My friend's litter was just diagnosed with Puppy Strangles. The vet knew what it was but didn't have a whole lot of information about it. Does anyone know how puppies catch this? How long is the recovery period? Is it contagious - does she need to worry about her adults? Are her puppies going to die? Any info would be great.

Puppy strangles is an autoimmune condition. Some pups just get it. It is fairly common in Labrador Retrievers, so they think there might be some genetic predisposition, but they are not sure.
How bad do they have it? What symptoms are they exhibiting? I just had a litter in which two pups exhibited eyelid issues and swollen lymph nodes as the only symptoms. One pup cleared up on it's own and one cleared up after a month long steroid treatment. I caught the cases very early, so the condition didn't progress. I was also lucky that only 2 of the 5 pups showed any symptoms.
Early treatment will really help.
Here is some website info.
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1614&articleid=3442

After living through this last winter with a rescue litter I can probably answer a couple of these question.
Does anyone know how puppies catch this?
Catching it is not the correct phrase at it is not contagious it is autoamune so not caught but developed.
How long is the recovery period?
My rescue pup took almost 3 months and he did end up reacting to vaccines. He is going to live with limited vaccines doing titer levels to determine if he needs to be vaccinated. Hopefully this will not be a life long issue but his adoptive family are prepared for it if necessary. As with Sherri's pups they had a mild case and cleared up much faster.
Is it contagious - does she need to worry about her adults?
See above. It is well known in the horse world and many vets Are her puppies going to die? have experience with it in horses but are limited in their experience with dogs.
It is thought to be brought on by stress as well.
I am not up to date on the stats that a puppy could/will die from strangles, my thoughts are no but with autoimune it is never 100% I would think. Prolonged steriod use always has side effects and can damage kidneys etc. The goal is to treat them with high doses of steriods halting the imune system and helping it to right itself. Often there are antibiotics given as well (clavamox or keflex) to avoid the lessions from becoming infected.
We also used a antibacterial wash (chlorhexidine 4%) to wash the lessions and keep them from becoming infected.

This is all of course just my experience in dealing with strangles but the key from what I have read is to catch it early and treat it hard to avoid having it go on too long.

In the case of my rescue puppy the litter was born to an 8 month old female stray who was emaciated and in pretty rough shape. Pups were underweight and didn't thrive for the first week or so. Being born under these conditions I think we did well with only one puppy with issues.

Puppies can die of Puppy Strangles if you or your vet don't recognize what it is early enough. I caught mine in time, but my vet said an earlier litter brough into one of his partners wasn't diagnosed correctly and the litter died. Steroids and Clavamox are what I used. Puppy survived and is fine today.

What distinguishes puppy strangles from a bacterial skin infection that has gone haywire?
Thanks

Have to disagree with you on the equine version.
Equine strangles IS VERY contagious and we do vaccinate for it. It is NOT an auto immune disorder.

Just wanted to clarify - totally different diseases...

If the pup has it for a long time hair loss and scarring can be permanent.

Thanx for the clairification the the equine stangles.

What distinguishes puppy strangles from a bacterial skin infection that has gone haywire?
Thanks


A good eye on the breeder and a vet that has seen it prior. There are specific symptoms, some vets have never seen it so it would be good to aclimate yourself with what they are.

Try this== http://norwichandnorfolkterrier.org/articles/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=28

I had it years ago in a couple of pups in a litter. Some other lighter. Ears were very inflamed and had pimple like look to it for another thing to look for. They were put on an antibiotic and Predisone. It cleared up pretty quick but heard it was because we caught it early and the right meds. Can't play around with it.

Another thing that distinguishes strangles from a bacterial skin infection is the involvement of the lymph glands, which a bacterial infection might involve, but I would say not to the degree that strangles does.

Thanks for the reference!