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Demodetic Mange


ness_bc
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Hey All,

 

I don't post very regularly anymore but was wondering what the consequence other than a bald patch of not treating demodetic mange. Our 3 and a half year old BC has other outbreak. The first she had at 16 months and we treated that we a toxic wash stuff (it was only a small patch), we have left the current patch alone - she has had it since October last year but she is now losing more hair in the area. Not substantial amounts but you can see it. The first lot cleared up and disappeared but I am not sure what we should do the second time. Any help guys?

 

Thanks,

 

Sally and Ness

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Mine had her first one around 8-10 weeks. Didn't do anything because the vet said it was just caused from rubbing on the carpet (he was wrong) At 5 months, she had another one on her forehead. New vet did scraping and it was mange. He wanted me to spend 400 bucks to do the whole body dipping. I asked some other people and was suggested to do nothing. She was scratching it and made it worse. She also had her spay surgery around that time so she wore an E-collar for a week. Withint that week, it healed almost completely probably because she couldn't scratch it. I also used flea shampoo and it might have helped. I am glad I didn't do the whole dipping. It could have caused her depression and depression to me financially.

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I would think one risk if it didn't clear up would be secondary bacterial skin infection. When Cady had a localized area on her nose and cheek we treated it with Goodwinol cream. Why does your dog have outbreaks at age 3? I thought it was due to an immature or problem immune system or bouts of stress that could lower the immune response. If so, a steady routine to lessen stress and a healthy diet should also help.

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Demodex is usually not too big a deal unless you end up with the generalized form, which can be difficult and sometimes impossible to clear up. Two episodes in 3.5 years doesn't really qualify you for that group. Naturally, your own vet will have a better idea than I do whether or not this case looks like it wants to be a problem, and of course you should run your thoughts past her/him while deciding on a course of action.

 

A couple of things to think about... when dogs lose hair, it can be 6 to 8 months before their hair starts to grow back. Unlike us, most breeds of dogs do not have continuously growing hair - it grows to a certain length and then stops. At that point the follicle is in a resting phase and will not produce a new hair until it's time to wake up and start a new growth cycle. So just the fact that the bald patch has been there a while isn't in itself an indication of a problem. If it is indeed expanding, that suggests that the Demodex mites are spreading a bit - they live in the hair follicles and cause the hairs to fall out. Normal animals just live in a truce state with their Deomdex; their immune system keeps it under control and it lives out a meek and modest existance without making much fuss. Some animals have an immune system disorder that does not allow this truce, and those get the generalized form; others have temporary problems which allow the Demodex mite to get out of control for a while. Stress (physical or psychological) and other immunosupressive health conditions can be contributors.

 

Truthfully, if this were my dog and she had a minor bald patch I'd probably just ride it out unless I was seeing a lot of progression. What you might consider doing is to exactly measure the dimensions of the bald spot once a week to see if it's growing and if so how fast. You can do this with a flexible ruler or actually mark the skin with a Sharpie if you like (put dots to mark the dimensions) and then compare dimensions from one week to the next for several weeks. So long as the skin is otherwise normal and you don't have rapid progression, you have some wiggle room.

 

We used to use Goodwinol on our Demodex cases when I was an intern; most cases cleared up fine, though I honestly could not tell you how many would have done so with or without it. I personally would not advise a dip for a mild case like this unless it was really refractory and just would not go away. There are other protocols, but they can be pretty expensive (prohibitive for most owners), and again, I'd question the need for it in view of the mildness of this case (as it sounds from the description, anyway).

 

One other thing to think about is screening for underlying disease states which might suppress the immune function - these are varied and can include (but are not limited to) nutritional, infectious and metabolic problems, as well as some medications. Unfortunately, since the causes of mild immunosupression are many, tracking them down can take a lot of tests. I'd probably start with a general health screen and then try to narrow it down from there - maybe a thyroid screen after the general panels are run.

 

That may be a lot more than you ever wanted to know about Demodex, so I'll both apologise if so and shut up now. I hope this turns out to be no more than a mild annoyance for you and her and that it clears up soon.

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Thanks AK doc Dog and others for responding. I just wanted to make sure that by leaving it along it wasn't going to be the end of the world. I have spoken to the vet who trains at agility with us and she said that it would probably be okay to leave but I figured I would ask a second opinion - given that this is free. This is only one small patch and I wasn't particularly concerned. Any way shall keep an eye on it and see what happens.

 

Thanks again,

 

Sally and Ness

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Sorry I just noticed on your post AK Doc Dog that you mentioned getting a thyroid panel check - does the fact that her half-sister (same mum) is on thyroid mediation having any baring on this - in otherwords is there a genetic link in BC's. It might fit as she isn't particularly active either so maybe there is something there.

 

Sally and Ness

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Thyroid disease in dogs does have a hereditary pattern, but it isn't ALWAYS hereditary - in other words, your dog's half-sib might've developed it for reasons unique to her and not genetic. However, many cases ARE genetic. Thyroid disease in dogs is generally caused by an immune system disorder which attacks the thyroid, so females are predisposed more than males, though the biggest group is middle-aged females (which yours is not). A full thyroid screen runs about $70 here (we send it to MSU) and requires just a blood draw. Every system in the body requires thyroid hormone in order to function properly, so low thyroid dogs can have a wide variety of symptoms.

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Hi INU

If you mean Chlorox as in the bleach used for washing clothes... well, it might kill the mites (I'm not sure about this), but it might also bleach the nearby hair and it is fairly harsh to the skin. If it's in a lickable spot, there's also that to consider - it's better that they don't eat bleach. This is not a remedy I've ever heard of for use on demodex, so I guess I wouldn't be able to advise it. You might see if your own vet has any experience with this.... I just don't, so I can't tell you much about it, unfortunately. Sorry about that!

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Clorox is used and works very well on fungi, like rigworm.

Are you sure the one that told you didn't speak about using it in that context?

 

Never heard about using it on mites.

 

 

Lost one doberman to generalized juvenile demodicosis many years ago, before Mitaban dips.

The parents were imported dogs from Europe that came with an engineer that had been hired by a US firm.

The mother was in whelp during transit so stress probably was a big factor.

 

Seven puppies in the litter, five had it, two died from it, after several months of skin infections that didn't go away.

 

Today such is very rare, as there are many new protocols to control demodex mites, I think some involving ivomectins, that work well, without the stress of the dips, until the immune system has a chance to get it under control, if possible.

 

AK Dog Doc already mentioned that it is something that can be kept an eye on, as it tends to go away on it's own in the localized form and if it spreads, it is always time then to treat.

 

No hurry about it on a grown dog, all lost is a little hair.

 

Worrysome on a puppy, until demonstrated it is not going to be a problem.

 

(Sorry, was not going to butt in here anymore, but...had snow and have nothing better to do right now, was reading and this begged another answer).

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My Ben pup, among many other difficulties, struggled with significant though not quite generalized demodex flareups until he was almost two years old. Ivermectin injections worked when it would get really bad but it would come back again at the smallest stressor.

 

We finally found out he had Lyme disease - treated that and he never had another flareup.

 

One thing we did on small outbreaks that I've never heard anybody mention since: we put a drop of Frontline on the affected patch. That cleared it up even faster than the Ivermectin and it seemed to prevent reappearances better too. Don't know if this approach was quite kosher though. Little bit better than Clorox, I'd think - though certainly more expensive!

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