Puppy Strangles

[rpcrowe]

Puppy strangles, or juvenile cellulitis, is a nodular and pustular skin disorder that affects puppies. It usually occurs between the ages of three weeks and four months, and is rarely seen in adult dogs. The face, pinnae (outer part of the ear), and salivary lymph nodes are the most common sites to be affected.





Little Skylar is affected with puppy strangles and he is being treated by our vet with a combination of antibiotics and prednisone. We have treated other puppies who had Puppy Strangles and they all recovered. Luckily, Skylar's case is not that serious. It has occurred mostly around his eyes. We have had puppies that lost all the hair on their faces and whose mouths were sore and swollen

It is not communicable to other dogs or to humans. And he is lively and is eating well!

[Rebel]

He's beautiful!

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[Sergio M.]

What a cutie! Best wishes.

Sergio

[rpcrowe]

He is going to our star foster family. A very dedicated mom and a dad willing to help, plus two of the most precocious little girls in the world who just spend all of their waking hours caring for the fosters they get.



We feel confident that Skylar will recover from his condition and have a wonderful life while he is recovering... I can accurately forecast that his feet will not hit the ground whenever he is around the two girls.

[IzzieK]

You put the two girls in the cage too, like puppies?! My...my... you'd get a visit from the FETA cheese organization for doing that! Anyway, they are cuties too, the girls I mean...and the puppies. Are they new ones?

[rpcrowe]

Izzie...

The girls like to sit in with the puppies. They really socialized the pups who were a bit fearful of humans at first but, soon got use to, and began enjoying the cuddling that they received from the girls

This group of puppies has already been adopted. We let the girls name the pups and each girl got to name two. They thought that was great

Socks:

Mikie:

Tucker:

Toby:

I shot this image with a fisheye lens. These girls will grow up with a positive attitude towards dogs and all animals.

The red headed girl drives her mom bonkers because she always wants to wear non-matching color socks.

[IzzieK]

I hope you bring them to your adoption...they are as cute as buttons and very pleasant too. They will be good doggie ambassadors. Do they live near you?

[Cantab]

Richard, does prednisone tend to cause blood sugar/diabetes problems in dogs? It certainly can in cats and, I'm told, humans.

[tbob]

Nasty disease. Looks like things should go well however.

To answer Bruce; Cats have a higher propensity, than dogs (can't speak about humans) to develop high blood sugar with steroids (Prednisone is in that group) So cats with sub clinical diabetes mellitus can be pushed into full diabetes mellitus. Injectable long lasting versions seem to be implicated more than the tablet versions. So we tend to avoid the longer acting forms unless absolutely no alternative. Ironically; cats are far more tolerant of the other problems with steroids, and we actually use higher doses than in dogs. The risk of developing diabetes is low in cats, and there is no way to predict individual susceptibility so in most cases if steroids are needed, they are used; just try to avoid the long acting injectable form; if possible.

Dogs have a myriad of problems with steroids, much less than people but more than cats. Inducing diabetes does not seem to be among them, probably because glucose induction (causing the liver to create glucose) is nowhere near as high.

If the cat or dog is known diabetic, then it becomes a bit more problematic and risk/benefit calculation becomes more crucial.

[rpcrowe]

I hope you bring them to your adoption...they are as cute as buttons and very pleasant too. They will be good doggie ambassadors. Do they live near you?

Yes, these two girls are very good adoption ambassadors and we often invite them to out events. They always have at least one foster puppy with them in their home.

As far as the prednisone goes, the pup is on a light and short term dose. The antibiotic is to prevent any scondary infection. We have not had any problems with puppies treated in this manner...