Help me make my Horse comfortable during Strangles

[mytiredpony]

What can I do to help my poor guy?

He is a 9 year old Gelding that has developed the swollen glands and fever but so far no cough or runny nose. I have called the vet as they have ben out to see others at the barn but so far the advice is give some bute and ride it out. Some of the horses abscessed, some got swollen but no drainage, some just had the runny nose and high fever.

He looks so miserable so I was wondering what you have done to help them out and how high is too high for the fever to go before you begin to panic?

[klmck63]

I believe that if he were to get abscesses then you are supposed to hot compress them with some sort of epsom salts/hot water combo soaked on a cloth. I have also heard that a fever from 38.5˚C-40.0˚C is something you should keep an eye on but anything over 40.0˚C is more serious and probably requires the attention of the vet. I have seen IV Bute used to rapidly reduce fevers on the advice of the vet if it seems like it's too high.

Also, I think I have heard that sometimes meds can compound the strangles and set it off further but you should clarify with your vet that he shouldn't be on penicillin or something of the sort.

You also have to be careful of internal abscesses and abscesses that rupture internally. Those are more serious.

Of course, keep in good touch with your vet and I would record the temperature so you can keep track of it. Some horses will be higher in the evening, low in the morning or spike a fever starting at lunch etc.

Just some thoughts.. I have never dealt with strangles myself but had a strangles scare recently at my barn, so I read up on the subject! Turned out just to be some other nasty virus.

[clint]

Several years ago I had about 15 horses go through a bout of strangles, and I wish I could tell you that there is something magic to make them feel better but in my experience, there isn't. One gelding was like your horse in that he had terrible swollen glands but very little nasal drainage and took forever to break open the abscesses. We gave him banamine from time to time as it seemed to make him a little more comfortable eating. We also tried soaked beet pulp for some of the horses who were really uncomfortable as it was softer than regular hay. For the most part, though, we used bute, as your vet recommends, for comfort and fever reduction, and prayed for the whole thing to be over.

[JoZ]

I used banamine, not bute. I watched carefully after administering the banamine so I could take advantage of the fever reduction. My poor filly (a bit of a drama queen) was SO miserable you could really tell when the fever started to drop and she felt more human, er, I mean, equine.

That's when I would feed her and change her water so it was fresh and cool. For food, I made a very wet mash of pellets and other yummy ingredients like applesauce and a touch of molasses. Nothing with sharp edges because her throat was very sore.

I did that once a day for about four days. Anyway, she lost a lot of weight, and at one point did need the vet out to tube her with fluids, but at least I was getting something into her. The rest of the day, the fever was fighting the infection, which is why my vet didn't want her dosed more heavily or frequently.

[myvanya]

I hope you don't mind if I piggy back a little...
I was scheduled to move my horse around June 10th, however, I received notice of a strangles in the pasture next to his on June 9th :( My horse hasn't gotten it that I can tell, but I have researched and researched and can't figure out- when should it be ok to move him to the new barn?

[clint]

I used banamine, not bute. I watched carefully after administering the banamine so I could take advantage of the fever reduction. My poor filly (a bit of a drama queen) was SO miserable you could really tell when the fever started to drop and she felt more human, er, I mean, equine.

That's when I would feed her and change her water so it was fresh and cool. For food, I made a very wet mash of pellets and other yummy ingredients like applesauce and a touch of molasses. Nothing with sharp edges because her throat was very sore.

I did that once a day for about four days. Anyway, she lost a lot of weight, and at one point did need the vet out to tube her with fluids, but at least I was getting something into her. The rest of the day, the fever was fighting the infection, which is why my vet didn't want her dosed more heavily or frequently.

I had a newborn foal contract strangles, so I had a chat with my vet about banamine/bute, as giving such a young foal NSAIDs is risky, but she was miserable with a fever. He said that bute holds the fever down longer than banamine, so I was able to give it to her only once a day and still keep the fever within normal limits. For the most part, that was the policy with the older horses too. One of the reasons we gave that big, miserable gelding banamine is because it could be injected, meaning it was one less thing for him to swallow.

If there is already lymph node involvement it isn't recommended starting a course of penicillin.

[mytiredpony]

Thank you.

It is just so hard to watch. :(

[clint]

Strangles is very hard to watch. It is like watching someone try to carry on with a strep throat, only worse. Once the abscesses burst, it is easier on them though. Seeing a beloved horse with puss in various places on their anatomy isn't pretty, either.:eek:

Myvanya, three weeks is generally the quarantine time, but I would give it a month just to be safe. Moving into a new barn and having your horse come down with strangles isn't a good way to make friends.;) Generally before any other symptoms happen your horse will spike a fever. If you take his temp. daily and get a fever, you could start antibiotics before full-blown strangles occurs. I did that with one of my broodmares and she never got it.

[midkniggit]

Also, if he has a fever, cool baths followed by an alcohol splash should help him be more comfy. I did a 1:10 dilution of the wintergreen isopropyl alcohol.

[Chall]

How about serving their dinner hot or warm?

[Horsegal984]

Soaked alfalfa cubes if they start dropping a lot of weight. And all the soaked senior feed they can eat. Senior is a lot more fiber than sweet feeds, and makes a way better mash!

Lots of hot packing the swelling, and icthammol(drawing salve) after the hot packs to try and soften and make them rupture sooner. As soon as they rupture we started our guys on a course of Penacillin injections, twice a day for a week or so. Helps to protect against secondary infections, and as long as they have already ruptured you don't run the risks of compounding the disease. Don't move any horses onto or off of the property for at least a month after they have recovered, as their immune system needs to build. Use good hygine with yourself and boots/tack etc, because as much as you don't want to track it to any of your friends you also can't risk them tracking something in either.

About 3 years ago we had a really bad outbreak, affected all 50 head on the farm. It was a living hell with that many sick, from the oldies to the weanlings. Didn't lose a one of them tho... closest we came was a gelding that got over strangles and came down bad with influenza less than a week after. He was on IV's for 3 days, and could barely get up just to change sides he's laying on, but in the end he fully recovered too!

As hard as it is and as much as it sucks, it will get better and at least with all the hot packing and special food mixing you'll feel like you're doing something for him! Hang in there!

Katherine
Vet Tech

[goeslikestink]

geb an onion bag or hessian sack and then put hay at the bottom of it then either some menthol crystals or blob of vick pour on hot water then attached to the bottom of his halter not so he can eat it but so the steam goes up his nose and releases all the bung up feeling or congestion -- if using methol cyrstals only one or two not loads ok

it will ease his breathing and release all the snotty nose into the sack ditich the contents and burn it can do this as many times as you like last for about 1/2 hour as a releif this is an asisted method ok something you can do to help him out a bit

[mytiredpony]

Has anyone ever had a case that didn't break open?

His glands have not changed for almost a week now and he still does not have any goo coming out of his nose. Since we started the bute he no longer has a fever.

Can this be something other than strangles? We are calling the vet back today to see what thye think.

[clint]

Has anyone ever had a case that didn't break open?

His glands have not changed for almost a week now and he still does not have any goo coming out of his nose. Since we started the bute he no longer has a fever.

Can this be something other than strangles? We are calling the vet back today to see what thye think.

The gelding we had that got so sick we used banamine had incredibly swollen glands that didn't break and no snotty nose. However, he did have a very high fever. The abscesses were finally lanced which helped. You could have a culture done to see if you are dealing with something else.