Demodex Mite found really worried

[jboboxer]

Wow, what a coincidence my Roxy had denodex mites, very very badly.
My vet tried dipping her but they came back.
She also got secondary infections from the mites that needed massive doses of antibiotics to cure.
I finally took Roxy to a Vet dermatologist.There are 3 "cures"
1 Increased frequency Dips which left Roxy lethargic for 2 days.
2. The injection, can be fatal in some dogs, a genetic test is available.
3. The heart-worm tablet Interceptor given daily for 30 days.

I chose #3 which I felt was less traumatic for Roxy albeit much more expensive.
After 30 days the Mites were gone. We kept up the treatment for another 30 days and then 1/2 dose for another 30 days.
The Mites never came back.
Good Luck
Mike in Miami

I'm wondering why my vet didn't recommend or mention number 3. We took her into the vet yesterday and he gave her three shots. One was antibiotics, one was for hunger and the last one was the original shot that we were giving her. He then recommended a dip and said it is not toxic, so I ended up giving her a dip. She looks a million times better, but she is still sleeping a lot and has been scratching some and crying a little bit.
I'm trying to remove carbs from her diet to help her with the mites.

I'm supposed to go back in 10 days for the shots and I'll ask about the Interceptor

 

[Cami]

He then recommended a dip and said it is not toxic, so I ended up giving her a dip.

WHAT?????
I would be finding a new vet!!
The dips are most certainly TOXIC. Dogs have died from them.
I know you want to clear this up sooner rather than later but your vet is being quite reckless with that statement. In a previous post I included a link to the manufacturers medication insert (or similar). I can't believe your vet does not think that the mitaban dips are not toxic. He could have at least provided you with the *correct* information and let you make a decision versus supplying you with FALSE information and then basing your decision on that.

 

[jboboxer]

WHAT?????
I would be finding a new vet!!
The dips are most certainly TOXIC. Dogs have died from them.
I know you want to clear this up sooner rather than later but your vet is being quite reckless with that statement. In a previous post I included a link to the manufacturers medication insert (or similar). I can't believe your vet does not think that the mitaban dips are not toxic. He could have at least provided you with the *correct* information and let you make a decision versus supplying you with FALSE information and then basing your decision on that.

Thanks for all the feedback Cami
I am a little concern about my vet to be honest and have considered seeing somebody else, but kind of want to stick it through until this clears up before looking around, because it seems he knows what she's been through and knows her history. Once it clears up, I might consider looking around for another vet.

I did read the pdf you posted, but it didn't seem to be very convincing as wasn't it over 1,000 dogs and only 3 died, which I'm not sure if that was from licking, maybe they were really young or I'm not sure. My puppy is 15 weeks old and after the dip she seemed to be doing a lot better.

You do have me concern about if I should do another dip or not, but right now it's incredible how much she has improved. She was crying and scratching herself and these are the changes we've made

1) she is on antibiotics now daily
2) we started to give her 1,000mg of fish oil daily, which really does seem to help a lot
3) increased her vitamin C intake to 500mg of daily
4) removed as much carbs as possible. Mites live off of carb/yeast from my reading, so we've been giving her wellness puppy for breakfast and just regular chicken for dinner
5) Giving her benadryle 5ml twice a day

Today we're going to give her a bath in aveeno and then we're going to use this product called nu-stock. The breeder has a puppy she kept that is going through the samething and she started to use nu-stock and was telling me she was amazed with the results. She was telling her her puppy grew back hair really fast, it stopped scratching and over all seemed to be doing much better.
I'm surpised I haven't read more about the use of nu-stock, it claims to have been around for 45 years and it says it will get rid of mites guranteed or your money back. I did look at the ingredients and it's high in sulfur, which from reading online says it does kill mites. The very little reviews I saw on nu-stock were pretty amazing. I'm going to try it tonight to see if it does help. I know you aren't supposed to get the puppy wet in between dips, but my vet said I could give her a bath today if I wanted. I think her skin is flaky and giving her a bath in avenno might help her and hopefully I have good results with nu-stock.

Right now her energy has return, she's wagging her tail and wanting to play for the first time in 3-4 days. She seems so much happier and seems to be slowly recovering.

 

[Clavin]

I know many of this board who are very vocal against the dips but having a puppy myself who is also going through the mange "experience" I must say that the Mitiban dips have been TOTALLY successful on Clavin.

We did four dips separated by 10-14 day interval's. I did scrapings before the first three dips and an improvement was shown each time. After the fourth dip, he had a totally negative scraping but my vet suggested which I agreed to on two more dips. As I write this he is in for a 5th dip and I will schedule a six and (hopefully) final dip in two weeks. There have been no negative effects from the dips outside of a little tiredness immediately upon returning home. He no longer is constantly itching and his coat looks great. I also give him fish oil and Vitamin C and I was putting on goodwinol ointment between dips. I also bought some goodwinol shampoo which I have used twice ( the day before he went in for his 4th and 5th dips). The shampoo helps open up hair follicles which improves the dipping process.

I can certainly understand due to the toxic nature of the dips people apprehensions with this process but I have been totally satisfied with the results. I fully understand that we need to build up his immune system to avoid flare ups and that is what I am trying to do with the fish oil, Vitamin C and Missing Link supplements that he is taking.

I wanted to voice an opinion based on my ongoing personal experience. I understand that my position goes against what many feel but in the long run we just want the best for our pets regardless on how we get there.

JBOBOXER... best of luck to you and your pup. Sounds like you are on your way to a full recovery.

 

[jboboxer]

I know many of this board who are very vocal against the dips but having a puppy myself who is also going through the mange "experience" I must say that the Mitiban dips have been TOTALLY successful on Clavin.

We did four dips separated by 10-14 day interval's. I did scrapings before the first three dips and an improvement was shown each time. After the fourth dip, he had a totally negative scraping but my vet suggested which I agreed to on two more dips. As I write this he is in for a 5th dip and I will schedule a six and (hopefully) final dip in two weeks. There have been no negative effects from the dips outside of a little tiredness immediately upon returning home. He no longer is constantly itching and his coat looks great. I also give him fish oil and Vitamin C and I was putting on goodwinol ointment between dips. I also bought some goodwinol shampoo which I have used twice ( the day before he went in for his 4th and 5th dips). The shampoo helps open up hair follicles which improves the dipping process.

I can certainly understand due to the toxic nature of the dips people apprehensions with this process but I have been totally satisfied with the results. I fully understand that we need to build up his immune system to avoid flare ups and that is what I am trying to do with the fish oil, Vitamin C and Missing Link supplements that he is taking.

I wanted to voice an opinion based on my ongoing personal experience. I understand that my position goes against what many feel but in the long run we just want the best for our pets regardless on how we get there.

JBOBOXER... best of luck to you and your pup. Sounds like you are on your way to a full recovery.

After the first dip I have to admit my puppy didn't want to do anything, but sleep all day, which I thought it was that he wasn't feeling good from the mites, but I guess it was the dip. I'm actually really really impressed on how well she's turning around and I'm not sure what is the complete cause of it.

Yesterday I gave Roxy a bath with avenno and so much hair came out with dry skin, scabs...etc and after drying her I put on that nu-stuck and she loved it. She completely stopped scratching in those areas and she relaxed. I think she went to sleep not because of the effects of nu-stock, but because it was the normal time she went to sleep. This morning when she woke up, I haven't seen her with this much energy in the last 1-2 weeks since she's had this problem.

To be honest I'm not 100% sure we're going to do all the dips, because they do have me concern a little bit. As it was stated earlier, I don't like it that the vet said there's nothing to worry about and it's not toxic at all. We're considering getting another vet at least eventually after this is cleared up.

It's hard to determine if one single thing is making all the improvements or if it's multiple things. I've listed the things she's been having

1) 500mg of vitamin c
2) 1,000mg of fish oil/omega 3
3) just got on antibiotic pills yesterday
4) she had an antibiotic shot about a week ago
5) she had her second Ivomec Injection last week
6) removed a lot of carbs (wellness puppy morning and just chicken for dinner)
7) Just started her on nu-stock
8) 5ml of benadryl once in the morning and once at night

I have read that there are more studies out that if you remove as much carbs as possible it's the very best thing for the mites. So it's really hard to determine if one single thing has worked well or not. I know the nu-stock for sure made her stop scratching those areas. I've read that the hair will grow back really fast, but it was hard for me to put it in that many areas. I will be intrested in seeing the results in a few days and I'll report back, but my breeder said she uses baby oil to make it thinner so that it will be spread over the body easier. Right now it's thick yellow stuff all over her. it's mostly sulfur and the bottle says it's non-toxic for dogs and has some bitter stuff in it, so dogs won't want to lick it anyway. So far I have to say it's lived up to that part, now I have to give it a day or two and see if I see any results in their gurantee to kill mites and how fast the hair will grow back.

Anyway I'm still not sure we're going to go through with more dips. I don't know if the Ivomec Injection are enough with the low carb diet and all the other supplements. The breeder who has a puppy who has the samething is only doing dips and using nu-stock, which she was the first person I heard about nu-stock.

 

[gmacleod]

Anyway I'm still not sure we're going to go through with more dips. I don't know if the Ivomec Injection are enough with the low carb diet and all the other supplements. k.

Jboboxer: when you say "dips", what exactly is it you're talking about? I find it difficult to conceive of any vet having a dog simultaneously on mitaban (which is what is normally meant when people talk about "dips"), ivermectin and goodwoonol. Actually, I haven't seen the word mitaban in any of your posts, though you did talk earlier about a shampoo.

Can you clarify? The advice you're getting about avoidance of mitaban dips is valid and sensible (and based on real concern - there are several members on this board whose dogs have had severe reactions, even deaths, from the use of that stuff). However, if it turns out that you're not actually applying that chemical to your dog in the first place, then it becomes a bit of a moot point

 

[jboboxer]

Jboboxer: when you say "dips", what exactly is it you're talking about? I find it difficult to conceive of any vet having a dog simultaneously on mitaban (which is what is normally meant when people talk about "dips"), ivermectin and goodwoonol. Actually, I haven't seen the word mitaban in any of your posts, though you did talk earlier about a shampoo.

Can you clarify? The advice you're getting about avoidance of mitaban dips is valid and sensible (and based on real concern - there are several members on this board whose dogs have had severe reactions, even deaths, from the use of that stuff). However, if it turns out that you're not actually applying that chemical to your dog in the first place, then it becomes a bit of a moot point

yeah, you are actually right. I'm not 100% sure the name as I thought there was only one name. I thought the name started with an A that I heard the vet talk about.

As far as the shampoo and ointment, I stopped using it. It seemd like the ointment couldn't be licked and he told me only to put it in areas she couldn't lick which was near impossible.

Also it was localized demodex which progressed to generalized demodex, so I didn't use the shampoo anymore nor did I use the ointment.

 

[jboboxer]

The nu-stock seems to be amazing. Where ever I put it, I can see she will not scratch that area, if there's scabs it seems to heal really quick and I can see new hair grow back even after a few days.

For some reason the product seems to be really popular among pittbull owners. I found out about it from my breeder, who another person told her about it. Well if you google for nu-stock, most of the places I found that swear by it are pittbull msg boards, which I'm not sure why it's only popular among those owners. Or possibly it's more common in pittbulls as a friend of mine who had a half lab half pittbull told me his puppy had the samething.

eithereway I'm noticing a lot of progress. I can actually pet my puppy now and she enjoys it and I'm not touching bumps and scabs all over her body.

The instructions say to clean the area and apply every 3 hours, but on the searches I did people say they put it on every day and that it's not toxic in anyway, so I've been putting it on everyday and I'm really happy with the results.
Of course I think the antibiotics, vitamin c/Fishoil, removing the carbs and her shots are also helping, but I can see the specific areas that I put nu-stock how much better she is in those areas.

I'm scheduled to get another dip on Wednesday, but I'm considering just getting the shot, because of all the posts with concerns about the dips. I'm going to continue doing what I normally do and hopefully if by Tuesday night I see such progress I might skip all the dips.

Is the concern mostly cancer from the dips or what other causes are being investigated?

 

[Clavin]

You have to do what you are comfortable with. If you are concerned with the dips due to their toxic nature then you should continue your treatment using other methods. Personally I am very happy with the dipping process and have seen no immediate negative complications. Obviously if there are negative ramifications in the future as a result of the dips then I will have a totally different opinion.

Your success with the Nu-Stock is very encouraging. I have had similar results with the Goodwinol ointment and continue to apply on a daily basis between dips. Clavin is scheduled for a final dip in another 12 days and hopefully there will not be any flare ups. I have been trying to build up his immune system with the Fish Oil tablets, Vitamin C and the Missing Link supplement. His neutering was rescheduled from June to mid September and that will be a good test of his immune system. Fortunately with a male puppy I could "wait" a little longer for the procedure.

I know the vast majority of the posts regarding the treatment of mange are anti dipping and I can certainly understand people's apprehension. I can only go by my personal experience which has been totally positive.

Once again best of luck with the treatment.

 

[gmacleod]

Is the concern mostly cancer from the dips or what other causes are being investigated?

If it is mitaban we're actually talking about (which seems to be in doubt), then the concern is nothing to do with whether the dog might develop cancer somewhere down the track. The concern is whether your dog will live long enough for you to worry about cancer. Aside from seizures, collapse, and death, there are a range of other very nasty - if not fatal - side effects. Really, mitaban is a treatment of last resort as it is severe to the point that it's sometimes a race to see who succumbs first, mites or dog. And it's not always the mites

I would strongly suggest that you ask your vet what it is that is actually being put on your dog.