Hi,

I have a 16week old male Staff who was diagnosed with having generalized demodex on the weekend. I have been given 4 weeks of antibiotics and some aludex to wash him in.

Im completely clueless about demodex and it seems my vet is equally as well educated as she's seen 3 cases in 4 years, however, they did a skin scrape and determined there were enough mites for it to be concluded "generalized"

I have been told to wash him every 5 days, however a breeder said i should clean the effected areas every day. Is this right?
How long will it be before he starts showing signs of improvement?
Will it get worse before it gets better?
Am i doing all i can to help him? Is there more i should do?
What other treatments are advisable? The vert has said she wants to try Ivermectin if this doesnt work.....has anyone got an opinion on this treatment?

Any help you can share with a very worried puppy owner. It's our first puppy we have owned and want to make sure we are doing everything we possibly can to help him..

Thanks for reading this far and for replying!

x

All dogs have dermodex mange in small amounts, when this gets out of hand it is normally due to immune system problems.
Try this site for more info http://www.lbah.com/Canine/demodex.htm and get your vet to read up on it.

Sorry to hear about your pup.  I saw a case of Demodex quite recently (on a Westie), which we treated with weekly Aludex baths and it took a while but he's doing really well now and has had 2 negative skin scrapes, so persistence paid off.  It was about 6 weeks before we saw any real results, but that particular dog had real "Westie skin", so I hope your dog will improve more quickly.

I've only seen a few cases so I'm no expert but in my experience it tends to look worse before it gets better, although it generally doesn't actually bother the dog too much, if they're scratching a lot or in pain then it could be secondary to other skin problems, although he seems young for that.

Aludex is pretty potent stuff so using it every day isn't a good idea.  The breeder may have meant to wash the area every day but I wouldn't advise this as the Aludex continues to work after drying.  Also this is probably obvious but make sure you bathe him in a really well ventilated area, don't rinse off the diluted Aludex and keep a really close eye on him until he's absolutely dry - it might be a good idea to ask your vet for a buster collar to make sure he can't lick himself.

Maybe you could consider asking your vet for a dermatology referral, although this option would be expensive.  If he's insured it would be covered.

Hope this was of some use.  Fingers crossed for you and your pup.  Let us know how he goes.

Mary-Caroline

Sorry to hear about your pup.  Make SURE the breeder understands that they should NOT breed from that bitch again as she is likely to pass it on again, the stud dog owner should do the same.
Dawn.

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hi
my staffy pup also had this problem .she had terrible itchy bald patches.
in ireland ivormectin is for sheep but is suitable for mange in all but sheep dogs.i used it on a lab and he was fine.it has to be measured correctly.
for the staffy i used a small tube which you put on the back of the neck like frontline.but it was more expensive version.this was brilliant but only lasted about a month then it came back .
this carried on for about 4 months then i think she just grew out of it and i havent had anymore problems since.she is now 2 1/2.

My Bullmastiff was diagnosed at 6 months, he is now 2 1/2 yrs old, the vet told us thaat at that age it would be localised.
Apparently it isn't diagnosed generalised until the animal is adult and is still suffering. Generalised is where the patches are on differnet parts of the body.
Our boy still has 'flare-ups' when he is stressed but it is still localised as it is only on his head and neck.
Most puppies grow out of it and can in fact do so without treatment.
The Aludex was causing our dog more irritation than the symptoms.
We treated him for over 12 months but we stopped then as it was obvious that he was going to have 'episodes' on a regular basis.
It is 'stress' that causes our dog to suffer so unless he stops getting stressed out, for no apparent reason, then the symptoms will continue for the rest of his life.
When he has a break out he acts normally and has no other symptoms other than the bald patches.

Thank you all so much for your responses!!

It's been nearly 2 weeks since the first application of Aludex and the bald patches are getting balder and it seems as though its spreading under his neck, down his chest and patches are starting to show on his paws. It seems this is a true case of generalised demodex.

Is this a sign that the Aludex treatment is not working or is the spreading to be expected initially?

To think i went to the top staffie breader in the country (today ) very well known kennell name and bought a mangey mutt!! Be warned new buyers, with the "good", you also get the "bad" and very strong forms of each!

Thanks again guys!

If the patches are just on the front of his body then it may be localized.
At his age you really can't say.
See what he's like at about 12 months old he could very well grow out of it.

In our Vinnie it definitely got 'worse' before it seemed to get 'better'.

Vinnie is a rescue from a very bad breeding so I was expecting something like this.
With a bit of luck your pup will recover fully and not have any more 'episodes'.

I would get in touch with the breeder and see what they have to say. They shouldn't be breeding from the Dam or Sire again.

Zulu, don't be too hard on your breeder, all dogs have demodex mite, the flare up is because of an immunity problem, which may have nothing to do with his breeding, could just be the change of home, food or water, in fact, anything that has caused the pups system stress. You should tell the breeder but bear in mind that you may have the only pup to have suffered with a flare up and unless you tell them and keep them posted on his progress they will never know. It is true that your pup should not be bred but if he is the only one to be affected then it is probably all right to use the dam and sire to bred again as no one could be certain that the breeding is to blame as it is more likely to be related to stress that may have nothing to do with his breeding or his breeder.

Although the pup may in deed be the only one from the litter to suffer and I agree that the 'flare up' is more likely to be caused by some sort of stress it is still not a good idea to breed from the parents again.
As you say all dogs have the mites and only a %age go on to have Demodecosis(sp).
There is a propensity for any other pups born to these parents to develop the condition also.
The immunity problem you mention would be caused by the initial breeding to start with.

ANY sensible breeder would not breed the Dam or the Sire together again. If they were to breed the dogs to different animals and the condition were to become apparent in another litter then they should not be bred at all.

When my dog developed the condition, had I not already neutered him, I would have had him neutered ASAP.

>> ANY sensible breeder would not breed the Dam or the Sire together again. <<

Yes, agree that there should not be a repeat maiting but I see no strong reason not to use either parent again unles there is a record of this problem happening to other pups bred from either of these dogs. The pup should not be bred.

"Yes, agree that there should not be a repeat maiting but I see no strong reason not to use either parent again unles there is a record of this problem happening to other pups bred from either of these dogs. The pup should not be bred."

I don't know how to do quotes!!

Is that not what I said in the post above?

>it is still not a good idea to breed from the parents again.

Sorry Dawn, but I read this as meaning that neither parent should ever be bred from again, whether together or with other 'partners'.

Yes Dawn, I think you did ;) It is easy to miss read a post, sorry.