puppy strangles?

my buddy had a litter couple months ago and a couple of his pups died and the vet diagnosed it as puppy strangles. then i had a litter of 8 and all the pups died except 2 when they were around 6 weeks old. same symptons as my friends litter so i just figured it was puppy strangles. then about a month ago had a 2.5 year old male die. the day before he died he didn't eat his food and the next morning i went out and he was dead. his stools were normal but he did vomite a couple times. tonight i went to the farm to feed and had a 2 year old female die. she was fine yesterday ate all her food and acted fine but today she was dead in her dog house. im confused as to what it could be. gonna call some vets 2mor and try to get an autopsy done. i have to figure out what is going on before i lose any more dogs. please help if anybody has an idea to what it could be

 

I would say an Autopsy would be the best way to go. The vet is your friend. Sorry about all your losses. It could be anything really get the Autopsy done.

 

Depending on your local setting, you mention farm, it could be poison. Either a poisonous compound used for vermin maybe, or something like a pesticide that could reach a fatal point due to continued exposure for mature dogs or first contact for puppies. A poisonous reptile/insect/arachnid could also be a possibility. A chemical that is ingested could be another cause. Good luck finding the cause.

 

the same thing happened to BDB in mexico, dogs were getting sick and dying, pups dying, he finally narrowed it down to the water supply, he started having water trucked in and delivered to a tank and that solved the issue, just something to consider.

 

Strangles is juvenile cellulitis. And other severe cases are life threatening. And it is almost always a "puppy" disease. They do not just drop dead. There are lesions on the dog, swelling and other symptoms.

Puppy strangles is a classical disease though fortunately not a common one. It comes up suddenly, manifesting as marked swelling of the muzzle, eyelids, and face in a puppy between the ages of 3 weeks and 4 four months of age. The owner may be inclined to think the puppy was bitten by a stinging insect or a spider.

Soon the lymph nodes of the throat become spectacularly enlarged, giving the puppy the appearance of having the mumps. It doesn’t take long for the swelling to give way to pimples that rupture, bleed, and crust. The inner surface of the ear flaps are commonly involved as well and occasionally lesions in other body areas occur. Lesions are painful more than they are itchy.

Fever, joint swelling, and loss of appetite occur in approximately 25% of patients. If treatment is delayed, permanent hair loss can result in the most severely affected areas. If the puppy is sick enough, the condition can be life-threatening.

Predisposed breeds include: the Golden Retriever, Dachshund, and Gordon Setter.  

 

^ yup had one of my pups get this. as pups their immune system just goes nuts on itself. hard to correctly diagnose, as it's not real common. thankfully i had a savy vet who caught it right away. was cleared by taking steroids and antibiotics. typically once they get it they don't REget it. imo, the scenerio above does not sound the same.
wondering, how did your autopsy go? sorry for your losses. that sux big time! :/

 

here are 2 pics of one of mine that had the puppy strangles, just so you can see what they look like. (was a few years ago, but i saved the pics, as the doc who treated him had never seen a case and used his as a case study). his throat also hugely swelled and he looked like he'd swallowed 2 golf balls. his face was also covered in those pimple-like things. also i should add, when a pup is on steriods they lower the dogs immunity, so be careful what he/she is exposed to while on them.

 

thanks for all the replies. she was poisoned. cant go into detail on why and who did it on here. so figuring the other one was poisoned also. as for the pups i"m pretty sure it was strangles.

 

that sux. very sorry....
and you're welcome. puppy strangles isn't commonly seen, so again, is a tricky thing to properly diagnose.
best of luck