demodectic mange

[sage44]

I am the grandmother to a beautiful adopted boxer named Lillie that has demodectic mange. My daughter works out of town and gets home late at night so I told her that I would try to get help. She moved here a year ago and the vet has had her on a dip ever since her arrival. Initially he told her that she would only need 6 to 8 dips at full strength, but it has been a year. After the dips, she is extremely lithaurgic and has become sick when the dips were given at full strength. I am concerned that Miss LIllie is being over medicated. The vet has also told her that Miss Lillie has an immune deficiency also but has not recommended any vitamins, etc. Please send advice as this little dog needs some help other than these strong dips. The vet has now recommended that Miss Lillie get these dips every two weeks at full strength.
ADVICE NEEDED!

 

[JulieM]

How bad is the mange? Generalized or localized? Obviously the dips are not working - and you're right, she probably is being over-exposed to the toxins. I'd find a new vet. Oral ivermectin is safer than the dip, and usually much more effective.

There are lots of threads in the forums on demodex and demodectic mange - a search should pull up some useful information for you.

Yes, mange is the sign of a compromised immune system - either genetically or caused by vaccination, illness, stress, etc. You can boost her immune system by giving Vitamin C, garlic, echinacea, goldenseal, and I'm sure other things I've forgotten (astralagus?). B-Naturals makes a supplement specifically for immune health, Berte's Immune Booster - www.b-naturals.com Changing to a natural diet (or at the very least, although not ideally, a very high-quality kibble) will help; and she should not be getting vaccinations while she has the mange (even the vaccine manufacturers will agree with that!).

 

[Albie]

We treated Lacy with something called Goodwinol ointment, which we put on her bald patches. Unfortunately the demodex still progressed to generalized demodex, so we ended up treating her with oral ivermectin. It took us couple of months to get rid of the mites, but we did it without using dips. I would be very concerned about continuously dipping her (with no apparent results). Maybe you should get a second opinion.

 

[MommyD.]

Poor doggie

I would also suggest finding a new Vet. I went through all the vets in my town before I found a good one. One vet that me and my best friend used almost killed her doggie and he seemed very uninterested in helping my kitty after a not-so-routine neuter. One of my best friends dogs was a "wiener dog"(dachstund?spelling real bad) and it was rescued and had mange. the dips were slowly killing it. Once she found a new Vet and started the med's orally, all slowly got better.

 

[Lennox]

Lennox had a brief stint with mange. but only needed 2 dips to cure the problem. However, Lennox did not get the dips until being on IVOMEC and "vitammune" I believe this tretment before hand helped aid her immune system and then the Mitabin(SP?) Dips helped kick it. Actually, a scrape after the first dip was negative, but they did an extra dip just to make sure.

Good luck! I would ask your vet about Vitammune, which is some type of herbal treatment, and IVOMEC which technically is not approved for mange but it works.

 

[Sadie]

Ivomec works

I'm sorry to hear about Lillie and her problems with mange. My Sadie is 6 yrs old and we still see mites a few times a year. Oral ivermectin has been extremely effective and although it isn't technically approved as a mange treatment (or it wasn't when our vet first recommended it) - it is great and it is, from what I've heard, an active ingredient in the monthly preventative heartworm treatment! Good Luck! :D :D

 

[kay85]

Oh my gosh! Dips for a year? My baby came down with demodeptic mange too, one of the worst cases my vet had ever seen. (I had been going to a different vet previously and he said it was just allergies). My vet dipped her every two weeks but said they would only dip about 8 times because the stuff they use is toxic. I would make them stop dipping immedately and find another treatment method to try. Have they discussed oral medications? Dips usually work better than oral but sometimes oral is best. It took the full 8 dips to get my baby better and she is doing great now. During the very first few dips however, she had horrible skin reactions, but they informed me this is probably from all the dying mites because she had them everywhere. After the third or fourth dip however, the reactions decreased immensely. During the reactions they put her on benedryl for the itching and it seemed to help her a lot. A year later her coat is beautiful and she is fully recovered. I did extensive research on mange and the kind she had was herreditary (an immuninity problem) and I informed my breeder and she denied it. Later, she called me and told me 4 of the puppies from the litter came down with mange and she traced it back to the mothers side of the family. She ended up paying for half of the treatment but not all of it because she was only co-owner of the mother. She was supposed to be a respectable breeder, we checked her out very thoroughly but it just goes to show you, you never know. I did give my baby Lipiderm during the treatments and for a while afterwards for the extra fatty acids and vitamins for her skin and coat. Good luck. Kay