My baby border collie (now 15 weeks old) has been scratching for some time and has various patches first on her hind legs (which has now grown back) but has patches on ther front legs and the front of her hind legs and now a sore patch on her face.  The the vet thought it was ringworm and gave me a shampoo for humans - but this didn't seem to work and I wanted a second opinion as apparently ringworm is a none itchy thing - whereas Massinga is definitely itchy.  Anyway, I asked a private vet to come and see her and he took scrapings to get tested, and first said the results were negative for mange and then came back and said actually they wree positive and that Massinga has mange.  I just wanted a third opinion from anyone out there whose dog has had mange?  Is it common that they should have patches, red and what looks and feels like scabs (I assume from where she's been scratching and drawing blood).  We've given her the first dipping in a potent fluid that the vet gave us - he says she needs 5 or so more dippings (one every week). However, the first one hasn't made any difference to her scratching, if anything it's got worse.  Just wanted another opinion (we're Brits living in Mozambique, and got our collie from South Africa) - not 100% confident in the vets out here!  Many thanks

My GSD had similair symptoms to yours. It took 12 weeks of anti-biotics, shampoos and dips to cure. They had given her steroids at one point but after skin tests and hair plucks they found she had ringworm and dermodicosis and the steroids had just made things worse.

Thank you for your reply, could you let me know what was the name of the shampoo and the antibiotics?  The dips we have is called Amitiz Sol (Amitraz).  The shampoo we used when we thought it was ringworm is called Nizoral and is for humans.  Thanks

I thought Amitraz shouldnt be used in young puppies?

It is Amitix that we are dipping her in which contains Amitraz, after reading your message yesterday, I took Massinga to the vet and asked whether she ought to be on something else as Amitraz is not for young pups, but hte vet said that Amitraz shouldn't be used on pups less than 4 months old - Massi is 15 weeks.  He suggests keeping her on it.  I hope he's right. 

I treated my boxer (8.5 years) with a natural product called Antioxidant Treats from a company called www.first4pets.co.uk and it worked brilliantly.  The great thing is it is drug-free and natural stuff.  Within 2 weeks my dog Barney had recovered and looked like a new dog.  His coat was also very glossy and he looked great.  He still does as I have continued to give him the Treats.  He loves the taste as well which makes it simple.  I'm now trying the Oxy-Drops (bought them about two weeks ago).  I'll let you know how that goes. Once again it's natural stuff with no nasty side effects.

You can find the Antioxidant Treats product at
http://www.first4pets.co.uk/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?usr=51F8250001&rnd=7914025&rrc=N&affl=&cip=217.33.39.10&act=&aff=&pg=prod&ref=PW&cat=01PETPRODUCTS&catstr=HOME:01PETPRODUCTS

If you do try it please let me know how it goes as I think its marvellous!!
Best Regards,  Dave.

Thank you very much, I've looked at the website and these treats sounds extremely good.  I will get some for Massi and let you know if her coat and itching improves!  Thanks.

what are the nasty side affects

The anti-biotic we used was Synulox/Nisamox. The shampoo Seleen and the dip was Aludex. This was to treat the Dermodicosis, the Ringworm was treated by giving Program tablets and repeated 2 weeks later. This treatment for ringworm was not the conventional method but the vet said they had had a lot of success and was a much quicker and easier method. After the first dose she had a negative skin scrape but given the second dose on reccommendation from the makers of Program. I was not happy with all the medication and hey if there is a natural remedy, I would much prefer this.

Hi Gaby,  You might like to checkout the cross reference link below to see how various conditions are treated with the natural products.
http://www.first4pets.co.uk/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?pg=condition_product_xref
Best regards, Dave.

Hi Welshie,  If you mean in reference to the AntiOxidant Treats, then as I said in my reply there are no nasty side effects as the products contain natural ingredients!

Best Regards, Dave.