I just recently learned of a puppy from one of my litters that is experiencing Puppy Strangles. He is 6 mos old and his owners first noticed significant swelling in his neck (my guess the lymph nodes?) and called me. I advised them to get him into the vet asap which they did. The vet diagnosed him with this and put him on from what I am reading a very routine treatment.

First, I will have to say that I have never heard of Puppy Strangles in a puppy this old. I did some reading and found that it does happen but rarely.

Their vet informed them that this is a hereditary condition. I have never had this happen. The litter this puppy is from is our 4th generation on the bitch side. The sire comes from a pedigree I am very familiar with. The littermates I kept have had no problems and I have checked with our other puppy people and nothing like this has happened to their pups.

I would love some input on this... Anyone with experience and is this truly thought to be a hereditary issue? I know compared to other things that we are faced with as breeders, this is pretty insignificant but still would like to learn more about this.

Thanks!

I have had puppy strangles twice over many years. Each time was with pups younger then yours but I remember my vet telling me although not often it can happen to an older pup. I also have learned "we" don't know the real cause of Strangles. Basically it's from a low immunity but what triggers it is not clear. I believe my pups reacted to a booster they were given, it was their 1st at 8 weeks. Pred for the strangles itself and we used Clavamox for the secondary infections. We also used Domboro (think I spelled that right) which is a powder you buy at a good pharmacy and mix with water and then run over any lesions. Can take 4 or 6 weeks to treat and in severe cases numerous months.

Good luck with the puppy

I had 2 siblings at 8 weeks old get puppy strangles shortly after their booster. The vet said it was most likely related to vaccinations. Both pups were cured after treatment with steriods and are now 4 years old, living in pet homes and have had no other problems associated with vaccines since. At the time, I was doing a 5 week parvo booster, a 6 week five way and an 8 week five way. NO MORE! Pups get a 6 and 8 week booster and then a 12 and 16 week shot. I still think this is a lot but unless you do anti-titer testing, is probably the best route. Over-vaccination is killing our dogs immune systems. My adults now get titer test and only are vaccinated when and "if" they need it.

I don't believe strangles is hereditary. If caught early can be cleared up quickly with little to no scarring.

I dont believe strangles is hereditary, but the immune system could be or enviormental events could tax the immune system as well.

I had a 4 month old get it after receiving her last set of vaccines and rabies.
It took forever to clear her up.

It all points to vaccines, it's an auto-immune problem and I would bet vaccine induced.

In 30 years of breeding dogs I have only ever had one puppy in one litter get strangles, this puppy was only 4 weeks old when she got it and had had NO vaccinations yet, I don't do vaccinations until they are 8 weeks old and I give the minimum they need for their life. This girl is now 5 years old and had one litter of 10 puppies and not one puppy got it so I don't believe it's heriditary which btw neither does my vet.
Aloha,
jackie

If the dam or sire was vaccinated, the puppy could still have vaccine induced damage due to DNA changes.
I also agree it is not hereditary, it is just an over-taxed immune system whether that is from food, vaccines, stress or even familial health.

I had it show up in a puppy at 6 weeks. We caught it early so she didn't have a lot of scaring. My repo vet told me it was hereditary so I spayed the mother and placed all the pups in pet homes. For me it wasn't worth taking a chance.

We had a puppy get strangles several years ago and our vet told us that many things can trigger strangles.. usually just a bad combo of things at a bad time. With our pup, our temps were in the low 100's and he got some time of a puncture wound... small and insignificant normally, but because of the stress of the heat, it caused his immune system to not be able to deal with all of it. Perhaps that is what happened with this youngster of yours.. just an unfortunate series of events or incidents that created havoc with his/her immune system.

If it were purely an immature immune system, then every puppy would get strangles. Something has to stress the puppy to trigger it.

I've seen puppy strangles in younger puppies only

In my last litter, 2 puppies got it at only TWO weeks old. The smallest had such a hard and swollen neck I thought surely he would die. The other had only one small open sore on his throat, which my daily careful inspections of the litter caught early and thankfully both responded to the meds. The poor little gaffers were so little/young, that I was leary on giving them the meds, but what alternative did I have. Both are living wonderful lives with busy children in their new families and doing very well.

I had it reported by an owner in one puppy at 4 months old. He's recovered very well and it was the only time I've seen or heard of it in my dogs.