17 week old puppy suddenly has swollen throat. He is at an emergency clinic but doctors don't know what it is. They have had to intubate him and are putting in a trachea tube. Any ideas?

My guess would be puppy strangles (juvenile cellulitis). Please let us know what the vets say.

I agree, sounds like strangles. Did the puppy recently get any vaccines? Could also be a reaction.

I agree Puppy Strangles (aka juvenile cellulitis ) For the life of me, I do not know why so many vets misdiagnose this.

Please ask the vets at the clinic to review everything again, and then get the pup on the proper doses of pred and antibiotics.

Classic sign of strangles. Get that pup on Prednisone fast and it has to be a high dose to knock it out and then wean slowly. Sometimes Clavamox is added as well to ward off potential infection from a lowered immune system. Not fun, but puppy will recover. Takes a long time.

Strangles. Vets hardly ever see it so often don't recognize until too late.

Thank you for all your responses. Puppy is doing much better, but after looking at what puppy strangles is, I'm not sure that is it. There are no pustules or swelling of the face. When the pup was taken to the emergency clinic, they said his throat was swollen shut 95%. We were very lucky. His epiglottis and glottis were swollen.

After 2 days, the vets still don't know what it is. He is still hospitalized, and still has a trachea tube in. He is on antibiotics and steroids. Please keep him in your prayers! We think he is out of the woods, but they said he would still be hospitalized at least a few more days.

I hope you are telling the vet about strangles even though you are dubious.

I hope you talked to the vet about strangles even though you are dubious.

Well good that he is on the steroid and being watched closely. At any time he could break out in the pustules, or more swellings on his trunk. They can manifest anywhere and be mild, or quite severe. Have they been looking inside his ear flaps? There are always tiny pimples with Strangles in there too and they can grow in size and numbers rapidly. He may also have had a major allergic response to a bite, sting, or substance which caused the throat swelling. Here's hoping it was a reaction to something and he's on the mend fast. Very scary either way.

I recently had this in a puppy that came to me. It wasn't strangles but cellulitis from the collar being on the puppy for identification. I'm sure the others puppies pulling on it caused this. She is healed up without medication but still has a ring on her neck from the collar.

I thought strangles also.

Not to use collars as identification on litters.

I agree. Classic strangles. WE had a four or five month old puppy who suddenly got a swollen throat- no pustules at all. It was strangles. That is why they call it strangles- because of that swelling in those glands around the throat. It is of course a staph infection caused by a failure in the immune system to keep the ever present staph at bay. I have also seen the swollen throat in one week old puppy with no bumps and then I have seen even more that never got the swollen throat but got the bumps around the eyes, in the ears, on the stomach.
I worked for Vets for 26 years and was married to a really great one for 8 years. But I am here to tell you they don't know everything. Breeders have the experience of living with, observing and dealing with a lot of stuff with dogs that Vets never get to see. Did you know that the majority of Vets have never, ever whelped a litter- why would they? They really haven't raised a litter either. I think an experienced breeder and a well trained Veterinarian make a great team when they work well together. They learn from each other. They have the education we lack and we have the experience they lack. I do say though, beware of Veterinary hospitals where the Vets are paid by commission. There are companies who are buying up Vet hospitals all over the U.S. and then put all the Vets on commission. A Vet on commission makes a lot more money doing skin testing and selling you a lot of drugs, than by telling you that your bitch is only losing all of her hair because of the fact that she just had a litter of pups by c-section and is therefore reacting to both the anesthetic and the hormones, Its the difference in a $500.00 Vet bill and a $50.00 Vet bill.