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  Discussion on Strangles or not?
Author Message
New Member:
Colours9

Posted on Friday, Oct 15, 2004 - 12:39 pm:

My two horses live here at my farm and have not left the property in a year. A hard lump appeared under my 3 year old's jaw (between the bony ridges) about two weeks ago. When I first noticed it, it was about an inch in diameter, and it has increased in size to probably 3 inches in diameter. There are other soft swellings surrounding it. In the last few days, there has been slightly raised swelling (bilateral)between her throat latch and her ear. There are no other symptoms except being very slightly lethargic. She has had no elevation in temperature at all and completely normal nasal drainage. Her appetite is normal as well.

One week ago, our vet diagnosed strangles. She recommended Bute and applying icthamol and warm compresses to the area. My daughter works at a small boarding barn every day, and the owners wanted us to have our filly tested, to confirm it to be Strangles. We had another vet out early this week who ran a CBC, and found that the white blood cell count was normal. She thought it was an abcess, possibly from a foreign body in her mouth. She gave us Tucoprim(for 5 days). She also said to discontinue Bute.

My filly is up to date on dental care as of spring 2004. My 10 year old mare has no symptoms. I am trying to figure out if this is Strangles. What do you think?
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Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 - 4:43 pm:

Without seeing the lump Anne, I don't really know. It does sound like the submandibular lymph node is enlarged, it does not sound like a typical case of strangles, and this can happen from other type of local infections that generally become self controlled. The way to answer the question for sure would be to remove the antibiotics for several days then culture and aspirate. To casually throw out a diagnosis of a foreign body present in the mouth and give you some antibiotics seems a bit out there. Antibiotics will not cure a foreign body if it is embedded in the mucosa of the mouth.
DrO
Member:
Colours9

Posted on Monday, Oct 18, 2004 - 11:57 pm:

Thank you Dr. Oglesby,
Today I noticed the lump on my filly has a nickel sized whitish bald area with a small amount of pus that comes out when I press on it. It seems more sensitive too. I will call the vet tomorrow. If you have any more thoughts, I would appreciate it!
Anne
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004 - 7:18 am:

I think the daily hot packing continues to make sense to get this to drain out completely. Sometimes these things will seal up only to reopen because they did not resolve completely the first time.
DrO
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