Talk to me about canine mange...

elliemonster2012

Soooooo after switching to grain free food and things almost getting worse with little Dexter's face, we have a vet appt tonight for probable mange.  He is 6.5 months old with fur loss on his face and snout.

Fantastic.

Anybody have any mange experience?  I swear,  we have had more health problems with this little guy

karenttrouble

Well, from what I understand, there are two kinds.  If it's demodex, it won't be contagious right after the first treatment.  The other kind is harder to deal with.

Do you have any other dogs?

elliemonster2012

karenttrouble:

Well, from what I understand, there are two kinds.  If it's demodex, it won't be contagious right after the first treatment.  The other kind is harder to deal with.

Do you have any other dogs?

No other dogs, but he has been around my dads dogs, which I'm sure will need to be checked as well.  Poor little Dexter, he just can't catch a break!

OSULori

Ditto Karen...if its demodex mange, its not contagious but sarcoptic mange is.  I'm not sure if demodex is more common or I just hear more about it.  My pit mix Eddie had demodex when we adopted him-he was treated once prior to us adopting him, but had one spot on his side turn up a few bugs (found by skin scrape-mange is technically little mites) so he did a 3 week treatment of stuff squirted onto his food 1x/day.  I want to say it was liquid Ivermectin but don't quote me on that.  After that, a follow up skin scrape came back bug free so we went on with our lives.

We have since had two skin scrapes done due to Eddie having some thinning hair in other places, but both have come back clean so whatever's going on with my semi bald boy isn't mange, thank goodness.  The thing with mange is that even after you've successfully treated it, it can come back.  Especially if your dog's immune system may be a little low for some reason-weather changes, allergies, etc.  According to the vet we saw on Saturday, recurrence is particularly common in younger dogs. 

(all my knowledge is based on demodex mange...I don't know much about sarcoptic)

Hope you're able to get it cleared up soon!

elliemonster2012

OSULori:

Ditto Karen...if its demodex mange, its not contagious but sarcoptic mange is.  I'm not sure if demodex is more common or I just hear more about it.  My pit mix Eddie had demodex when we adopted him-he was treated once prior to us adopting him, but had one spot on his side turn up a few bugs (found by skin scrape-mange is technically little mites) so he did a 3 week treatment of stuff squirted onto his food 1x/day.  I want to say it was liquid Ivermectin but don't quote me on that.  After that, a follow up skin scrape came back bug free so we went on with our lives.

We have since had two skin scrapes done due to Eddie having some thinning hair in other places, but both have come back clean so whatever's going on with my semi bald boy isn't mange, thank goodness.  The thing with mange is that even after you've successfully treated it, it can come back.  Especially if your dog's immune system may be a little low for some reason-weather changes, allergies, etc.  According to the vet we saw on Saturday, recurrence is particularly common in younger dogs. 

(all my knowledge is based on demodex mange...I don't know much about sarcoptic)

Hope you're able to get it cleared up soon!

 

Thank you, that made me feel much better!  I'll keep you guys posted!

kristinanddan

Our guy came to us with demodectic mange. It really wasn't difficult at all to  clear up in our case. He had it around both eyes, down both hind legs, and a huge spot on his chest. He was rescued from a not-so-great environment and had fleas and worms, so I think my eliminating those things, we did him a huge favor. We treated with Interceptor because we didn't know at the time if he had the collie sensitivity to Ivermectin.

elliemonster2012

Sigh. Well he is def infected...Demodex which is at least a blessing. On ivermectin for a month ad then another check up!  Sigh!