hardrockcrossing
Jan. 11, 2010, 04:51 PM
mostly i've been lurking...but my recent situation has inspired a desperate plea for information!
my gelding came up with an abscess like wound under his jaw, so the natural inclination is to jump to strangles. he's in isolation and a culture has been taken to determine if it is strangles or if it's just another kind of infection. he seems perfectly fine in temperament, energy, food intake and output. he's drinking water and i can't see anything wrong, other than this wound. he's been vaccinated for strangles. he moved from the east coast to the west coast the last week in october and has been settling into his new west coast home wonderfully. i moved him into the barn from pasture last week (he's been inside 8 days now).
i was wondering what people's opinion is on the likelihood of this abscess/wound being strangles. he has no other strangles symptoms. no one around him has ever gotten strangles. no one in the new barn is sick. could he have picked it up during transit and the bacteria has been latent for 2.5 months? could the move to inside have stress him enough to bring out the bacteria (although from his behavior you wouldn't know it...still the perfect gentleman)? is one week long enough for the bacteria to grow and infect the lymph node such that it would rupture?
i'm hoping (and i'm sure everyone else in my barn is hoping) that it isn't strangles and it's just some other kind of abscess/infection. regardless, the treatment is the same, just that he'd have to be isolated for such a long time (which means no riding time for me or grazing time for him).
opinions?!
my gelding came up with an abscess like wound under his jaw, so the natural inclination is to jump to strangles. he's in isolation and a culture has been taken to determine if it is strangles or if it's just another kind of infection. he seems perfectly fine in temperament, energy, food intake and output. he's drinking water and i can't see anything wrong, other than this wound. he's been vaccinated for strangles. he moved from the east coast to the west coast the last week in october and has been settling into his new west coast home wonderfully. i moved him into the barn from pasture last week (he's been inside 8 days now).
i was wondering what people's opinion is on the likelihood of this abscess/wound being strangles. he has no other strangles symptoms. no one around him has ever gotten strangles. no one in the new barn is sick. could he have picked it up during transit and the bacteria has been latent for 2.5 months? could the move to inside have stress him enough to bring out the bacteria (although from his behavior you wouldn't know it...still the perfect gentleman)? is one week long enough for the bacteria to grow and infect the lymph node such that it would rupture?
i'm hoping (and i'm sure everyone else in my barn is hoping) that it isn't strangles and it's just some other kind of abscess/infection. regardless, the treatment is the same, just that he'd have to be isolated for such a long time (which means no riding time for me or grazing time for him).
opinions?!