On Saturday, Maddie, was diagnosed with having "Demodecosis." After watching Maddie for the last nine months lose patches of hair, scratch, bleed, etc. etc., our Vet finally diagnosed her. They had thought she had allergies, which caused us to treat her with numerous steroid, antibiotics, Benadryls, shampoos, dietary changes...you name it. We began treatment (dip, shampoo, antibiotics) this Sunday. Has anyone else been through this before with their boxer? Any suggestions?! :confused: Thank You!
Demodecosis?
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Give it some weeks to see improvement, 6 or 8. If there is no improvement, Mitaban, a wormer of cattle, is used orally to kill the mites. It doesn't take long on the Mitaban to see an improvement and in about 3 months you have a totally different animal. I tried the dips for about 4 months, then had to go to dermatologist. I hadn't know there were veterinary dermatologists. But Ruby responded exceptionally well and one year later was mite free and considered cured. Good luck.
JulieM
Boxer Insane
Mitaban is the dip, ivermectin (ivomec) is the cattle dewormer. I'd hate to see anyone give Mitaban orally - that stuff is *nasty*!!!!
Ivermectin is much safer than the dip and if you feel you have to treat it, I'd recommend trying that first.
All dogs have demodex mites, it is in times of depressed immunity that the mites overcome the defenses and cause hair loss. Demodex typically doesn't cause itching, though....
There are a ton of threads on the forums about this, a search for "demodex" or "mange" should bring them up.
Ivermectin is much safer than the dip and if you feel you have to treat it, I'd recommend trying that first.
All dogs have demodex mites, it is in times of depressed immunity that the mites overcome the defenses and cause hair loss. Demodex typically doesn't cause itching, though....
There are a ton of threads on the forums about this, a search for "demodex" or "mange" should bring them up.
Albie
Completely Boxer Crazy
Lacy had generalized demodectic mange. It started with hair loss around her eyes. Eventually, there were patches of hair loss all over her body. We started treatment with Goodwinol ointment on the bald patches, and evenutally went to oral Ivermectin. I think is took us about 2 months on the Ivermectin to get negative skin scrapings, but now all of her hair has grown back and she has a beautiful coat.
daisymom
Boxer Buddy
My Daisy was diagnosed to have demodecosis yesterday. Some symptoms arose about a week ago with only a few patches less than half an inch in diameter on her back and hand leg. Everyone said that it could be an allergy, possibly one due to her getting high protein in her diet. Over this weekend, we got one larger patch, about an inch on her hind left leg. On Monday, we took her to the vet. She said it could be an allergy, but also was more suspicious about demodecosis as the symptoms looked more like that and Daisy is just at the very critical age (9mo) to get it. She said that puppies up to 1 years are more prone to get demodecosis than any other age in their lives. So the vet immediately gave her an ivermectin shot and a special shampoo to wash my baby.
Yesterday evening, we went again to the vet for a check. This time she was sure on the diagnosis, because Daisy had already developed several more patches. These patches were very new and very typical. So, she gave another ivermectin shot and prescribed an ointment to put on Daisy's skin. I do not have the prescription with me, and I cannot recall the name of this oointment now. We will work with this now and then make another visit to the vet next week. I hope that Daisy-baby will get over it soon.
But, I found out that we all are very lucky to have boxers, because the vet says that ivermectin is their primary weapon to fight demodecosis off. She also said that they unfortunately cannot use ivermectin on collies. That came up because we have a neighbor next door with a mixed-breed half-collie and they go to the same vet too; the vet immediately warned us to avoid any contact with that dog. She said ivermectin has an adverse effect on an enzyme that collies have, it destroys this enzyme which leads to very serious health problem and may even be fatal.
I hope that Daisy and all the other fur-babies get well soon!
Seniz
_________________
Daisy (born 12/03/00) flashy fawn female with black mask, natural ears and docked tail
Yesterday evening, we went again to the vet for a check. This time she was sure on the diagnosis, because Daisy had already developed several more patches. These patches were very new and very typical. So, she gave another ivermectin shot and prescribed an ointment to put on Daisy's skin. I do not have the prescription with me, and I cannot recall the name of this oointment now. We will work with this now and then make another visit to the vet next week. I hope that Daisy-baby will get over it soon.
But, I found out that we all are very lucky to have boxers, because the vet says that ivermectin is their primary weapon to fight demodecosis off. She also said that they unfortunately cannot use ivermectin on collies. That came up because we have a neighbor next door with a mixed-breed half-collie and they go to the same vet too; the vet immediately warned us to avoid any contact with that dog. She said ivermectin has an adverse effect on an enzyme that collies have, it destroys this enzyme which leads to very serious health problem and may even be fatal.
I hope that Daisy and all the other fur-babies get well soon!
Seniz
_________________
Daisy (born 12/03/00) flashy fawn female with black mask, natural ears and docked tail
Hi Jamie~~
Sorry to hear that you've had to go through this experience with your Boxer Maddie, as well.
We went through that entire process with our 2 yr. old Sigmund and it was extremely sad and frustrating.
One thing that did help him was adding essential fatty acids, (a combo of omega-3 and omega-6's) to his diet.
This helped to restore his coat and worked as an antiinflammatory as well.
We also added a clove of garlic to his meals once a day.
He improved in two weeks and was cleared after only a month.
I hope this helps and that Maddie is feeling well again soon.
Charlotte &
Sigmund, German, male, natural ears, docked tail 17/7/99
Sorry to hear that you've had to go through this experience with your Boxer Maddie, as well.
We went through that entire process with our 2 yr. old Sigmund and it was extremely sad and frustrating.
One thing that did help him was adding essential fatty acids, (a combo of omega-3 and omega-6's) to his diet.
This helped to restore his coat and worked as an antiinflammatory as well.
We also added a clove of garlic to his meals once a day.
He improved in two weeks and was cleared after only a month.
I hope this helps and that Maddie is feeling well again soon.
Charlotte &
Sigmund, German, male, natural ears, docked tail 17/7/99
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