Truckee, CA – 6-year-old girl Samantha Dogglin of Truckee, CA has named her 3 month old Kitten “Parvo” despite encouragement from her parents to choose, in their words, “something a little more appropriate for the little creature.”
“I like the name Paaaarrrr-vo,” Samantha mentioned to The Fazzler. “I liked it. It’s cute. It makes me happy.” The Dogglins visited the local animal shelter picked out the kitten. After playing with several cats and kittens, they finally settled on Parvo, a Manx/Norwegian Forest cat mix. According to the administrator at the shelter, the little kitten was abandoned there last week.
“Parvo” or Parvovirus is the common name applied to all the viruses in the Parvoviridae taxonomic family, which impacts dogs and cats as well as other animals. The gastrointestinal tract and lymphatic system can be affected at any age, leading to vomiting, diarrhea and immunosuppression but cerebellar hypoplasia is only seen in cats that were infected in the womb or at less than two weeks of age, and disease of the myocardium is seen in puppies infected between the ages of three and eight weeks.
“Samantha was so excited,” said Dorothy Dogglin, her Mother. “When the animal control officer told us that the kitten had already been vaccinated against feline parvovirus, Sam heard the word ‘Parvo’ and thought it was her name. And from them on, that’s all she’s been talking about.”
Despite the peculiar name for her kitten, little Samantha has yet to learn of its ironic and some would say somewhat hilarious undertones. None the less, she is enjoying her time with her new friend.
