Advice Needed - Puppy with Demodectic Mange

[LuckyNumber7]

My puppy Molly got diagnosed about 1 month ago with demodectic mange. It started off with just 1 spot on her left foreleg/paw that went bald and got a bit dry/scaley and red. Now there's another smaller spot on one of her back paws, and around one of her eyes is starting to lose hair

We have been to the vet twice about this, and Molly has received 2 shots of ivermectin, once when we first had her seen and another 3 weeks later. We also have a topical ointment to put on the spots called "Pyoben Gel" that is 5% benzoyl peroxide. Now she's starting to get a skin infection from the pores clogging where hair tries to grow back, and we have her on an antibiotic twice per day, Cephalexin.

The vet has said both times that she has seen her that "she looks great" and has seemed very unconcerned by all of this. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with mange, I have talked to Freedom about it before, and would like some more insight. How long did it take for your dog to be cured of it? How did your vet approach treating it? Is there anything I can do to expedite the process at home, or anything I should avoid doing?

I just feel so awful for her. She seems perfectly happy, but damnit I just want my puppy to be healthy already Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (and Molly)

[Catlady711]

Did you vet do 2 skin scrapings after the ivermec injections to be sure it was gone? Personally I'd seek a second opinion for treatment.


Best site for info...

VeterinaryPartner.com demodectic mange


Site has some info......

vetinfo.com

There are three treatments for demodectic mange that work for most dogs.
The first is the use of amitraz pour on (Mitaban Rx)Product No Longer Available! every other week
for 6 to 8 applications or until 2 consecutive skin scrapings are negative,
which probably cures demodectic mange in about 80% of dogs when
application directions are followed, although this is just a guess based on
averaging results from available studies. This is the only approved treatment for
demodecosis. The second treatment is ivermectin given by injection or
orally at the rate of 250ug/kg or higher (up to 600ug/kg in resistant
cases) daily until two skin scrapings are negative, which probably also
works about 80% of the time. This treatment has to be used very
carefully in collies and shelties, who are more likely to suffer toxic reactions
to ivermectin. The third treatment that is sometimes used is oral
milbemycin (Interceptor Rx) given daily for six to eight weeks and my best guess is
that it is about as effective as the other therapies. It is probably
wise to be cautious about using this therapy in collies and shelties, too --
although we have done this on a couple of occasions without problems, so
far.

Even though we use six to eight weeks as sort of a minimum therapy time,
it is important to remember that it can take up to a year of therapy in
some dogs to cure demodecosis. It might be possible to cure more dogs if
intense treatment was used longer than a year but we haven't tried that.

Some dogs who do not respond to one therapy will respond to one of the
others, so it is probably possible to cure demodectic mange in about 90%
of dogs. In the remaining dogs it is usually possible to control the
disease even if it can't be eliminated, by use of intermittent therapy. We have
done once a month amitraz applications when this was necessary, in most
cases. We have a couple of patients who we use ivermectin intermittently
with (probably average two or three month long treatments a year).

[LuckyNumber7]

The vet did a skin scraping before each injection. The first skin scraping there were a lot of mites - the 2nd one there was only 1 mite, but she gave the injection anyways. The last injection was only 6 days ago, so we'll be following up soon.

Thank you for the links and the info. I wonder why our vet gave the shots 3 weeks apart, when this says to do it daily?? Weird.

We just moved anyways and we are going to be switching to a local vet, so we can get a 2nd opinion there.

[Catlady711]

Thank you for the links and the info. I wonder why our vet gave the shots 3 weeks apart, when this says to do it daily?? Weird.

Dunno, maybe your vet used a higher dose done less frequently.

[LuckyNumber7]

Wanted to update this thread a bit...

We brought Molly to a vet here by our new house, because we were still seeing no improvement from the treament regimen that we were using for over a month. In fact, Molly's spots have been spreading She now has a big bald spot under her right eye, and the ones on her paws are not improving.

The vet took scrapings of every spot that she has, and said there were still a ton of mites - her exact words were "I stopped counting after I got to 7" So, she prescribed Molly liquid ivermectic to be taken every day - .3ml per day. She warned us that this was probably going to be a lengthy battle, and that it could take a while to see improvement. Poor Molly. The vet said that she looks great otherwise, and said "This is the most well behaved puppy I've ever met". My fiance looked like he was about to burst with pride. I wish we could say that she's well behaved from the hours spent training her - but we didn't....she has just always been like that.

We have to keep a close eye on Molly to make sure that she doesn't have a reaction to the ivermectin - we don't know if she has any collie mixed in somewhere. Here are some pictures of Molly where you can kind of see her patches - 1 is on her left front paw, the other under her eye. They look a lot worse now that the vet has done scrapings of the skin - but she had to obviously. This is Molly and our foster dog Rocky chilling out on the patio furniture

[Freedom]

OMG, Molly and Rocky look like the before and after pics - 'before' being as a puppy, and 'after' being all grown up!!! No wonder you were willing to foster him!

Glad to hear the new vet is taking a more active approach to a cure. Don't worry, Molly, Mom is taking care of things for you!

[crow_noir]

If it were the other mange i would have suggested Revolution. A not so harsh way on getting rid of it.

I don't have personal experience with this but thought I'd put the suggestion out there. I've heard positive things about this stuff... (Neem) http://www.woodlandnaturalremedies.c...ite/mange.html

Wanted to update this thread a bit...

We brought Molly to a vet here by our new house, because we were still seeing no improvement from the treament regimen that we were using for over a month. In fact, Molly's spots have been spreading She now has a big bald spot under her right eye, and the ones on her paws are not improving.

The vet took scrapings of every spot that she has, and said there were still a ton of mites - her exact words were "I stopped counting after I got to 7" So, she prescribed Molly liquid ivermectic to be taken every day - .3ml per day. She warned us that this was probably going to be a lengthy battle, and that it could take a while to see improvement. Poor Molly. The vet said that she looks great otherwise, and said "This is the most well behaved puppy I've ever met". My fiance looked like he was about to burst with pride. I wish we could say that she's well behaved from the hours spent training her - but we didn't....she has just always been like that.

We have to keep a close eye on Molly to make sure that she doesn't have a reaction to the ivermectin - we don't know if she has any collie mixed in somewhere. Here are some pictures of Molly where you can kind of see her patches - 1 is on her left front paw, the other under her eye. They look a lot worse now that the vet has done scrapings of the skin - but she had to obviously. This is Molly and our foster dog Rocky chilling out on the patio furniture