Possibly Mange?

DeaconsMom

Ok little bit of background. I have a 5-6 yr old English Mastiff, Hauns, who we got in October. The previous owner was not feeding him, left him tied outside during Hurricane Ike, she openly admitted one of her sons hit him with a rake. He was full of parasites, bladder infection and upper respiratory infection. Very malnourished and of course is heart worm positive.

We thought he had a bad bacterial infection and Seborrhea. He has been on 3 different antibiotics, medicated shampoos, baths two and three times per week. Also oral supplements to help his skin and anithistamines. He has had skin scrapings done three times to check for mites and none have been found. He is SO itchy. He constantly scratches and causes raw spots. His skin is thick and scaly/scabby and boy oh boy does he reek. The smell has improved some, but not much else has. He also loses hair in the itchy, scaly spots.

I finally found a jacket large enough to fit him and that helps to prevent some of the scratching only bc he really seems to enjoy his jacket lol Big goober.

Now my younger OEM Deacon is having skin issues. We go back to the vet on Monday and take both of them I just feel so bad. They itch and itch it has to be miserable. I have been trying to research mange and see if maybe that's what is going on?

I know it can be hard to find the mites in scrapings if it is sarcoptic mange but after three scrapings wouldn't they have found something by now? Then I worry bc Deacon is now getting what seems to be early stages of whatever is going on with Hauns.

BTW they are treated with Advantix and have no fleas or intestinal parasites.

I thought maybe someone may have a suggestion or idea that I haven't thought of or just more information in general. Like I said before we ARE going back to the vet on Monday. This is just driving me nuts worrying about my two boys and feeling like nothing I do is helping them.

Thanks,
Jess

babylizzie

try another vet, you know like people like to get second opinions, try a second opinion for your dogs.

DeaconsMom

We have We have seen two different vets and are going back to the second (the one I prefer) on Monday. Thank you though, guess I should have mentioned that in my original post.

zimandtakandgrrandmimi

the only thing I can say for certain is that looking into immunity boosting measures won't hurt and most likely help.

DeaconsMom

What exactly are immunity boosting measures? Or is that something my vet and I need to discuss? Sorry just not sure what it is. I'm guessing some herbal/vitamin regimes?

Thank you for the suggestion though. At this point anything is worth a try, breaks my heart to see my babies like this and I hate that everything we try isn't helping.

zimandtakandgrrandmimi

at one point I had a really good informational link...im trying to find it again....

lulusmom

I highly recommend that you request that your vet do a thyroid panel. Hypothyroidism (low thyroid) is the number one most common endocrine disorder in dogs and skin and coat issues are at the top of the list of symptoms. Some dogs with allergies suffer more severe symptoms with Hypothyroidism as the condition compromises the immune system making the dog more susceptable to infection.