Stranglers disease in puppies - Page 2

Aweful situation......but if it was working.....you have to follow your nose.......I don't do everything my vet says.
As I said, the first vet said it was what yours said, which I had never heard of before, silly me, but said to try the amoxy for a week/10 days and let him know as soon as some improvement occurred. Well it did, it drained,, I cleaned it, the mom cleaned it.
DONE.  (FYI mine swelled up right around the throat and I thought  for sure the pup would sufficate.......but by morning it had drained to half already.
Michele O

IMO the use of steroids with this condition is very important. A favorable outcome is higher with its use.
Always,
Cee

I had a litter recently w/the swelling but no pus.  Vet thought it was strangles but they were younger than when strangles usually appears and didn't have the pus so she wasn't certain.  We lanced the pup w/the worst abcess, started the entire litter on antibiotics (all were showing some degree of swelling) and put the most severely affected two on steroids but did not use steroids for the others.  The vet cultured the abcess but since it took a few days to get results from the culture we had to treat immediately.  The culture show Strep bacteria.  All pups ended up doing just fine but one of them developed demodectic mange later on which I think may be attributable to the steroids suppressing the immune system. 

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone.
It is so amazing how much we can learn from each other.
There are so many times this board is more informative than vets can be, and this is a perfect example.
I have no doubt steroids are important for the form of strangles called juvenulle celluitis, but in that case my belief is it is needed to supress an immune system that is attacking itself .
I think in the other form which affects only the lymph nodes in the neck the steroids can do more harm than good for a few reasons.
1) the immune system is needed to fight of the strep bacteria
2) it can cause other illness when the pups immune system is depressed
3) there has been a known incidence of pups that have hip and joint problems later in life when high does steriods are used so young.
I am going to go with my gut instinct and forego the steroids.
I will monitor the pups closely and start them immediately if they worsen or additional symptoms arise.
Thanks again everyone.
I will keep you posted.