I'm new!! Please Help: Strangles

[mini_me]

Hi I'm new!
Sorry to start with a problem!

Our yard has strangles (Vets have been contacted). Any and all tips please, Currently 2 horses have it and have been issolated but have been turned out with all the other horses prior to symptoms. Have been reading about it on internet and am so scared my boy is gonna get it

We also have in-foal mares on the yard.

Any one have any experiance of it and what can I do?

Any tips on prevention, treatment etc

Is it worth buying Echinacea to boost his immune system?

Please help.
Thanks
Mini_me x

 

[cindydog]

vet will do bloods no ins/ out yard keep horses well away from others if poss divide into 3 groups..infected horses / horses that had close contact with them / and the rest, disinfect boots going into and out of yard clean,clean, clean, inform everyone who has anything to do with yard farrier/feed deliveries/ visitors put signs up to warn people any tack shop you visit let them know as they might not want you wearing riding gear in their shop, dont go near infected horses unless you have to and leave them to last put clothes in washing machine and shower straight away dont touch other horses or yard animals wear desposible gloves yard owner might have policy to deal with this.

 

[Shay]

If your horse is already infected there is nothing you can do I'm afraid. You could feed some form of immune support but opinions are divided on how useful that is one infection has already started. You could end up spending a lot for no result. IMO I would feed garlic because it is useful anyway, but don't worry about echinacea unless you need to do so once he becomes ill.

The horse community takes strangles very very seriously. You are in for months of not really being able to go anywhere. I know some yards are reluctant to let people know they have it but if you don't and people find out anyway you will get cut off more. You must let your farrier, dentist, physio, regular trainers etc know so that they can take suitable precautions to avoid spreading it amongst thier clients.

Assuming your lad is not yet infected you need to make sure that he doesn't catch it. Keep him away from infected horses as much as possible. Strangles can spread through shared water supplies so make sure that your horse only drinks clean water from the tap and doesn't share buckets / troughs with anyone.

Disinfect your brushes then keep then seperate, don't share them. Likewise for your sponges for his face.

If you can, make sure only you care for your horse at all times. That makes sure that only you have the responsibilty of being disinfected before you come near him. Keep his feed and hay supplies seperate; ask other liveries not to feed or touch him. (You have to have a careful balence about this though becuase of yard politics!)

Wash your yard clothes every day. Scrub boots with disintectant - dipping isn't enough. Do not go to any horse related events, tack or feed supplier in clothes or boots which you might have worn at the yard.

I hope your YO has a comprehensive policy for isolation. No horse should go on or off yard until the yard has the all clear. Pans of disinfectant should be available for boots / hands especially near the infected horses. Some yards also have a wheel dip for cars if the car parking is close to the animals.

Good luck - it s a rough way to start but I'm sure you'll find loads of support here!

 

[mini_me]

Thanks guys I'm so worried have taken on board everything said all people that need to be aware (farriers etc) have been told and no horses are allowed on/off, YO is managining it well.

So fingers crossed is just horrid there is nothing I can do (Other than cleancleanclean!) to protect my boy.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[stormybracken]

Absolutely agree with everything shay and cindydog have said - I was on a large yard where strangles appeared to have been brought in over one weekend by at least two if not three horses from different sources where it had not been declared. We had months of disinfectant, taking temperatures morning and evening (now THAT was interesting, if you don't know your horse's normal temperature you won't know if it is raised - my horse had an unusually low temperature so if hers had been raised we may not have known she had an infection!). We let everyone know with big signs at the entrance and throughout the yard telling people what to do, and obviously vets, farriers, feed merchants etc etc, spent a fortune on disinfectant, electric fencing and water buckets and turned all the horses in small groups in paddocks, and if one showed symptoms and/or a high temperature all those horses were moved to a large field we nicknamed the "sick bay". The vets were fantastic, as were most of the local horse-owners who even sent sympathy cards!, but as always there were some vocal people who through fear and ignorance spread mis-information - just what you need in a crisis situation.

In the end we suspect most horses had either strangles or a flu-type disease, the majority enjoyed their freedom in the paddocks or field, some only appeared ill in the morning and fine by the evening, but a small number were terribly ill, we did lose some - I can't say exactly because the effects devasted at least one pony's system and he never fully recovered, it is an evil infection.

I am now far more knowledgeable about Strangles, as I don't think I'd ever been aware of it before, and was surprised to discover just how common it is both in the wild populations and in competition/hunting/stud/racing yards. I'm obsessed by prevention, it really is better than cure. Good Luck.

 

[sam4321]

my stables has had strangles before, a new horse brought it and because i used the same water buckets for all of them, they quickly passed it to 2 mares in another field, but by disinfecting regularly and keeping separate stuff for each horse + wearing a boilder suit and feeding healthy horses first, then infected horses, then taking off and washing boiler suit every night, i managed to stop another 2 (in separate field ) from catching it. And they were only about 100metres away from the infected horses. this went on for about 3months, and was hell, i wont lie! One of my horses got complications and died.

i cried when we finally got clear results from the scoping (4 months later!) and had no carriers!!

you have to have them tested once they are better to make sure they dont become 'carriers' (10% do). the best way is by scoping the guttoral pouches and is near to foolproof, or you can use swabs (old method which i think only picks up 40% of carriers!)

good luck and i hope they all recover ok,

 

[Spudlet]

Try to get the yard arranged so that infected horses are at the end, so people aren't walking past them to get to currently healthy horses. Stick signs up that this is your isolation area, so that all visitors onto the yard know.

Make sure that those horses are seen to after all the others, to try and avoid cross-contamination. Mark up all buckets, haynets and other equipment and allocate each horse its own stuff - do not share them between any horses.

Good hygiene - washing hands between horses, washing clothes regularly at a high temperature - 60 degrees C kills most bugs. Keep boots clean. Alcohol gel is good BUT it will not work on dirty hands - you must wash your hands first for it to be effective. The same goes for disinfectant footbaths etc - dirt and grease deactivate the disinfectant, so change the water regularly, and clean your boots first.

For the future it is a good idea for everyone to know and record their horse's normal temperature, resting heart rate and resting respiratory rate.

Good luck hun.

 

[Nudibranch]

Strangles is an odd disease in my experience. We had it, probably brought in with a new horse who was diagnosed initally with flu. Then a good fortnight later my little mare, in a field quite a way from the infected horse, came up with the classic swellings and was confirmed as strangles. Then the original pony was re-diagnosed retrospectively! By then he'd had contact with most of the horses on the yard.

Mine was the only one showing symptoms, and I assume that is because as a 25 yo cushings, her immune system isn't as strong. She was isolated, and cleared up in about a week following a course of antibiotics. I think 3 more out of the 12 horses on the yard showed symptoms in the end, although they were all quite mild. I was pretty concerned about mine, with her being so old and already suffering from cushings but she has bounced back and is now back to her old ways without any sign of ever having been ill.

Obviously we had to take all the usual precautions with dips, wheel washes and so on but as none of the horses were in work it was decided testing and re-testing them all was a waste of time and money, so we just had to watch for symptoms and treat the ones showing infection.

 

[Sheri]

We had strangles on our yard last year to to someone buying a manky horse off a dealer and not having it checked out first

You have done right by isolating the infected horses.

Do not touch anyother horse but your own (tell everyone else to do the same)

Wash your hands before and after touching them (because you will have touched gates, taps that others have etc)

Take your horses temperature every morning and night (high temp is the first indication) It should be between 36 and 38 C

Wash your field water containers out and disenfect the field gate.

You also should let local yards know you have it so that they do not ride past etc. DO NOT GO OFF THE YARD WITH YOUR HORSE!!

We did our horses temps and didn't touch any others and only 4 out of 18 were infected on our yard and that because they had had nose to nose contact with the infected horse. The young and old the are most likely to catch it due to lower immune systems.

Good luck and fingers crossed xx

 

[sam4321]

we had to have our horses scoped that never showed any signs, as according to our vet they can catch it, never show signs then become a carrier and infect others for the rest of their life. Which you might never know about. It makes sense as they dont all have the same symtoms, one of our had a snotty nose but no abcess, so you may have missed the snotty nose for one day, and thought your horse was fine, as so it spreads.....

please please have them tested once they are better to make sure they are not carriers