question about Demodex mange

[MyDieselBoxr]

About two months ago Diesel was diagnosed with Demodex. He has been on Ivermectin ever since. He looks a whole lot better and most his hair has come back. At the last scrape the vet said that he still has live mites and needs to continue the Ivermectin. The visit 3 weeks before that she said he was mite free. I am getting very frustrated. He hates this medicine and I believe it may be the reason his feces is always runny.

My question is, I was told that most dogs have these mites but there immune system was strong enough to overcome the mites. If Diesels immune system in maturing than cant he overcome these on his own and stop the Ivermectin. He may still have the mites but they wont effect him, like in most dogs.

I feel as if my vet is stringing me along. The third scraping he had he seen the other vet that works there and she said he wasn't on enough Ivermectin to help. She gave the cure ratings on percentage and he was in the 20%. Its been awhile on this and I am worried about him taking this medicine long term. What can I do?

BTW, Diesel is 8 months old. He started this at 6 months.

 

[Maniago]

This subject is much discussed.

Please try using the http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/search.php?s=

you will find abundance of information

 

[MyDieselBoxr]

I have read every topic on here for the last two months with this discussed. I search almost everytime I come to BW before I post.

I guess the question I am just wondering is can I just stop the medicine and see it get better? Wont he have live mites anyway? I thought most dogs do.

 

[MyDieselBoxr]

Maniago, I seen that your dog beat it with no medicine. Thats really where I want to go but my vet insist I stay on this expensive stuff.

 

[Maniago]

Grace did beat it, without Ivomectin (as it is called here) After reading the many side effects, I decided not to use it. We boosted her immune system; Gave extra fish oil in her diet; rubbed the bare spots with tea tree oil.............and (the worst part of all to Miss Grace......bathed her in Tea Tree oil shampoo once every other month) She truly thinks a bath is cruel punishment

Granted, it took a while before other people noticed a difference in hair re-growth. I noticed it within a month

 

[sashamom]

I would have to agree! We also opted out of the vet recommended treatments and chose to treat her naturally and boost her immune system....lots of vitamin c and e...both internally and topically....she got babied to death...and she was SO much better on her own...My own vet told me 90% of dogs grow out of demodetic mange on their own!! Good luck and keep us posted!
Sasha, Telmar and Lisa

 

[CaptainJack]

I just took Jack to the vet today for really red eyes and a patch of hairless skin on his leg. The eyes he thinks are just environmental irritants/allergies cause they come and go, with the pattern being they seem to get worse when he's been out of the house alot -- like out in the big bad world, not just in his green back yard. And REALLY flare up after Doggie Day care. So he gave drops for the eyes.

As for the leg, the vet took scrapings and said it was Demodectic Mange. He said they have a dip (didn't say which one) but for a localized case in a 5 month old seemingly healthy puppy its too much. He didn't suggest Ivermectin at all, but gave me Goodwinol Ointment and said that will help it as it takes care of itself.

I also scheduled Jack's neuter today, and so I asked my vet about ACE. He said that although they have it in the office and use it in some cases, he never uses it on young neuters, especially in young, muscular athletic breeds. He said one of the reasons ACE affects boxers is that ACE needs body fat to metabolize. Boxers are an athletic muscular breed that when in good shape don't tend to have the amounts of body fat needed to metabolize the ACE, thus the higher incidence of problems.

I have to say, after reading all the posts here about vets that insist on using ACE in boxers, and the ones that jump on dips and ivermectin for puppies, I am breathing a sigh of relief and newfound faith in my vet. At least he sounds like he knows what he is talking about, and he seems to be on the conservative side instead of just milking me for dips and ivermectin.

And I'm going out this weekend on a hunt to find sesame oil for his food, immune boosters for supplements, and tea tree oil for baths

 

[MyDieselBoxr]

This all starts back to when I first got him. I took him in to get a look at and get his shots. She said he looked good just very underweight. She wanted him on Iams and I said I was going to feed him Wellness. She checked the box on his medical report that I was feeding him an ok diet. Not good not bad but just ok. Fine we will disagree there.

Then I took him in two weeks later cause I noticed all the acne like bumps under his chin and his body was pink and losing fur. She said it was just puppy pimples and gave him antibiotics. At that time she also gave him 3 shots including rabies and his microchip. I came here read a lot about manage and called her back and told her what I thought he had. She said bring him in. I did and sure enough he did. If I new he had this we would not have gave him the shots cause they probably just stressed him even more.

I think my first hunt is going to be for a new vet. When I first took Diesel in I asked about Ivermectin and she says she uses that only as a second option and that she uses dips first. So I said ok. She dipped him charged me 45$. Then she called me 3 days later and said she wanted to start him on Ivermectin. I was like WHAT! Why even do that dip? She says that if I don't keep on this medicine he may not get over this.

Who is the vet here? I am starting to feel like I know more than her. With the help of this site I have learned so much.

 

[buffym]

My Diesel was also diagnosed with demodex when he was about 6 months of age. The vet who did his ears noticed it and said dont worry most dogs outgrow this with age. When I took him to his regular vet for shots I asked her about it and they did a skin scrapping and confirmed that yes he had demodex. She then gave me some shampoo and some creame to put on him. Other than that and giving him Vitamin C, I did nothing else and he cleared up just fine.

Good Luck

 

[sashamygirl]

Sasha had it at 3 months i did no dipping just lots of TLC lots of bathing which she hated:mad: and vitamin c and e she is now 8 months with her hair back:D good luck Jenn&Sasha