Demodex Mange

Pandora · 02-15-2008, 03:22 PM

Hi I am new to this site and am hoping someone could shed some light on my situation.
My 1 year old dobe, Pandora began losing her fur at the age of 6 months, turned out she had demodectic mange(parisite in her hair folicles). We brought her to our first vet who tried to cure her by giving her a revolution perscription and some anti-biotics. It didn't take long before we realized she was getting much worse, more hair lose and soars on her body. She then had to go in for another skin scrapping and then recieved a treatment called ivermec. This did not work and our vet told us we had to go somewhere else as he had never experienced a case that severe.
We then went to another vet who contacted a dermatologist, who told him what we should do. After 3 weeks of doubling the dose of ivermec and an antibiotic to help with the secondary infection that had began, her fur came back and she seemed to be doing so much better.
It has been 3 months since then and she is still on ivermec and has to have skin scrapping every 3 weeks to see if there are any mites left and of course there are always 1 or 2.
I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced mange and how long I can expect to be going through this and how much more money this parisite will cost us.
We were told it's generally in puppies, so hopefully it will be gone soon!

**Doberdog** · 02-15-2008, 03:28 PM

Sorry I can't help with this. I just wanted to say good luck and I'm glad you are getting her Treated. You are a good Dobie owner.

Linda H · 02-15-2008, 05:51 PM

Talk to your vet about giving the ivermec yourself. You can buy it at a feed store for about $35-$40 for a 50cc bottle.
I have had experience with demodex but it was in the 60's. Some cases are very hard to cure. My vet thought my girl (boston terrier) was going to die as most of her skin had turned blue and she had very little hair. He tried a new medicine that was a pill. I have no idea what it was now but medicines have greatly improved. I think it took at least 6 months before she was well. One of her pups never did clear up and they had to put him to sleep after he was a year old. Back then my vet didn't know that this ran in lines.
I would say if her fur is growing back then you have the mange on the run. It would be wise to keep up the ivermec like your vet is doing. It really shouldn't be much longer before she will be done with the doses.

**dobermansrule** · 02-15-2008, 06:06 PM

if it is generalized, which it sounds like it is, it is tough. It may take a combo of ivermec and medicated dip. The scraping tell if any live organism left. All dogs carry the organism but normally have strong enough immune systems to keep it suppressed. When the immune system is weak, like with puppies, or stress induced, the mange can result.

Pandora · 02-15-2008, 06:46 PM

yes it is generalized and no one here does dips anymore due to side affects apparently! We put her on a meat diet to give her immune system a boost and continue with the meds. thanks for the imput I was starting to think we were alone!

Pandora · 02-15-2008, 06:46 PM

thank you so much for the info and hope!

vegaslove · 02-15-2008, 06:51 PM

Can't help with the demodex but wanted to welcome you and give some words of encouragement. Thanks on behalf of Pandora for not giving up and continuing to strive to make her more comfortable!

Pandora · 02-15-2008, 06:55 PM

I wouldn't have it any other way, she's my baby!

tg5452 · 02-15-2008, 07:30 PM

My girl actually has demodectic mange. She had the dips as a pup. Then she went through her first heat cycle and got it again. The vet said she could have it her whole life. Everytime her immune system is down she will more then likely get it again. They treat it to keep it at a low. Everytime she gets scraped there will always be a few, its only when they are at a high they she will have to get treat. Now when she gets mange she gets the oral medication. I only did the dips when she was a pup because there were less chances of side effects. But shes worth every penny. She is getting spayed this weekend and the vet said with the anes. that she might get mange again since her immune will be down. So we will see, good luck.

**dobestar** · 02-16-2008, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pandora

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced mange and how long I can expect to be going through this and how much more money this parisite will cost us.
We were told it's generally in puppies, so hopefully it will be gone soon!

Our rescue group had an 8 month old puppy that had a severe case of generalized Demodectic Mange. She was treated with a daily dose of liquid Ivermectin for the mange, and Cephalexin for the infection. She was on Cephalexin for about 6 weeks, and Ivermectin for about 4 months before her skin scrapings were negative. As I recall, she had to have 2 negative skin scrapings 30 days apart before she was considered "cured".

She did make a complete recovery and hasn't had any relapses. Her skin looked like elephant skin when she was at her worst, and that all went away after she healed. Here are before and after pictures of her. Both sides of her face were equally affected, as well as some smaller spots on her body and in between her toes.

We bought our Ivermectin at the local farm supply store - it was less than $40/bottle, and I'm fairly certain that we only bought 2 bottles. The cephalexin was also inexpensive. The biggest cost was the multiple vet visits.

So don't give up. Demodex is persistent, but it can be beat if you stick with the treatments.

Good luck to you and your girl.