Six week old pup woke up on Saturday morning with swollen lids and matted eyes. Went right away to Vet. Temp normal, no swollen glands, great appetite. Stained eyes, no abrasions and treated eyes with antibiotic ointment. Only one symptom of strangles so did not start pred but would watch.

By noon Saturday a very slight and occasional limp on the front leg. Called Vet. Doesn't think it's related. Temp still normal, playful and appetite good. Did not start pred. Sat night and Sun morning no change. Happy, playful but eye lids still swollen and slight, occassional limp.

Monday morning back to Vets. Lymph nodes normal, lips & ears normal, temp 101.6, appetite normal but eyes not improving. Starts Dexasporin ointment. Vet does not want to start oral pred because puppy does not appear to be ill or have any other symptoms of Strangles and doesn't think eye lids have typical pustules. Plan to see eye doc on Tues if no improvement.

Tuesday puppy can't bear weight on rear leg. Vet starts Clavamox suspecting septicemia in joint fluid. Pup has had 3 doses of Clavamox and now having trouble standing. Eating normally, playing with toys, bowels normal and still no fever. We are doing blood work and X-rays tomorrow and Vet going to consult with the local Internist. Meningitis? Strangles? HOD? Nothing fits all symptoms.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sure sounds like strangles to me. It can present with one, or just a couple of the symptoms and then POW! Have you checked inside ears for pimples? In my experience the eyes were runny, the pup was noticeably gimpy and lethargy was the biggest symptom. By the next day she was really sick and swollen eyes/rims filled with pus. The swollen muzzle, ears and pustules showed up 2 days later and then multiplied quickly.

That's my first guess too except she is now 4 days w/o pred and no pustules in the ears, lips or face. She isn't better but isn't worse - except for the lameness.

I had a puppy 3 years ago that got so lame so quickly and was so lethargic - one vet thought it was HOD (would have to look it up ) but it turned out to be strangles and it presented in this different manner. We finally got it on pred and it was kind of a long recovery, but thankfully, no scars and no long lasting effect. I would either talk to your vet again or see another vet . I ended up seeing 2 vets for my puppy

Did you give the puppy any vaccines. Could be vaccine paralysis. HOD not in a 6 wk old puppy. Probably is strangles. Had this last year in a puppy and took her to ortho specialist which told me that puppies 7 wks old don't get HOD. It was vaccine related and had to put on a high dosage of pred. Needed pred and two different antibiotics to clear up the mess on her face and ears and the pred cleared up the paralysis. Took several weeks to clean up the puppy and her face has no scarring thanks to Vitamin E applications several times a day. Good luck if you need more info you can email me.

I had a puppy develop first HOD and then juvenile cellulitis (strangles) after vaccination at 12 weeks. Although less common than simple juvenile cellulitis, a combination of HOD and juvenile cellulitis is possible at 6 weeks old. Both HOD and juvenile cellulitis are considered immune mediated, which is why
immune suppression with prednisone is so important in the treatment of both.

Both HOD and juvenile cellulitis can have a variety of symptoms. My puppy only developed a few skin lesions, but developed a lot of joint pain and later lymph node enlargement. Fever was never much part of his picture. Until the joint pain got severe, the puppy was playing, which is why the diagnostic picture was hard to understand. But on x-ray the puppy had the inflammation at growth plates in his front legs that is characteristic of HOD.

If your puppy is getting worse, not better, with the prescribed treatment,
you need to get your vet to think differently about the problem. Consider an
x-ray of joints.

Puppy was x-rayed this morning. No HOD seen. Temp was 102.6. Blood work showed normal WBC and panel was normal for age. Puppy is finally breaking with bumps in the ears although not full blown pustules yet. Pred therapy has been started. Vet's research on VIN is recommending low dose of doxy along with the pred which shortens the length of time they have to be on pred. The dose is low enough that it is not supposed to affect the teeth. We're trying it.

It took 6 days from the first matted eyes until the pup showed other symptoms of Strangles. The occasional misstep turned into unable to stand Wed morning. My Vet is still having a hard time connecting lameness to Strangles but she's reading on VIN other Vets are dealing with lameness being the only symptom.

I hope we have not started the right therapy too late. Three visits in 6 days and only today was Vet sure it was Strangles. Thanks everyone for the advice. Any idea how long we have to wait to know if puppy is going to respond?

My dog did not have xray findings of HOD for two weeks after he was seen for matted eye goop and one pustule on face. HOD requires higher and longer steroid treatment. Has your vet ever seen HOD on xray?

The Vet has treated hundreds of cases of Strangles and dozens of cases of HOD but has never seen HOD w/o high fever and tenderness in the leg when palpated. Vet did say all HOD was seen on x-ray. None of the Strangles cases has presented like this one either. Today lymph nodes were barely enlarged.

Kate, Are you saying HOD was confirmed by x-ray eventually, but did not show up on x-ray while the pup was in the early stages of lameness? Or was it never confirmed by x-ray?

Vet recommended lowering the protien and fat level in the food just in case.

I had a lame puppy from strangles, so yes it can happen. This sounds like strangles to me and the symptoms can vary from pup to pup. You will probably see a pretty good case of it because of the delay in treatment, so be ready. It needs to be hit hard for a week or two and then tapered slowly. I treated with Pred and Clavamox. If you catch it early and know the classic signs the case may be very mild. Strangles is a tricky and not so pleasant experience for puppy, breeder, or owner. Vets do not all agree on amount of steroids and if it's too small a dose the strangles will not be knocked out.

Strangles

Yes, it is correct to say that my puppy did not have HOD visible on
x-ray at the early stages but was later confirmed on x-ray. I learned that
strangles and HOD can co-exist on a spectrum of immune mediated responses.
My puppy got very sick before he got better on high doses of steroids for 6 weeks. But he did not have a high fever at any point. And he never got all
the pustules characteristic of strangles. He did develop what appeared to be an ear and eye infection that did not respond to antibiotics but did respond to
steroids.

My puppy was very lame when he broke with strangles.
It was a common symptom.
He had a VERY bad.

I'm hoping treatment wasn't started too late. Thanks for all of your help.

I'm sure you are OK if he is getting steroids. Be sure to continue the steroids an appropriate length of time. If you discontinue too soon, symptoms will recur. Sometimes you have to taper, restart, and taper again if the symptoms got well established and are hard to treat. Good luck with your baby. I know you must have been scared.

How is your puppy?

As anyone attempted to determine if Puppy Strangles is Hereditary?

Strangles for sure.

If antibiotic ointment doesn't clear up the eyes within 24 hours, I would jump immediately to suspect strangles. Hopefully there will be no long term damage!

Strangles

absolutely strangles. and it CAN present with lamesness