rotavirus can affect dogs of any age; it doesn't usually cause symptoms in healthy adult dogs, but in puppies under 12 weeks old or dogs with weakened defenses, it usually causes watery diarrhea.

Its effect on the dog is generally mild, and it's not usually a serious condition in puppies unless the puppy is weakened or this infection combines with another disease, such as canine parvovirus or canine coronavirus.

Initially, it's hard to distinguish a rotavirus infection from coronavirus or parvovirus based on symptoms alone, since all three viruses cause a similar picture in puppies:

• Watery diarrhea.
• Mucus in the stool.
• Fever.
• Nausea or vomiting.
• Poor appetite.

However, parvovirus causes a more serious illness than the other two infections and has high mortality in puppies, so if we notice digestive symptoms in our dog, we should see the vet to rule out or confirm parvovirus and start treatment if positive.

How Is Rotavirus Diagnosed?

To diagnose an intestinal viral infection, a stool sample needs to be taken. Generally, the vet rules out a serious infection from other causes such as parvovirus, and a specific rotavirus diagnosis usually isn't pursued, since treatment will be symptomatic and there's no specific medication.

Treatment for Canine Rotavirus

There's no specific medication against this virus, so treatment focuses on relieving symptoms; especially important is preventing the dog from becoming dehydrated, helping replace lost fluids and electrolytes through oral rehydration solutions (Pedialyte), or, if the puppy can't drink on its own or symptoms are severe, giving fluids intravenously. This is rare with rotavirus and suggests the virus is combined with another infection.

Temporary dietary measures are also put in place (an easily digestible bland diet) to help the digestive system recover.

Antibiotics generally aren't prescribed, since they're only useful for bacterial infections, not viral ones. But in animals with a weakened immune system, they may be needed to prevent secondary bacterial infections.

Prognosis for the Disease

In healthy adult dogs, rotavirus infection is usually asymptomatic, and in puppies it generally causes mild to moderate watery diarrhea that resolves within 8-10 days, and this infection is rarely fatal.

Rotavirus on its own usually isn't a serious disease; however, its importance lies in the fact that rotavirus infection is often secondary to another disease (parvovirosis), complicating the clinical picture.

Is There a Vaccine Against Canine Rotavirus?

There's currently no vaccine against rotavirus in dogs, but there is a vaccine against parvovirus and coronavirus, and since rotavirus's clinical importance lies in its infection usually being secondary to another disease, we should vaccinate our dog against parvovirosis and coronavirus to prevent severe symptoms in case of rotavirus infection.

Can Canine Rotavirus Spread to People?

There are eight different types of rotavirus, classified from A to H. The rotaviruses affecting dogs belong to Group A, which is also the group that most commonly affects humans, although groups B and C are known to cause outbreaks. Each group is further divided into serotypes or strains. Serotypes G3 and P3 are the ones most frequently found in dogs. These serotypes can affect humans, but this is rare.

Although canine rotavirus generally doesn't affect people, we should take precautions if our dog is infected:

• Avoid contact between the dog and young children, particularly babies.
• Wear latex gloves when cleaning or picking up an infected animal's feces, and wash your hands afterward.
• Disinfect the animal's living area.