Strangles :(

cc14

cc14

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99% sure my boy has picked this up, luckily abcess has burst and he will be absolutely fine without any antibiotics.

Whole yard is on lockdown and the mission now begins to try and establish if we have a carrier, as two weeks ago 10 horses were all moved in together which is when he would have contracted it. Now just waiting to see who else picks it up...I know I shouldnt as he has got it from somewhere else, but just feel so guilty as everyone else now has to fork out for vet bills, antibiotics and blood tests :(

Anyone else had experience of strangles either with their own or on their yard? As a largely happy hacking yard I feel awful that people now cannot go out :(

Need to stop feeling so guilty me thinks!
 
It's crap, but not the end of the world. I did lots of hot poultice's with nappies (too tight for that amount of Animalintex!) which helped and she quite enjoyed it I think. It did give me lots of quality time with her (I felt incredibly guilty that she had got it, although it was a complete surprise and the cause was a mystery). We have a week left til she has been symptom clear for 30 days. I found that she struggled to eat and drink from buckets on the floor so regularly held water up for her and her buckets when she had a feed. Hang I'n there
 
Thats really sad and unlucky:(.You shouldnt feel guilty because it is just like when people get sick you cant help but you pass it around and everyone does it so dont worry about it it will blow over sooner or later:).
 
There seems to be lots of it about. On the bright side, once they've had it, they're resistant to it in future :)

You have to not worry about it and just let them get over it. Once the abcesses burst, they feel a lot better and are then truely on the mend :)
 
Luckily hes been absolutely fine in himself and eating absolutely fine so thats a good thing! My yard manager is going to be the only one to touch him etc to try and minimise spreading, as she lives on site so can handle him, get changed and scrubbed up, then handle the others. It was the initial shock of the word that got me I think!
 
Just been to the yard to find two more burst bits, poor boy :( But hes being as good as gold when having them cleaned etc, so Im a very proud and sympathetic mummy :(
 
Clippy said:
There seems to be lots of it about. On the bright side, once they've had it, they're resistant to it in future :)

You have to not worry about it and just let them get over it. Once the abcesses burst, they feel a lot better and are then truely on the mend :)
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My understanding is that immunity is built up, but not for ever.
I had to give mine two/three months off to recover., that is two months after the 30 day period which starts only after all symptoms have gone.
 
So sorry to hear but hope he recovers and you get the all clear soon :)

At our yard which has about 40 plus horses before any new horse arrives it must be strangles tested and given the all clear before it then spends 48 hours in isolation upon arrival and then is introduced to a new field/other horses. This doesnt eliminate the risk of strangles on the yard but deffinaitly minimilises the risk and stops any 'finger pointing' at newbies if strangles was to occur.
 
Sorry to hear this, I know of a yard in Portsmouth area that has Strangles at the moment too, think about 4 horses are affected so far. :(

Not a nice thing at all.... fingers crossed yours clears up very soon
 
We had a case of strangles on our yard a few years ago. My horse came down with suspicious symptoms and was immediately quarrantined and tested. the test showed a virus, not strangles, so we continued to keep her in quarantine and treat her as per Vets advice. A second horse showed similar symptoms, and was also tested, we all expected that the second horse would have the same problem as mine as they were turned out in the same field, the owner of the second horse went on holiday before the test results came back and it was agreed that i would look after both sick horses to help minimise spread of infection. A few days after the other owner had gone on holiday I had a call from her Vet to say that the second horse DID have strangles!

As a yard we implimented the following proceedures.

No outside horses to come onto the yard to hire facilities.
No horses from the yard to go out competing etc.
As the bulk of stabling on the yard involved shared air space and turn out involved mixing horses from each stable block, it was not possible to segregate the horses that had been turned out with the sick horse if they were all stabled, so all horses were kept out in their fields and away from the yard itself (it was around Oct/ November time when they would all usually come in at night).
If owners needed to come on to the yard they would visit thier horses in the fields first then go home to wash clothes etc before next visit.
All owners checked their horses glands and took temperatures daily.
Any Farriers / Vets etc visiting the yard were advised of the situation beforehand and if they had to come, arranged to make the appointment for the last visit of the day.

One of my 2 horses had been on box rest due to lamness for about 6 weeks and had no contact with either of the sick horses during this time, so I stayed completely away from her and my mother looked after her.
I had to develop a strict routine involving caring for each of the two sick horses without any cross contamination - this involved dipping wellies and mucking out tools in disinfectant after use, seperate equipment for each horse, two pairs of overalls - one for each horse and lots of washing of clothes!

After a couple of weeks we were given the all clear by the Vet to safely bring in the other horses. the Strangles horse was moved from his stable (which shared air space with the other stables) to a stable we could section off from the rest of the yard. We disinfected the whole row of 6 or 7 stables in the building he had been originally housed in. All bedding was soaked in disinfectant before being removed. All rugs and equipment in the stable block was disinfected and any unused hay or straw disposed of. All other horses were then allowed to come onto the yard and their stables, but kept away from the quarantined stable and area near it.

Hacking was resumed about 3 weeks after the diagnosis, but everyone took care not to let their horses come into contact with other horses whilst they were riding out. I think it was a while longer before anyone resumed competing.

I am pleased to say that thanks to the real team effort and co-operation of everyone involved we did not have any other case of strangles on the yard - there were approximately 25 horses stabled on the yard at the time.

I know how stressful this situation can be, i felt had responsibility for not only my own sick horse and someone elses sick horse , but also for ensuring that no-one elses horse became infected, it took me 2 or 3 hours a day to look after the two horses and disinfect everthing, but it was well worth all that attention to detail. I am sure everyone on your yard knows you are not responsible for the outbreak, but they will probably get a little stressed by the situation, as were some of the people on our yard, & when this happened it was dealt with by calling a yard meeting - having first discussed peoples concerns with the Vet, then laying out to everyone exactly what needed to be done and why it was necessary. I have to say some firm handling was needed in a couple of instances, but as the majority of the people were supportive and co-operative it was not too hard to get everyone on side.

Good luck with it all, I am sure you will get good advice from your Vet, and hopefully will be able to limit any spread of infection as we did.
 
Maresmaid - you have literally described exactly what we are doing! No horses, in, no horses out, both in terms of stabling, grazing and competing/new arrivals. Only yard manager is doing mine and she changes all clothes immediatly after. Farriers all know so we will be their last appointment of the day but only is shoeing is totally necessary.

Merlywerly - any chance you could pm me which one? Although I have a feeling I already know!
 
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