2 wk old litter born very healthy and bloomy and all always thriving. A quiet content litter. Birth weight more than doubled now. Today noticed one baby girl acting off and found her jaw and neck very hard and swollen! Felt all puppies and all fine. A few hours ago checked them again and found another baby girl same but not as hugely swollen at least not yet anyway.

I have searched the archives here. I find strangles threads but it talks about older puppies and after first vaccination it seems. Can strangles affect babies this young? I'm at a loss as to why and how?

You can't give wee ones pred so that is out. Vet gave me antibiotics.

I'm worried sick! They are wee ones and what is the next step after this with their jaw and neck, they are going to break out in those horrible pustules?? What I read when I google frightens me for my babies. One sight says it's bacteria based and clamped it in with distemper like it was one and the same. Says it is very contagious.

I will be calling my vet first thing in the morning to let them know that I have another one starting strangles.

Please has anyone dealt with strangles in pup(ies) this young?? I would be most appreciative for any words of advice, etc.

I've never heard of strangles in pups that young. I've had 4 pups from 2 differing litters that had strangles. Started at 7.5wks of age. Something else going on in your whelping box in my opinion.

My experience was older pups also. I have never heard of it this young. Any change of a little biting bug of any sort, getting in your blankets or towels ? I would go to vet again and find out quickly. Keep us posted, hope someone with experience speaks up.

I had a litter with 2-3 puppies with the same symptoms as you've described, just a little older. The swollen necks went away in 2 days with Clavamox. I also thought it was strangles, but it wasn't.
Keep us post, so we learn. I hope they do better soon.

Check all the puppies around their eyes for pimples,or anything resembling a stye. That's how the strangles started for my litter last summer. It was hot and buggy like this summer. The swellings came later. Personally I'd put the whole litter Ceph. for a while. Do Stoneybrook organic yogurt and probiotics. Clean all bedding in hottest water and add some bleach. Keep pups cool and mom's underside clean as possible. I hope it isn't strangles. Could be a spider bite.

Our last litter had 2 puppies with strangles, they were less than 2 wks old. Large swelling below the ears, which burst. Predisone and Clavamox cleared them up, 2 wks of treatment. I was shocked that the puppies were so young but it does happen. Hoping your puppies get better soon.

Hi thanks for your replies. So pred was given to puppies this young?? I wouldn't think you could on such wee ones at 2wks or younger. What was the dosage and how did that puppy grow up? Once they have this or have had this, are they easily susceptible to whatever? Once you got rid of it in 2wks time frame did it ever come back? Does it or can it come back?

There are no pimples anywhere that I can see. The two that are affected are quiet babies still. I would think this would bother them and they would cry but they aren't. They are also nursing fine though I am giving them a bottle 2x a day for me so I know they didn't miss any meals.

She died. :( Took her in and the other little girl still with me. They lanced the one girl and will culture that. Never in all these years of breeding have I seen anything even remotely like this.

Since talk about the pimples supposed to be there, I'm not convinced now that it is strangles. But maybe you can have it and not have the pimples. I don't know. I'm just sick at heart right now. And I pray I don't lose my other precious baby to whatever is going on and no one else comes down with this.

So sorry for your loss. I pray you get some answers and your other baby survives.

Could it be the start of Herpes Virus ?
We had an odd occurence happen to our pups back in June when they were a couple weeks old. One of the girl pups developed a hard, crusty jaw line. I wasn't convinced it was strangles but I put her on 6 days of Cephalexin and it cleared right up. Sometimes young pups will pick up bacteria from their dam's underside when nursing or rubbing up against her. Some pup's immune system is still too immature to fight alot of bacteria but a little antibiotics will clear it up in most cases. Except with puppy strangles then pred and clavomox combo works the best.

No, I don't think so on herpes at all. This has been a quiet and content litter always. All other puppies are still ok and free of the strangles. The one girl is hanging in there. She's still lethargic. I sure hope she can pull through.

I found this article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1489480/

We are surrounded here by horses. Those of you that have had strangles in puppies, do you have horses around you and your dogs?

I had strangles with a puppy that was about 4 or 5 weeks old. She was the only one in a litter of 9. I was certain it started after 2 people came to my house and walked in the puppy room...pups on the floor playing and they had on boots and had just come from a horse barn. I was out and had left a non dog person watching the litter..he didn't know not to let these people in with the puppies with shoes on. The next morning the puppy had symptoms. After treatemnt she was fine..but it took a long time for me to convince the vet it was strangles.

FYI about Prednisone at such an early age. It is thought that giving it when dogs are young may interrupt normal skeletal growth and that perhaps giving Glucosamine in conjunction with the Pred may be the way to go. Had a friend go through very mild hip dysplasia with 2 dogs from the same litter who had been on steroids at an early age. The puppies had come from very good lines of structurally sound dogs. And her vet traced it back to the use of the steroids.

Best to keep your buyers extra vigilant about weight control and sensible exercise as their puppy grows??

And FYI about using Prednisone later in life on dogs. Seems Pred can weaken the cells of the cornea thus making dogs more prone to corneal ulcers. And believe me, you don't want to go through one of those with your dog. They are quite painful and can very expensive to treat!!

Good luck with the puppies, hope they are well soon.

if the symptoms showed up the next day it did not have anything to do with the dirty barn people...a bacteria has been suspected, in particular streptococcus species. However, bacterial cultures never confirm any bacterial infection.

whatever it is was probably present way before the dirty people showed up.

signed, a horse, cow, dog, goat owner with dirt on my boots

I believe, and this is MY opinion...that a bacteria of some kind is involved in the start of strangles. Puppies have very vulnerable immune systems and if they are tested and not up to snuff, so to say, I think strangles can be a result as the immune system "overreacts" to fight off the enemy. I wonder if more cases of strangles occur more often with the wet, sticky hot weather? My litter(6 of 8 affected) was born in the early spring of last year and the weather went from cold to humid hot and torrential rains for close to 2 months, so the ground was gross from all the melting snow and resulting mud. The bugs and biting insects and a record number of millipedes abounded. It was the summer of "bugs" and the company that sprayed at work told me how bad the millipede invasions were and all the money his company was making. This summer was almost identical and I'm so glad I had a winter litter instead...things went soooo much better! I'm not sure I will ever have pups in the summertime again. Anyone have an idea if strangles is more common in the spring/summer? I wish you luck that the other pups don't come down with anything. The lethargy shouldn't last more than a couple of days once the pred. has begun. I seriously would be giving all the pups Cephalexin for a few weeks, but again that is my opinion. Also to keep up the Ceph. for a couple weeks after the pred. is done. Do what you feel is right after speaking to your vet. Strangles is NO picnic for the puppies, or you and I won't sugarcoat it. Hang in there and I'm sorry you lost a puppy. I did not lose any, but it was rough going for a long time...4-5 months.

Thank you. Thing is she is not on pred at all. Neither was the other one. Vets said it wasn't an option given their age. They had just turned 2wks on the day. A poster here mentioned her babies were young as mine and were put on it. I asked some questions about that but that poster has never replied. I wish h/she would. I'd like to know.

She is on clavamox and is getting injections of naxcel. I have been using forceps to help keep her lance site open best I can. I squeeze too but am not getting much out now. Hope that is a good sign and not a sign that the small incision is closing up on me. She is strong on the teat and toddling around now. Still don't see any pimples on her anywhere. I hope I don't.

I'm no newbie to breeding(25yrs) and I've had them(litters) in all types of weather. I've never had this before. Guess I've been fortunate. I do keep asking myself what the difference is this time as to why I got this.

hope all works out for your puppy. The rule is the longer your in this the more things you will encounter, its just the odds.

good luck