# sarcoptic mange & treatment



## shinra (Aug 9, 2013)

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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

shinra said:


> Hello,
> I was wondering if anyone could advice me, if anyones dogs had canine scabies before?
> 
> I took my chihuahua to the vets the otherday after a sudden onset of intense itching, I was horrified to see that on his little naked belly he seemed to have a red rash forming and little spots that looked like bug bites dotted around him. It appears to me more concentrated around his armpit area and groin although I have noticed some behind his ears.
> ...


Advocate is a treatment and should take care of demodex mites, sarcoptic mites and ear mites. The other spot on that's often used for sarcoptic is stronghold.
There is also a bath called Alludex but as Alludex contains amitraz you cant use it on Chihuahuas as it makes them very ill because they are sensitive to it.

Ive not used Advocate for sarcoptic, I have used stronghold and that was effective, and Ive also used Aludex years ago which was about all there was pre spot on days so you didn't have much choice which worked, but with a chihuahua you cant as said use the Alludex anyway.

Any dog can get Sarcoptic mange its really contagious and they can pick it up from other dogs, foxes can be a carrier too. Sometimes the mites can be found on a skin scrape but as sarcoptic live and burrow in the skin and its where they lay their eggs it often gets missed on skin scrapes, although demodex as that lives in the hair follicles can more often be found. Sarcoptic is intensely itchy, the itching can to get worse when the dogs hot too. Demodex often isn't itchy. In fact most dogs carry some demodex mites but a healthy immune system keeps them down so you don't get problems, in pups who have immature immune systems though its quite often seen and also in dogs with compromised immune systems too.

Most common places for sarcoptic to start is the ears, muzzle face, elbows armpits, anywhere where the fur is thinnest so the mites can get easier access to the skin.

One thing you do have to watch with sarcoptic, or any itchy scratchy cause is secondary bacteria, because of the itching and scratching the skin gets traumatised and bacterial can be introduced from claws and feet. If this happens then he will need antibiotics too.

One thing you can try as he seems to have it around the ears especially, if you rub or gently scratch her ears, with sarcoptic you often get an ear pinnae pedal reflex. Rub all around his eats and the edges, if his back leg starts to go in an involuntary pedal/scratching movement that's often an indicator of sarcoptic.

Its probably going to take a few days for the advocate to work and spread, but it is one of the treatments. If it doesn't then there is stronghold which I believe but you would need to check is OK for Chihuahuas, you have to get it from the vets anyway.


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## shinra (Aug 9, 2013)

Thank you Sled dog, for your reply.
I have heard of the pedal reflex before but he didn't react, to be honest the itching has died down a lot. I don't know if it's due to the pirton or the advocate so I'm not entirely sure what is the cause of all the bite looking bumps, but they're still very much there.

The problem is he has so much exposed skin, it has been a concern in this recent hot weather and I've been trying my best to remember to cover him in sunscreen as well but I often forget now these bumps either from bites or allergies I don't know I should be covering him in some way to protect him? It's just the balance of keeping him protected but cool at the same time.


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## Renata (Mar 18, 2013)

Our Keera got Advocate from a vet to treat the same condition. It was applied again after 2 weeks. She got antibiotics as well. Nothing else. When I asked about some cream to be applied they said that it was not necessary. I hope your dog will recover soon. As far as I remember, it took some weeks to get over and several visits to our vet.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

shinra said:


> Thank you Sled dog, for your reply.
> I have heard of the pedal reflex before but he didn't react, to be honest the itching has died down a lot. I don't know if it's due to the pirton or the advocate so I'm not entirely sure what is the cause of all the bite looking bumps, but they're still very much there.
> 
> The problem is he has so much exposed skin, it has been a concern in this recent hot weather and I've been trying my best to remember to cover him in sunscreen but I often forget now these bumps either from bites or allergies I don't know I should be covering him in some way to protect him? It's just the balance of keeping him protected but cool at the same time.


Does he run in grass, you can get seasonal itch from grasses and pollens too.
Although it might be a bit early yet you can also get itching from harvest mites, its not the mite but the larvae inbetween stage that causes the problem, they get on dogs and cats for a short while but then drop off, but while they are on the dog or cat, and for awhile after they can cause intense itching and irritation.
Those you can often see look like litte orange/brown dots.

AS you say though as he has had both Advocate and the periton its hard to tell if it is an allergy or mites. If its mites then the advocate should work so on that score he should be OK, although you may need to do another when due. If it is an allergy hopefully is is just a seasonal grass/pollen thing and it will go.

If he hasn't got much fur covering its possible that he may have a sun allergy that causes it, like a form of solar itch, people can get it and I believe it can be know in dogs. May even be something like a plant or weed he is coming into contact with.

Have you changed foods at all sometimes they can get itchy skin from certain things in the food.

What has been known to help with itchy problem skin, and comes in shampoo bar, spray or cream is this. Its helped in a lot of cases. Maybe something to bare in mind depending on how he goes.

Dermacton - Skin Relief for Dogs with Itchy Skin

You can get skin supplement to help too.

Yumega plus is one, and there are veterinary strength ones you can get at on line vet pharmacies like viacutan plus and efavet, that might help or something else to bear in mind.

I use Bionic biotic if you want a look at that too.


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## Jazzy (Apr 15, 2009)

My dog had sarcoptic mange for around 18 months and vets treated him for food allergies with steroids but he was getting more and more itchy and had a buster collar on 24 hrs a day at the end  When steroids stopped working and it was looking like he would have to be put to sleep or live a life on steroids which had stopped working - the vet decided to do a skin scrape on his ears which is the place he scratched most and all the edges of his ears were thickened. He didn't find anything from the scrape but did a blood test and two weeks later the receptionist phoned to say he had tested positive for sarcoptes and the good news was that it was easily treated with Stronghold. It took a couple of packets of Stronghold but we eventually got rid of it.

The pedal reflex did work on him, his back leg always moved when I rubbed the edge of his ears.


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## shinra (Aug 9, 2013)

I bought him Yumega oil which he has daily when I first noticed him getting itchy, I also have the Bionic but he outright refuses to touch that so I think I ended up throwing it out in the end.

Today his itching has reduced dramatically, in fact I'm not sure I've really noticed much at all - it certainly isn't frantic or intense now like sarcoptic mange symptoms would suggest however the bite looking marks and location seem to be spot on, but perhaps like you say it is an allergy to something but would that show different symptoms? Or I've caught it early?

He does have brown marks appearing on his stomach though, which have grown and what made me start to worry about damage from the sun but I think this pretty normal in Chihuahuas with skin showing from what I've read ( I hope!)
But yes wherewe walk can be very overgrown and long grass sometimes and there have been a increase in mozzies lately as sometimes we're near water, this was what I thought maybe have caused the bites at first.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Jazzy said:


> My dog had sarcoptic mange for around 18 months and vets treated him for food allergies with steroids but he was getting more and more itchy and had a buster collar on 24 hrs a day at the end  When steroids stopped working and it was looking like he would have to be put to sleep or live a life on steroids which had stopped working - the vet decided to do a skin scrape on his ears which is the place he scratched most and all the edges of his ears were thickened. He didn't find anything from the scrape but did a blood test and two weeks later the receptionist phoned to say he had tested positive for sarcoptes and the good news was that it was easily treated with Stronghold. It took a couple of packets of Stronghold but we eventually got rid of it.
> 
> The pedal reflex did work on him, his back leg always moved when I rubbed the edge of his ears.


Sarcoptic regularly gets missed on skin scrapes, figures vary but its thought that only 20/50% of sarcoptic mites show up on skin scrapes. My vet for that reason never bothers, and treats on symptoms.

The sarcoptic mange antibody test is accurate, the only problem is that the antibodies have to be at a detectable level first in the blood. You can take a sample until 4/8 weeks post infection or suspicion of infection, then if its border line you will have to do another 2 weeks later to confirm.

As your poor boy had had it so long obviously it showed up straight away.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

shinra said:


> I bought him Yumega oil which he has daily when I first noticed him getting itchy, I also have the Bionic but he outright refuses to touch that so I think I ended up throwing it out in the end.
> 
> Today his itching has reduced dramatically, in fact I'm not sure I've really noticed much at all - it certainly isn't frantic or intense now like sarcoptic mange symptoms would suggest however the bite looking marks and location seem to be spot on, but perhaps like you say it is an allergy to something but would that show different symptoms? Or I've caught it early?
> 
> ...


Just checked on advocate on Noah it doesn't give a time frame for sarcoptic just says that 2 doses need to be given 4 weeks apart.

NOAH Compendium of Animal Medicines: Advocate Spot-on Solution - Dosage and administration

A lot of it too may be from the scratching, the traumatising the skin can would cause redness and probably scabbing, just keep an eye on it, as the itching reduces and the traumatising the skin stops, then hopefully it will all calm down again. You can as I mentioned before also get secondary bacterial infection with itchy skin problems, and if that happens then he will likely need antibiotics.

Funny you should say about the mozzies though as we had a couple of posts at least where dogs were getting bitten and it was causing irritation and lumps from the bites.

Main thing at the moment though seems to be whatever it is somthings working as its subsiding by the looks of it.


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## Jazzy (Apr 15, 2009)

Sled dog hotel said:


> Sarcoptic regularly gets missed on skin scrapes, figures vary but its thought that only 20/50% of sarcoptic mites show up on skin scrapes. My vet for that reason never bothers, and treats on symptoms.
> 
> The sarcoptic mange antibody test is accurate, the only problem is that the antibodies have to be at a detectable level first in the blood. You can take a sample until 4/8 weeks post infection or suspicion of infection, then if its border line you will have to do another 2 weeks later to confirm.
> 
> As your poor boy had had it so long obviously it showed up straight away.


Just wish the vet had suggested it sooner as we were going every few weeks and he was put on pred and antibiotics and having to nearly live in a buster collar was horrible for him  It was only when I pleaded with him to see if there was anything else they could do that he suggested it.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Jazzy said:


> Just wish the vet had suggested it sooner as we were going every few weeks and he was put on pred and antibiotics and having to nearly live in a buster collar was horrible for him  It was only when I pleaded with him to see if there was anything else they could do that he suggested it.


We had another member too, had the dog from a pup I assume usual 8 weeks or so, a skin scrape was actually done early on, and as it was negative was ruled out, the dog suffered for 8 months I think, having steroids antibiotics all sorts of things and nothing worked and was getting worse. Until finally it was diagnosed. Like your dog, once treatment was given was better in a few weeks.

If it is an allergy alone, then steroids should work, an allergy is only the immunes over reaction to something. So with the immune system suppressed and the anti inflammatory effect steroids have too then it should all calm down at least while taking them and for maybe awhile after. Antibiotics only work on bacterial infection unless its the wrong antibiotic for that type of bacteria of course. If neither work at least temporarily then there has to be something else causing it. Although if it is an allergy and the allergen is still present it will likely come back again after once of the steroids.


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