Has anyone heard of such a thing.  We have a litter of 10 healthy puppies-no problems.  Seemingly within 12 hours 4 of the puppies have developed what look like goiters.  They are breathing fine, eating fine and just as strong as the other pups.  The "goiters" are somewhat hard and on two of the pups they are the size of golf balls.  I called our vet and she said that I should try warm compresses and see how things look in the a.m.  I have been supplementing them with raw goats milk almost from day one and have continued to do so, although I noticed that the affected puppies seemed to be hungry/thirstier than usual.  Mouths were a little tacky-perhaps dehydration.  So I allowed them to take almost 3 times as much milk and added a 2 a.m. feeding to check in with them last night.  Everyone seems to be fine and eagerly eating or sleeping.

I am truly puzzled.  If it were a salivary gland issue, the warm compresses should have helped.  It could be lymph nodes, but what would cause the infection, and why aren't they acting like they feel poorly?  There is no sign of trauma or injury.  I've ruled out spider bites, as it is just too coincidental that it would occur in the same place on 4 pups.  The masses seem to be just slightly off center in one direction or the other depending upon the pup.

I will be taking them in to the vet early this afternoon.  Any thoughts?

Also, this particular mother refuses to move her puppies by picking them up. 

i would want the vet to look at them in person ASAP

sounds like puppy strangles to me, they need to see the vet....

Question......Is the mother not feeding them enough ? are they not gaining every day?? I don't understand why you would supplement at this age unless there was some sort of problem.. most moms if fed properly (which of course I'm certain is the case!) and are good moms, can handle this size litter.. with monitoring from the humans.

We once had a litter of 12 out of  an 8 year old and although I had to help her rotate them.. they gained just fine

You can experiment with all kinds of stuff when they are starting solids....

Megaesophagus??

Puppy strangles seconded here.

there are no external indications of mega-e.. such as on the body.. and it is food and digestion related.. most often seen when pups are switched to solid food, I have caught it during the nursing stage...pups with milk around their noses is the only external sign.. but there is no noticeable physical abnormality unless you xray

I did have a pup with an abcess that we thought was strangles ...abcess was drained, really ticked her off! and antibiotics and compresses took care of it.

It's called "Puppy Strangles".  Get them to the vet now!!!

Hi Blitzstrahl,

  That's good you are going to the vets, it sounds like (for the third time...) your pups have puppy strangles.

I had a litter of 11 lab pups years back, and 1 got puppy strangles, I believe it was in the first week, the vet
I went to was just around the corner cause it was the closest and it was during a blizzard.

Well anyway, the pup was so young and small, the vet put a drain in and gave me antibiotics, but she made
the drain opening way to big, I had to go back when the swelling went down & ask her to put a couple extra stitches
in cause he had a gaping whole in his neck, he ended up healing fine no scar, BUT, he was the only pup in that
litter of 11 to have elbow & knee problems, out of 2 parents that were ofa good hips & elbows,

Go fiqure, he still turned out healthy after all that, that is my personal and only experience with puppy strangles,
and yes, it looks like the mumps, or a goiter!

I can't believe I just found his photo, here he is pictured in "2000" after his surgery...
Please let us know how your pups are after visiting the vets, they told me puppy strangles
was contagous and to seperate him, I decided to keep him in with everyone & no one else
got it.   Sorry if I got too long & involved, but swollen necks on pups, it was scary but it went
completely away.

OH.....

And (make that the 4th time.......) and there may be a good reason for it to be called "Puppy>Strangles">>

I saw this once on an Irish Setter, never knew what it was, but it had to be this.