Demodex Mange

[brandimom]

I belong to another forum and someone posted that their afghan has been diagnosed with demodex mange. Their current vet has put the dog on some meds and she is going to see a holistic vet. Any one have a dog that had demodex mange and if so what was the treatment plan. Thanks.

[Hubcitypam]

I had a couple of fosters with it and the vet gave me some cream that cleared it up, but I'm sure treatments have become more involved over the years.

[JJNg]

Depends on the age of the dog and the severity. Very mild localized cases can resolve without treatment or just with a topical cream on the affected spots.

 

More serious cases are usually treated with either amitraz (Mitaban) dips or oral ivermectin. Mitaban dips are the only FDA approved treatment, but most vets and veterinary dermatologists these days are using the oral ivermectin as it seems to be more effective and is more thorough and easier to do than the dips. However, the doses of ivermectin needed are much higher than the heartworm preventative dose and can't be used for collies and other herding breeds that are sensitive to ivermectin.

 

In addition to the medication to kill the mites, some cases also require antibiotics to treat any secondary infections and Benedryl for itching. It also helps to use a benzoyl peroxide shampoo to open up the pores and flush out the mites.

[kudzu]

Had a dog with generalized demodex. She did have secondary infection which we treated. We used oral ivermectin for the demodex. The dose was so high & often that it scared the bejeepers out of me just thinking about it. However, my girl had no problem with it at all & we managed to knock the demodex back. Because it was in multiple areas & showed up near adulthood we ran a full thyroid panel, trying to rule out possible causes. Also made the decision to spay her even though it was months sooner than originally planned.

 

We never entirely wiped out the demodex. When she was majorly stressed or ill small rims would appear around her eyes, spots on ears or patches on her hocks. The areas were small, mild & never became infected again after the initial episode.

[silverfish]

Our first greyhound had demodex. When we first saw him, at about 18mths-2yrs old, he was pink and bald up the middle of his chest, and smelled horrible. He was in an animal shelter, and being treated with Alugan (which has since been taken off the market but I think contained bromociclen) and we couldn't bring him home until he'd finished the treatment.

 

His fur began to grow back, but within the year the mange was back, and we had to do another round. A sample was sent off to a lab to check the dx and it came back positive with a guarded prognosis, but in fact it never did come back again with the same severity, and he lived to 13 1/2 yrs old. However, it wasn't until he was in that fourteenth year and on heart medication that the fur grew back on his belly!

 

Our vet told us that it's an immune-mediated problem, and an awful lot of dogs have the mite living on them without it causing any symptoms at all and without it ever getting out of hand. But in dogs with a poor immune system it can become pathogenic, so we were advised to keep his stress levels as low as possible because being under stress suppresses the immune response. We used to give him a herbal 'stress relieving' supplement when he got a bit wound up (he was an anxious dog) and I don't know if it helped, but it didn't hurt. He had a DAP plug in, too.

[tbhounds]

Depends on the age of the dog and the severity. Very mild localized cases can resolve without treatment or just with a topical cream on the affected spots.

 

More serious cases are usually treated with either amitraz (Mitaban) dips or oral ivermectin. Mitaban dips are the only FDA approved treatment, but most vets and veterinary dermatologists these days are using the oral ivermectin as it seems to be more effective and is more thorough and easier to do than the dips. However, the doses of ivermectin needed are much higher than the heartworm preventative dose and can't be used for collies and other herding breeds that are sensitive to ivermectin.

 

In addition to the medication to kill the mites, some cases also require antibiotics to treat any secondary infections and Benedryl for itching. It also helps to use a benzoyl peroxide shampoo to open up the pores and flush out the mites.

This and please make sure your dog is heartworm negative before starting treatment :-)