I remember how excited I was for the breeding of my GRCH Female and my friends GRCH. Male. We had researched the lines, tested fully, and compared faults and strengths in both dogs; we just KNEW this litter would be “IT”.

     Well, the puppies came, a perfect litter for me, 4 females and 1 male. I kept one male and female and my Friend kept a female. The others were placed in Breeding/show homes that would follow the same testing procedures that we do.

     The babies grew to be beautiful, everything we expected. At 8 weeks of age, I noticed my friends puppy looked like she was bitten by a scorpion. She had swollen eyes and lips, like she was having an allergic reaction. I gave her some benedryl and waited for it to go down.  This went on the next day also, but we also gave her a couple shots of dexamethasone to help with the swelling. Well, this was not working and the swelling had gone into her Lymph nodes in her neck. I was very concerned at this point and took her into the vet. She had some hair loss around her eyes and muzzle now, so she was scraped to rule out demodex mange. It was of course a negative scrape. Then the vet said it looked like a case of the puppy strangles. I have never heard of this except in horses. So, anyone who knows me, knows I am full of questions and I started in on the vet…..

     What is puppy strangles? … It is an immune system reaction to most commonly the Streptococcus bacteria. It causes massive swelling of the lymph nodes in the throat and swelling and hair loss around the mouth and eyes. Severe scarring is not uncommon. The puppy eats and drinks and plays like a normal puppy.  How did my puppy get it?… This is not a very clear answer. It is not known to be a genetic problem, nor a permanent immune system problem. It just pops up in litters, affecting one or more puppies in the litter. It is thought to be a hypersensitivity reaction to certain bacteria.

      How is it treated? …Most commonly with steroids. My puppy was given prednisone twice daily for 10-14 days, then once daily for 7 days, then 1 every other day for 7 days. She was also give clavamox as an antibiotic.  Is this deadly?… The answer to this really scared me. It was YES. Part of the reason it is not a well known or easily diagnosed problem is because most puppies die from it. It is often miss-diagnosed and treatment is unsuccessful. Treatment is usually 4-6 weeks.

     So, we treated our puppy and after several weeks, she improved with minimal scarring. Right now, the plan is to watch her to see if she develops any other problems as she matures. One of the problems with giving steroids to a baby puppy is the chance of sterility as an adult. We feel very blessed that our beautiful puppy survived and that her owner still stands by her and is giving her a chance. In her first weekend showing in Non licensed classes, she took best puppy in show. This is just the start to her show career and we expect great things from her.

I am hoping that this article makes people aware of what the problem may be if they ever
have a puppy that looks like mine did.

Sincerely, Michelle Heist, Northport, Alabama

Here are some pictures of our puppy as the problem progressed and got better: