My GSD pup (nearly 14 months) has recently started loosing a little bit of fur on the backs of his ears (tips and edges) and some of the edges have gone sort of dry and powdery.  I suspected mange so took him down to the vet and he didn't think it was but agreed to treat him, he asked if pup had been scratching (which he hadn't that much) which I think is probably what put him off the mange idea, typically since we went pup has started scratching more!

Anyway the vet has prescribed Advocate spot on, first dose tonight, but I thought I would ask you guys what you think and whether Advocate is a good treatment as I have never heard of it before.

I have used stronghold which you prob know is a similar product and never had a problem with it, I haven't used Advocate yet but a couple of weeks ago my vet couldn't recommend it enough as it's a good treatment for lungworm which sadly where I live has become a hotspot and two dogs have died recently. I'll be interested in seeing what other people add to this thread as I would like to know more about advocate too.

Heres some Advocate Info

Wonkydog, looking at using this for lungworm too, using milbemax at moment but only partially prevents it

It treats both types of mange,Jayne, did the vet not do a skin scrape?

Thank you for that. My parents are currently using Milbemax, our vet has said that if you use milbemax for 3 months and strictly to the day 3 months apart it gets rid of lungworm if the dog has it. My parents are doing it as there have been a lot of lungworm diagnosis where we live (Surrey-Middlesex) not because they have it or even show any signs. There was a big front page and inner page article on lungworm in our local paper this week due to the growing amount of lungworm cases. My parents did some ringing around (makers of milbemax & Advocate etc) and decided to do the 3 month course of milbemax as a precautionary. But if you know different I would love to know. Luckily my parents dogs and mine aren't interested in slugs and snails, but we are swarming with foxes and my bitch will have a roll in their poo if she gets the chance! Another interesting bit of info I got from my vet was that he says he puts his money on the cause of my and other dogs repeated bouts of tummy upsets & sickness on the foxes too. I have suspected the foxes to be a cause of this for a long time now. My vet is recommending washing dogs feet after walks and people not to wear outdoor shoes in the house. I was thinking about starting a thread on this actually but didn't want to sound a complete neurotic! But I do have to say that since i've been avoiding parks and washing their feet etc, they've not had any probs, so you never know!

This may be of interest

Vet has told me to use Milbemax monthly but am seriously thinking of changing to Advocate. Milbemax states ' reduction in the level of infection' which IMO doesn't mean full reduction whereas Advocate says 'treatment for'....both are not preventatives but state 'treatments'.

There still isn't 1 treatment that will do everything ( if only :) )

Unfortunately they ( milbemax and advocate )can't be used together to cover all avenues as there have been warnings on using both.

You're not neurotic :-D  some vets are prescribing for D. immitis instead of A. vasorum just cos its called lungworm - you only have to look on some of the forums - but it is rarely presented in a lot of vets practices so is maybe
understandable. I have posted a few times about lungworm, people should be aware how deadly it can be.

Slugs, snails, frogs, toads and fox poo, with snail shells, slime, spawn etc all possible sites of infection!!!!

hi jayne....
my dog had been in contact with a dog with mite-mange (unbeknown to me at the time) she too started to lose her hair round her face. it was little circles of bald patches. the vet gave her a coarse of "advocate" and she was fine. hair grew back in no time. advocate treats fleas, larvae, whipworm, hookworm, roundworm, angiostrongylus, heartworm, otodectes, sarcoptes (which is mange) demodex and louse. i would recomend 'advocate' as it covers most things.
hope this helps.....

Thanks all.  He has had the first dose so now we will wait and see.  The vet didn't so any scrapings which I did think was odd but as it is only odd areas of thining hair on his ears the vet seemed to imply that this wasn't classice mange signs but would try treating anyway.  Kai has to go back to the vets in two weeks for his jabs so we can follow up then if there is no sign of the itching stopping I guess.