demodex mange

[Peachcreek]

any body had a dog get better from demodex mange and live a normal life? i recently bought a pup that i thought would make for a great addition to my dogs and saw within a day or two he had hair loss around his eyes.. well i took him to the vet and he did some scrapings and found demodex mites and even let me look at them through the microscope. After talking to the vet i am really bummed now he said to castrate the dog asap and that the treatment would cost about a grand and that the mange would probably come back later.... my thoughts on this subject are not good right now!

[HIGHWATER KENNELS]

man, sorry to hear about that.. I have had several gyps that ended up with that, and one male dog.. All dogs didnt come from my ole dogs so I had no idea when I first seen it on the pups  how they obtain it.. To my understanding it is a genetic disorder that their bodies cannot control the amount of mites that are on their bodies.. From experience I tried everything cause 2 of the gyps were registered that I had bought for my little girl,,but with givin them ivomec injections every week and the washin and yes even dips in sulfur and oil,, it would always come back. Too me it is just not worth the headache... Sorry

[Mike]

Put him down... it ain't worth the battle.

[lonewolf]

I bought a year old dog last year that started losing hair in patches on his head and shoulders. I took him to a vet he said it was demodex mange and told me to give him a cc (1 ml orally) of plain Ivomec everyday for 60 days. At the end of 60 days I started every other day for a week, then every third day for a week, then twice a week, then quit. It worked great so far no problems nearly a year later. I hunt the dog all the time and he's a good find dog now!

[Dogojones]

$1,000 to treat demodex. Was it local or generalized? You may not be able to breed him but you sure don't have to spend $1,000 to try to save him. There are a few things you can do yourself if you're talking about 4 or 5 areas aroound the head,face, paws and neck area. 
Lonewolf has the right idea or contact Oly on the board. What you're dealing with is a weak immune sytem in the pup. As  already stated all dogs have mites it's  passed on from the mother.  The immune system would usually keep the demodex in check but other things like stress, shots, travel, croping can weaken the immune system causing the mites to take control of the skin. IMO it's worth taking a shot at trying to self treat it. Maybe a couple hundred dollars and some time. The problem is it could always come back somewhere down the line. You could get lucky and the dogs immune system kicks in and he grows out of it. jMO  Before you do anything do a search on the board for Oliver "Oly" Riveria. Good Luck     

[DoGgONit]

 i also have a gyp that had spots of hair loss and a bit of a blister on the skin . vet scraped it and said it was demonex . the vet gave me Goodwinol ointment. aplied once every 24 hours for about a month . at two weeks there was a thick scab . at four weeks hair was groing back !!! its been about a year and all clear !

[Hawkins]

I have a little female pup with demodectic mange. Her first outbreak was around 5 months old. I tried ivomec and nustock bit the only thing that seemed to help was the high dollar promeris. Gave her three rounds of that and she stayed clear. Her last dose was about a month and a half ago and yesterday while feeding I noticed she had about 5 golf ball size patches of hair gone. She is about nine months old now, don't know if it's something that I want to deal with.

[Peachcreek]

well after i talked to the breeder i am questioning the vet... the breeder has NEVER had this issue on any dogs or pups. I have been reading up on this issue a lot tonight. The thing that makes me question if the pup has demodex mange is the vet had to scrape 8-10 times to find one mite he would scrape and go check the slide and then go scrape again. It is my understanding now that all dogs have the demodex mite present at birth The pup has dandruff real bad and the spots that concerned me are around his eyes and under his neck, the spots are kind of red and look sore and the hair in these areas is thin. The pup is not scratching a whole lot like i have read about. If niether of the pups parents have the imune disorder is it possible that he doesnt have it.

[Peachcreek]

ohh and i have only had the pup for a week so i dont know if the condition is getting better or worse yet. it was barely noticable and i saw it about 3 days ago and once i did notice it it concerned me so i wanted to catch it before it turned into something bad.  For those of you who have had to deal with this how long did it take the stuff to get to looking real bad?

[Dogojones]

Breeders are not going to admitt that there stock has demdex mange. If that got out who buy dogs from him. There are breeders who will breed a demodex dog because the outbreak was local and they were able to get the dogs immune system built up which prevented futher outbreaks. It just a chance the breeder is taken. The problem comes when that bitch produces a litter and one of pups has the demodex and you contact the breeder and he dummie ups and have you second guessing the vet. Now you can question the vets way to treat demodex but there know mistaking the cigar shape like mite under the microscope.
It's not uncommon for a vet to have to do a number of scrapes before he catch one of those on his blade. I would rather have a vet do it 8x rather than once and tell me it's  food allergies.  If you decode to treat yourself make sure you complete the whole treatment and not skip any steps.
Below is a linkc that can help if you need more info just PM me and I will send it to you.

 http://www.angelfire.com/freak/valleyofthefox/mange.html

[Hawkins]

ohh and i have only had the pup for a week so i dont know if the condition is getting better or worse yet. it was barely noticable and i saw it about 3 days ago and once i did notice it it concerned me so i wanted to catch it before it turned into something bad.  For those of you who have had to deal with this how long did it take the stuff to get to looking real bad?

To the first small spot I noticed on my dogs head to the worst she got was about 3 weeks. I would say about 30-40% hair loss, mainly on her head, neck, chest, front legs, and a few large patches on her body. My vet only scraped once and said it was demodex, she didn't scratch at all that I saw either. She stunk really bad and looked terrible.

[Austin]

I have had a dog with it also, and to my understanding, you will never cure the dog just maybe and its a big maybe get lucky enough to control it.  Nothing ever worked for me.  The dog would clear up and start growing hair back but as soon as you went hunting and the dog got hot or got cut, anything that would cause the dog to have some stress, then the mange would come back.  Just my experience, but good luck. And also it doesnt ever happen to the bad ones. haha

[DoGgONit]

 Goodwinol Ointment . for mange on dogs ...i think you have to get it from the vet

[Peachcreek]

I found this deal below while looking on the web last night.. I saw at least 3 more postings just like this one from people claiming to be vets.
Is it you guys assumption that by the vet finding one demodex mite that it is indeed demodectic mange? A lot of the post I read talk of the vet finding ton of  mites on a scraping... I am not trying to prod anyone or be difficult I am simply trying to educate myself on this matter.

The best way to tell if the condition is severe enough to warrant the assumption that it can be passed on to future generations is to wait and see if it clears up on its own. For this reason, we try not to treat demodectic mange until it is evident that it will not get better on its own. At least 80% of dogs will outgrow this condition. The dogs that do not get better and require treatment can usually be cured, or at least managed and controlled, in about 80% of cases -- so the risk of this being a life long infection is not so high that you should worry excessively about it at this time.

Read more: Demodex Mites and Your Dog

[Dogojones]

If it he has one or million it's still demodex. You have to get the immune system under contol if your going to keep him. Try not to let the vet milk you in the process.

[parker]

i  had  a  friend had a  dog named  ring that  had  it  bad  i  mean  bad ......the  vet  gave  him some  amitraz  he  mixed  it  and  i seen the  dog later  he  was  slick as  he  could  be ... he  said  he  would  spray  him  once a  month  with  it .....  another  friend  o f mine  used  taktic for  cattle  active  ingreedient  is  amitraz  and  way  cheaper  .......  some  dogs  will  out  grow  it ....

[Peachcreek]

If it he has one or million it's still demodex. You have to get the immune system under contol if your going to keep him. Try not to let the vet milk you in the process.

well i guess i did see the demodex mite under the microscope. although it is my understanding that even a healthy dog has demodex mites in its skin, and it is the dogs immune system that keeps them in check. so it makes scince to me if the dog kicks the demodex out break on it's own then the dog does not have the immune disorder.. does that sound right? I checked the dog today and he is no worse and no better with no treatment. he is still not scraching or anything and acts very playfull so i guess i will see what happens next.