Hi my name is Cynthia and my parents have a small dog maybe 6m old and she has swollen lymphnods. We took her to this one VET and he said that she had a bacterial infection well no that was not it. We took her for a second opinion and come to find out she has puppy strangles and she has had to go back 3 times and we are worried we need to put her down. We really dont want to do that. The infection is moving to her jaw line and this is just in a 12 hour prosses. They did open her up where the first growth was and it has a tub in it so it can drain the second one was opened and they just stappled that one back. But like I said right now it is getting bigger on the jaw line. When she breaths it's like when we are asleep and our mouth dont open all the way. I dont know what to tell my parents my mom loves her but we are worried she might have to be put to sleep. Are they in pain from this. Do these meds they give our dog is it working or what. What can we do for her. By the way her name is Tina girl she is so beautiful. Her eyes look like she has eyeliner around them. PLEASE HELP

Hi Cynthia   all i can say is take her back to your vets and discuss the options with him.I havent heard of the puppy strangles so i cant comment.in situations like this it is always best to get expert advice.

Puppy Strangles

very informative piece of information MM ....I have never heard of it.

Roni

Thanks mm very informative i had never heard of this...polly

Just to let you know they can survive it.  A friend (now sadly deceased) had in two finnish Spit6z littermates.  they were much younger, but survived, though it did stunt their growth, and it can cause the hair to fall out and not regrow on parts of the body affectedT

Hi Cynthia,

Sorry to hear this pup is sick.

I am not sure what my dog had was puppy strangles.  He was about 1 yr old and we had him neutered.  2 weeks later he came down with a fever and a funny odor to him (like when you have a sick child and they might be running a fever).  Took his temp and sure enough, he had a 102-103 temp.  Took him to the vet and he had swollen glands in the neck, they were humongous!  Also had tonsillitis.  Put him on some antibiotics and it did nothing.  Over a period of weeks/a month maybe - we had tried multiple antibiotics and 2 different vets to no avail.  We finally had the tonsils removed, but the glands remained swollen.  Finally sought a vet who practiced Chinese herbs and acupuncture.  He said to clear the lymph glands we must "clear the liver" and he put him on a Chinese herb that worked immediately!  He has never had swollen glands since.  The herb is called Yin Chiao but I don't recall what the dosing was.

I have not known anything about puppy strangles but in reading the link someone provided I found it interesting that it goes along with demodex/skin problems.

This dog of mine has battled Staph infections of the skin for 10 years!  He is now 10 1/2 yrs old.  We got it under control for about  1 1/2 years but it activated again with recent surgery.  We have not used antibiotics for it but rather been treating topically until just recently.  He is now on pred and an antihistamine.

Anyway, I am blabbering -- just wondered if it might be worth trying to find an alternative vet and using herbs on this pup before you would make a decision to have him euthanized.

I hope you do find something that works with this young one.

Barb

Well here is the good thing I found a medicine that will cure it it is Prednisone and they take it with an antibiotic. Puppy strangles is also known as Juvenile Cellulitis and the reason they call it puppy strangles is because it can cut off there air supply. Just a little info for those that didn't know what is was. It is more common over in England and sorts. They only see this here in Texas maybe 1 to 2 times a year. I was so scared for her. But I called the Vet and told them about the prednisone and they put her on it. I hope and pray that the rest of you never have to deal with this and I also hope and pray that if your pups are sick that they get better. Thank you all for your input
Cynthia

What makes your vet say it is more common in England?  I don't know how he got his statisitcis for. 

I have been involved in dogs now just over 15 years and have only ever known one person with a case in all the people I speak to.  My friend in my breed had never seen a case in over 50 years.

Is his asertion based on there being more inormation about it fr4om English sources or is there some reason to think that climate and weather may have an influence????

hello, my name is Chalette. My weeny dog was diagnosed w/puppy strangles at 8 weeks old, she is now 8 months old and is still not cured. She has been on pred and antibotics, both oral and injections. If anyone knows of something else I should be doing, please email me at stoquain@cs.com. any help is greatly appreciated. I love her so much and have done everything I've been told. Again please email me if anyone can help me and my angel.

Hello Cynthia

There is absolutely no need for your pup to be put to sleep.  I had a Papillon pup of 12 weeks who was initally diagnosed and treated for 3 days with synulox for a suspected eye infection wasn't till after the 3rd day when her head changed shape with the glands swelling that I realised there was something more and the second we walked back into see the vet his first words were "Puppy Stangles".  He had never seen it in a small breed dog before.  Her treatment was steriods and antibiotics for 2 months.  It looked like it had cleared but seems we stopped her treatment to soon as she started to break out in pustles and swell very slightly so she was put on her meds for a further 4 weeks and that did the trick.

This is a very old thread from 2005 so hopefuuly Cynthias dog has recovered well by now. :D
However as the poster who revived the thread is looking for help with her own puppy please reply to her new thread.