Strangles - my experience (sorry very long)

[Quarrybank]

I'm posting this after reading various posts on strangles (& peoples opinions on it) & other infections that have some but not all of the symptoms.
Background- I'm now almost 7 weeks into a strangles episode. Spider is the only one on my yard to have contracted it & all the other (8) liverys have observed quarenteen & not left the yard since it has been diagnosed. Spider has also been isolated in his own field & stable with no access to the others.
Prior to him showing any signs of being unwell he had not left the yard (due to recovering from a corn) & had had no contact with anyone outside for 4 weeks! Therefore we have no idea where he has got it from. All other horses have tested negative.
He started with high temp (over 40c), off food- not like him as he's a pig!, seemed to be struggling to eat & generally not himself. After a day or so I called vet as no improvement. He took bloods, said I was doing the right thing giving him bute to bring the temp down. Bloods came back as bacterial infection. He was a bit snotty but no swollen glands (strangles was never even mentioned or considered) However as he was still not improving & i was concerned at the way he was trying to eat, I asked for him to be scoped. It was my suggestion, mainly as I wanted to rule it out for peace of mind, as I thought he might have something stuck in his throat.
As soon as the scope went in, we could see mucus at the entrance to his gutteral pouches & this was the first point that strangles was suspected. We went inside each pouch, which was full of pus & mucus (yuk!) samples were taken, & although we still couldn't see how it could be strangles, quarenteen was put in place for him & the rest of the yard.
To our suprise (although with what i know now it shouldn't have been) it came back positive.
His temprature gradually came down & the snot dried up. He was back to eating normally, so after 2 weeks of normal temprature & 4 1/2 weeks after he was first ill he went back in for re-scoping. No pus & mucus this time but 2 huge abssesses in each pouch. So I very disapointedly took him home & told the yard they were still quarenteened (they've all been very good about no hacking or competing) I was given a weeks antibiotics to help clear it up & told after a further week to bring him in again.
I took him back in yesterday & although it was looking better, the absesses were still there. They've admited him so that they can flush the pouches out to help get rid of it & he wont come home until he's in the clear.
I was devastated as to look at him, you would not know that there was anything wrong with him.
What my story shows (& why it speads & never will be fully eradicated) is that it doesn't always present in the classic swollen glands & external absesses that people expect to see. Plus just because the horse looks normal he could still have it & the only way to know for sure it to have them scoped.
There is also a stigma attached to it. My yard has done everything it should do (unlike other yards I know who've had it) I've also been very open with anyone that has asked me about it. Peoples reactions have been varied!!
I wouldn't wish it on anyone but I'd be really interested to hear other peoples thoughts & experiences of it. Plus what people did & how long their horse had it before they got the all clear.
I would also like to commend Patchetts (Anna) for their quick reaction & openness to their own situation.
If you got this far.... thanks for reading

 

[AmyMay]

I'm amazed that the vet's asked you to take the horse to them - talk about spreading the risk......

I hope he's well on the way to recovery.

 

[KatB]

Very similar to my experience of it. In a majority of cases it isnt the horror story people expect. Fingers crossed for quick recovery!

 

[Tia]

My farm became infected with it due to a "silent carrier". No-ones fault, just one of those things. The mare had lived at her previous home for 10 years with a closed herd so obviously none of them were affected.

Out of a whole herd of about 20 at the time, only 5 were affected here. All at the same time. I did not have the vet out until near the end because I didn't want him to be carrying it around.

I quarantined all horses into one field and mopped up everything with povidone iodine which kills the bacteria.

I didn't and would never go down the Penicillin route - too great a risk for my liking.

I placed a voluntary quarantine on my farm and did not allow anyone to come up during the period.

I had disinfectant pads all over and I rarely go off the farm anyway so it wasn't a hassle at all for me.

Everyone healed up perfectly and were back to normal quickly. We had no side-effects (although I had to allow the vet to come here once to lance one of the abscesses...but he came prepared with old clothes; we disinfected his tyres etc) and everyone recovered.

I did not band it about; I chose to close my place for 60 days afterwards and this worked.

 

[Quarrybank]

He can only be scoped at the practice, so has to go in. He is now in their quarenteen stable as he needs daily gutteral pouch washing.
When I took him, the vets yard was cleared prior to me unloading. They were in overalls/ gloves & wellies. Like a scene from a film!!

This is part of the stigma of it. It isn't airborne (apart from when they are launching snot!!) As it can only be spead by contact I pose no risk to anyone else as long as proper hygiene practices are followed.

 

[Tia]

Have to say, I was slightly shocked to read that the vet had the horse at his surgery too.

Sounds like your horse is displaying complications OP. Thankfully mine didn't and to be honest it was a real "non-event" here.

 

[Quarrybank]

Thanks.
I'm just starting to see a light at the end now.

 

[Tia]

Why didn't they scope him at your place?

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
This is part of the stigma of it. It isn't airborne (apart from when they are launching snot!!) As it can only be spead by contact I pose no risk to anyone else as long as proper hygiene practices are followed.

[/ QUOTE ]
Your vets sound very sensible in wearing protectice / disposable clothing.

 

[Quarrybank]

Scoping him at home was never suggested. They were happy for me to bring him in as long as I followed certain procedures.
The reason he's now admitted is the absesses are not coming out, which although looks awful, gets the infection out of them. Because his are internal & are at the base of the pouches, they don't want them to burrow internally which could potentionally lead to bastard strangles. We've tried to let him fight it himself but they're concerned that after 7 weeks he still shouldn't have any absesses left, so want to now help him fight it.

 

[Tia]

Ooh doesn't sound like any fun whatsoever

. Wishing you and him the very best of luck and I hope he recovers.

 

[Quarrybank]

Thanks.
I've never come accross it before & never want to again!

 

[airedale]

good luck with him

dealt with abscess strangles years ago and it's not nice - but at least the sh1t is out of them that way and nature is 'kind' in that the site of the abscess drains well

gutteral pouch is nasty place and there is a major artery/vein (can't remember) in there - my old horse had fungal type gutteral pouch disease

I am surprised though that your vets cannot scope on site - most can - it's a fairly normal procedure really for any respiratory allergy/infection

good luck with him and hope he mends soon

 

[Shilasdair]

Good luck, and thanks to you and your yard for taking such a caring approach by your voluntary quarantine.
S

 

[brighteyes]

By the time it gets into the gp I was told strep equi has burned itself out? Our old pony got her nearside gp chocabloc with chondroids, was given a guarded to poor prognosis and sent down to Leahurst (on one negative swab) for an attempt to remove them. We were warned about the risks, complications and high likelihood of failure - and the gp was empty!

Nobody knows how and there had been massive damage in there - but for once my prayers were answered.

She's the roan in my avatar and still very much with us 12 months on.

 

[Jade2007]

My yard has just come down with strangles due to bad managment in my opinion. In most yards, new horses get put in isolation for a couple of weeks, just to be sure. In my yard the horse went straight out inot the feild without the owner even knowing it was there! You could think that this is not the owners fault but many times this has happened, and she has never said anything about it! In my opinion she is too afraid to confront everyone. Being in a stable block of 51 horses, the disease is very likely to have spread to the young horses and horses with respiratory problems. Luckily, my horses have not been anywhere enar the horse and me and my mum have not touched the horse at all. Any advice will be greatfully accepted

 

[FinkleyAlex]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This is part of the stigma of it. It isn't airborne (apart from when they are launching snot!!) As it can only be spead by contact I pose no risk to anyone else as long as proper hygiene practices are followed.

[/ QUOTE ]
Your vets sound very sensible in wearing protectice / disposable clothing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was told a completely different story. The day after our yard had a showjumping show, my pony came down with strangles, followed by three other geldings (stabled in seperate barns incidentally) now a month after they had been isolated (our yard was very good - completely locked down everything was disinfected the workers did not have contact with the horses as YO would go out and feed them before jumping into her shower in the morning. A gelding in a field about a mile away (belonging to us) caught it, he was on grass livery so they are usually untouched, they get checked on from a distance everyday but the workers do that and did not go near the infected ponies. Turns out a yard about 2-3 miles away on the other side of some arable land had also contracted strangles, and as the wind blew from their direction the vet told us this is the only way this horse could have caught it

 

[Jo C]

I'm so sorry Quarrybank - thought I hadn't seen you out for a while, fingers crossed that the vets will flush him out and the infection will clear. We had strangles at our yard a few years ago, fortunately only 1 horse went down with it but it is not a nice thing to go through. Hopefully see you out and about again soon.

 

[Quarrybank]

Thanks Jo. Spider has had a week of flushing now, & they are going to retest tomorrow, so fingers crossed.
Thankfully Q has not been effected, so i'll hopefully be out & about again with him soon.
I hope all is going ok with you. x.