Demodex

HELP
Several months ago I posted about Babs having a rash on her head. Transpires that it was demodectic mange carried from her parents. we have been bathing her in aludex for about 2 months now and it seems to have moved from her head to under her legs and stomach we found that sudacreme was the best cure for her head but I am at wits end now and we just want it gone... WE are giving vitamin supplements and salmon oil to combat the dryness of her skin but nothing seems to work ( we even tried lemon juice as suggested in places on the net.) My poor little puppy must be at her wits end .

really feel sorry for her hope she gets well soon

Has the vet given you a time scale for it to start easing?

Nope, they just said bring her back in a couple of weeks, AGAIN!!

how do they get it?

Apparently it can be carried on from parent to pup, it can also be contracted by prolonged contact with another dog with it, well she's had none of the latter because she's had it for ages.

Wendy and Mark wrote:how do they get it?

Wilko wrote:Apparently it can be carried on from parent to pup, it can also be contracted by prolonged contact with another dog with it, well she's had none of the latter because she's had it for ages.

All dogs have the Demodectic Mite in very small quantities, and they are controlled by a healthy immune system. Pups will often get a mild attack because their immune system isn't mature enough to control them, but this normally disappears on its own in a few weeks at most. Likewise, adult dogs can get an attack if they've been a bit off colour & their immune system is low.

However, there are cases where pups get bad attacks from just a couple of weeks old, and this is normally linked to the bitch passing on huge amounts to the pups instead of the normal amounts. In these cases the poor pups need treatment, but it can take many weeks to get them under control. The owner of any pup who is affected like this should immediately tell the breeder (if they are decent, responsible breeders!) as that bitch should never be bred from again! ATTACKS LIKE THIS ARE HEREDITARY! That's why your pup should never be bred from.

We were never going to breed her anyway, she's not a production line she's our baby puppy lol. Apparently the breeder has had to let her dogs go because of her own health issues.

I didn't mean to imply that you would breed from her - sorry - just that she shouldn't be.

I just hope that wherever her mum has gone, she won't be bred from again.

Question is does anyone know of anything other than aludex that is safe that will get rid of this mite

The only other thing I could sugest is Camrosa Ointment.

http://www.camrosa.co.uk/

http://www.camrosa.co.uk/index.php?option=com_contact&task=view&contact_id=1&Itemid=169

You could give them a ring on monday & ask what they can sugest - they're a family run business & the last time I spoke to them they were extremely helpful!

Hi there,

How are you getting on with the Demodex?

My Daisy has been poorly with this and so far has had 10 aludex dips (one per week), after the intial 4 baths we ended up seeing a different vet who also prescribed Ivermectin which is an oral medication, you could ask your vet about that. We are giving one dose per week in addition to the Aludex dips. I don't know if it is coinsidence and the first few dips had done all the hard work but she was much better after starting the ivermectin and nearly all her hair has grown back already.

Last Thursay she went in to be spade and they did another skin scrape and she is clear of the mites (yay ) but they have advised to finish the course of treatment anyway.

I did a lot of research online and have been adding apple cider vinegar to her food which is supposed to help with mange as the mites don't like the acidity. I am also using an echinacea supplement to try and boost her immune system. I got Daisy a few months ago from a rescue centre, she is about 2 years old and has a weak immune system, from poor breeding I guess. You've probably been told or read this but Demodex is much more common in puppies as their immune system has not fully developed so hopefully once your baby gets well it won't cause her anymore problems. I've been told even after Daisy gets well she could have an outbreak at any time....poor sausage! I've been told having a season is a massive trigger for dogs who are suseptable to demodex (hence getting her under the knife last week) so I would get Babs spade as soon she's old enough.
I have also read that neem oil/cream is good for mange although I haven't tried it. Like you, I found that sudocreme works well and I used that on the sore patches when Daisy was at her worst.
I'm also giving her a melatonin supplement which initially the vet advised for hormones but has since said to carry on with it beacuse if nothing else it promotes hair growth (could be why it's grown back so quickly?). I discussed the supplements etc with the vet and he just said if you want to try it try it, it might help or it might not but it certainly won't hurt!
Anyway I just thought I'd share my experience in the hope that it's helpful to you, even just a little. Good luck and let me know how Babs is getting on.