Mites? A little help...

LilTrio24 · 07-02-2008, 04:38 PM

I'm gonna try to make this short and sweet hoping more people will read it. Feel free to ask questions for clarification. I have a mini doxie, about 5 months ago I took him to the vet because he was losing hair on his temples and around his ears. Vet said it's a mite on the dogs skin which is normal to have but if it reproduces out of control it can cause hair loss. Gave him ivermectin for a month and all seemed better. Well about a month ago I noticed the dog started shedding BADLY all of a sudden and that his hair was going thin ALL over his body. I took him to the vet, vet says it is the same problem gives me more ivermectin. I haven't had any problems with the vet in the past so I want to believe he is right. I have been doing the ivermectin for 15 days now and it's only getting worse. The dog has thinning hair everywhere. Since taking him to the vet i've also noticed on his chest and around his armpits he has this tiny black spots on his skin. I maybe seeing things that were there before and tieing them to the mites, i'm not sure. The dog might ALSO be losing weight. Anyone have experience with this mite problem or the symptons. I plan on going back to the vet on saturday but wanted to know people opinions. Is this a mite or something more?

Thanks!

Willowy · 07-04-2008, 09:51 PM

It sounds like demodectic mange. Like your vet said, all dogs have demodex mites on them, but only dogs with weakened immune systems get an outbreak. You need to do all you can to boost his immune system. Give him a really high-quality dog food, or a properly formulated raw/homecooked diet. Vaccinations are not recommended, past the proper puppy series, as they can overtax the immune system. Certain supplements can help, particularly Omega-3 fatty acids (best source is fish oil). And stress can triger a flare-up, so keep stress to a minimum. Hopefully others will heve more helpful ideas

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LilTrio24 · 07-08-2008, 10:21 PM

Hey, I really appreciate your response. To answer your sorta questions...it seems like iam doing everything possible to fight the mites. He is and has been on quality dog food for many months now. I give him fish oil, I don't see how he could be stressed. I just fear this is going to be a constant reoccuring problem. It's just getting to be too much. My dog doesn't really eat that much, all he does is lay around. MAYBE he is getting better on the medicine but i'm still not convinced it's the mites. He said he has only seem a hand full of dogs that get this problem more than twice....is that even true?

Maggpie · 07-08-2008, 10:28 PM

Ivermectin is one of the best ways to treat demodex from what I understand. However, maybe it just does not work for your pup. How old is your dog?

LilTrio24 · 07-09-2008, 12:58 PM

my dog is just shy of a year and a half. He also had this a while ago too.

Maggpie · 07-09-2008, 11:56 PM

Did he have it under a year of age? Because young dogs are the ones that get demodex usually. It sounds as if it was not treated 100% before and that stress may have caused a flare up

Poor baby. It has to be so uncomfortable for him. I hope he conquers this once and for all soon.

cshellenberger · 07-10-2008, 01:01 AM

It will take a while before you start seeing improvement. It was nearly a month with Angel before we started seeing the hair come back and that was with both Ivermectin AND Mitaban dips.

General tips, put your dog on a food suchas Evo that is low carb and high protien, supplement with fish body oils, vitamin C (ester c is prefered) and a good b complex. This will boost the dogs immune system and reduce the inflamation, speeding recovery.

Mac'N'Roe · 07-11-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cshellenberger

It will take a while before you start seeing improvement. It was nearly a month with Angel before we started seeing the hair come back and that was with both Ivermectin AND Mitaban dips.

General tips, put your dog on a food suchas Evo that is low carb and high protien, supplement with fish body oils, vitamin C (ester c is prefered) and a good b complex. This will boost the dogs immune system and reduce the inflamation, speeding recovery.

Any suggestions on where to get ester c and b complex? Did you use just human supplements, or do I get them at petstore? I think mac is still battling his demodectic. Seems to have flared a little. I think he's almost handling it on his own, but an immune boost would help. Any other suggestions? I'll go get a scrape to be sure that's what I'm seeing.

Kathyy · 07-11-2008, 09:34 PM

I use ones made for humans. Cut it up if the dosage is more than you want to give.

cshellenberger · 07-11-2008, 11:11 PM

I bought both at GNC. I bought the B complex in the capsule that is ground up, and the Ester C crystals.

LilTrio24 · 07-12-2008, 12:30 AM

Hey all, REALLY appreciating the comments. He definately had it originally before he was a year old. Why would it take so long for it to resurface if it didn't get taken care of originally? Also, someone commented that the hair will grow back....i really hope so because it never really did from the first time he had the problem. As for the food, right now he is getting a combination of Innova and Wellness. I don't know how much I want to change his food, especially to high protein because he is a pretty lazy dog. Wasn't sure if too much protein for his inactivity would be a problem. I'll have to look into some of the supplements that were suggested. I really want this to be the last time he has this problem. He has about a week left of the ivermectin.

cshellenberger · 07-12-2008, 11:00 AM

Actually high protien diets in Canines will improve his activity levels. It will reduce the # of mites naturally because they feed off the yeast that a high carb diet produce due to the excesss sugars in the diet. My girls broke out in the demodex again two weeks ago due to high stress levels in the house, with the current diet she is already clearing up with NO chemical medicines.

FYI, if any changes have occured in the house hold that are stressful that could trigger an outbreak, also the srtess of an approaching heat in females or a female IN heat in the area can trigger outbreaks. Stress suppresses the immune system (the reason we tend to get sick easier when we're stressed as well).

LilTrio24 · 07-12-2008, 12:33 PM

His food is almost gone so I guess I will give something with high protein a chance and see if it helps. My question is that you said your dog got it again...first off wouldn't you want to use something like ivermectin to get rid of them for good (assuming you can), secondly how do you know that they are having a problem with the mites again? Is there any way to tell besides they just start randomly losing hair? As for stress, nothing really has changed. He gets to see my parents more over the last two months which he LOVES to see them. So he's in a cage a lot less, so it seems like he would be less stressed, or at least there isn't anything i can figure out that would be stressing him.

cshellenberger · 07-13-2008, 07:23 PM

Honestly you can't get rid of Demodex for good, you can only control it. it actually gets into the dogs system and will always be there. When the dog gets stressed the immune system, which keeps the numbers of the mite low goes down allowing the mite population to go up and an outbreak to occur. It's very similar to a yeast infection, the mite is part of the microbial flora in the dogs system and nearly all dogs HAVE them. Those dogs that are prone to outbreaks usually have something going on that they have a weakness in their systems that allows the mite to get out of control.

It may be that your dog has weakened immune system due to an underlying illness or heredity.

Pasofino · 07-15-2008, 11:10 AM

There is a cream that you can put on the spots that eliminates it, if the demodec has not spread all over. It is Goodwinol, very inexpensive and it just takes a small amount..

This will help while you are building his immune system.

Did the vet do a culture to determine if it is demodec?

If it is not and it is just mites, then using diatomaceous earth will get rid of it and it is totally non toxic to babies and any other animals. It kills fleas and ticks as well.

Diatomaceous earth will only help if it is an external mite problem, not if it is demodec.