Demodectic mange?

[DRamey]

I'm not sure if I spelled it correctly, but I have always been under the impression that there are only two types of mange, sarcoptic and demodectic. I was watching animal planet the other day and the vets were treating pit bulls that had been neglected. They were diagnosed with demodectic mange. I have been told that when a hound has this, that you can only treat symptoms and that the hound will continue to have outbreaks throughout his life. The vets on the TV show said that it is curable but takes several months of treatment. Someone fill me in and help me to not be ignorant of the subject. I'm only curious and I have no hounds with skin problems now. By the way guys, the last skin problem my hounds had was because of fly bites last summer. Flies were horrible. I bought a fly trap that was a plastic bag with a vial of something that when broken open and water added per the instructions, smelled like rotten guts. Flies flocked to it and never bothered my hounds again. I got a new one for this year, too.

[Boomer]

The mite responsible for demodectic mange is actually present on most dogs. It usually only affects younger dogs who haven't developed a full immune system. Once the immune system develops in a normal dog, it keeps the numbers downto the point that it's not a nuisance. Dogs with a weak immune system can be affected as older dogs, and in these dogs it can be a re-occuring problem. In a neglect case, the immune system is often compromised from a lack of nutrition or busy staving-off other problems like infections. Statistically, it's likely that these pit bulls will never have mange problems again once they're treated and rehabilitated, so that's probably why the TV show said they'd be fine after treatment. But it is possible these dogs will be of the small percentage that has demodex outbreaks from time-to-time for the rest of their lives.

[Phillip Smith]

My vet has treated hundreds of cases of the (we call it the red mange) with Ivomec. I've had two treated with excellent results. Everything Boomer said it true. It never came back on the two I had treated but can and does come back on some dogs with weak immune systems. The ones that have reoccuring cases after they get a couple of years old should never be bred. Really none of them should be. If treated with Ivomec, that's all you need. No need to put anything on it as the Ivomec clears the skin up quicker the anything you can put on it. It (mange) can be cured but a weak immune system can't!

[beaglehandler]

I heard it is very important to change bedding often to lessen the chance of getting mange and if your dog does get you should empty his dog house and clean it with bleach. Any truth to that.

[Ray]

My pup was diagnosed with demodex mange too and my vet is also treating her with ivermec.She is a bout 4-1/2 monts old and we are giving her .04 cc's every day.We are on the second month of treatment.Everything cleared up and she is doing well.The vets say that once her imune system matures that there won't be anymore problems.We are going to have her spayed and the vet says that sometimes the stress of being spade can bring it back,sometimes.All of my vets said that when she is a year old,we shouldn't have anymore problems.The poor imune system fault is passed on by the dam and this is why one shouldn't use a dog with this problem.The vets also inform me that Ohio State University is working on a cure for this type of mange.Demodex mange is not contagious.

[windy hollow]

http://www.askdrpetra.com/Dogs/Demodex% ... 20Dogs.htm
http://www.animalhealthcare.com/handout ... emodex.htm
http://www.dogsworldwide.com/articles/rm2.htm
http://www.mesavet.com/library/mange.htm