Strangles horses usually show a fever with loss of appetite. They just
plain don't feel good. My 3 yr old recently had been in a barn where a
horse had broken with strangles. She had a fever and didn't eat for a day
(no lymph node swelling) and everybody panicked. They were ready to load
her up on antibiotics and vaccinate her. I put the kabosh on that really
fast and gave her a couple doses of aconite. The next day she was fine and
plunked out a beautiful molar cap 3 days later...turns out she was
teething.
Kim Henneman, DVM