Is this mange?

[Aleksander]

Hello,
hoping to find out if my 10 month old pup has mange.

Im not sure if it is that or just some battle wounds he has left from taking down the screen door at my new house. He did have some issues with scabby elbows before so maybe these 2 are related?

Im planning on taking him to the vet in a few days, but would like to be more informed before I go in if this is the case.

I attached two recent photos.
They are the ones of the side of his mouth, and the shot of his face from above looking like the hair is a little thin there, and the other 3 photos are his scabby/pimply elbows from before that I was told was just that exactly, scabs, however, now Im thinking they may have been an earlier sign of the current problem?

Thanks in advance.

[selzer]

My guess is yes. Is it itching terribly, or does he not seem to mind it?

Scabby elbows can happen from laying on concrete or anywhere really, usually nothing to be concerned with.

[Courtney]

It does look like mange, patchy. The immune system has gone haywire.

I'm glad you have a vet appointment a treatment plan is needed. I'm also curious...is your pup really itchy? When did the patchy hair loss start?

[wolfy dog]

Demodectic mites don't itch. WD had it a few months ago and was successfully trested with Advantage Plus (every two weeks 4 times). Your vet will most likely do a skin scraping to determine the cause. I hate these annoying health conditions. Good luck with your pup. Don't forget to bring tons of treats to distract him from the scraping in the office.

[middleofnowhere]

And a scraping probably won't detect mange... Go by what it looks like and see if it is...

[selzer]

That's why I asked. Sarcoptic mange mites will be terribly itchy, and I believe they can transfer to humans, scabies, and are very contagious to other dogs.

Demodex is more of a immune system issue. Yes it is a mite, but dogs have them and their immune systems keep them in check.

Finding Demedex can actually be tricky and treating it as well. They will often do skin scrapings and then if they don't see anything, they might do a hole punch, and send it to a dermatologist. They may still not find anything, but changing foods didn't help so now they are going to do mitoban baths even though they found no mites. The baths will dry out the skin and the mites will intensify before they die, so they tell you to give the dog vitamin e and fish oil. After 4 baths, each 2 weeks apart the dog is looking somewhat better than he looked at his worst -- after the baths started. Or you are hoping he looks better and trying to believe he looks better.

After six weeks, he does look better. But then they tell you that with treatment or without treatment it seems to get better in about six weeks. Really? Yeah, unless it is getting worse, that would be generalized demodex. But advantage multi actually works on demodex mites, so after getting them somewhat controlled, using that once a month might help the immune system keep them in check. Though it might make better sense to boost the immune system with some good supplements.

The dog can be itchy with demodex if he gets a secondary staff infection to go along with it.

Anyhow, good luck with the vet appointment. This is totally treatable or fixable or at least not life-threatening.

[onyx'girl]

The German Shepherd Dog and Demodex - Akron German Shepherd | Examiner.com

[Liesje]

I'm dealing with something like this right now so I'll just say what my vet told me on Thursday. Demodex (especially localized....meaning a few small patches in one area that don't grow or spread) usually does not itch. The dog doesn't seem to know it's there and the skin might be a bit flaky but usually doesn't look weepy or that inflamed. Demodex is usually very easy to find and identify with a skin scraping, in part because many dogs have it on them whether they are suffering from it or not (they only suffer when their immune system is underdeveloped or there is an immune system problem).

Scabies however can itch terribly, or it can act more like demodex where it is on the dog but latent, and some other reaction or immune problem has to happen before the dog itches. Scabies is hard if not impossible to find on skin scrapings. My vet said if they suspect scabies "we scrape, and scrape again, and scrape again, and scrape six times and if we still find nothing, then we still treat it for scabies." Scabies can be contagious but just because one dog has it doesn't mean other dogs and people will.

There are a lot of other possibilities though....flea allergy, staph infection, ring worm....

[nitemares]

i'm also dealing with demodex for the past month or so, i only used apple cider vinegar rinse with his last bath and applied ACV on those spots every day, they cleared up and now i'm just waiting on the hair to grow to it's normal length. if it is in fact demodex it should clear on its own.

[onyx'girl]

Wonder if Colloidal silver would help get rid of it? I'd give it a try if all else seems to fail!


Colloidal Silver
There are many mange treatments available. Many of these are hard chemical treatments. If you prefer a natural method, colloidal silver is often used as a natural treatment for mange.

Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic. It fights viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi by destroying the underlying cause of the problem. It is purported to fight more than 650 disease-causing organisms. Silver has been used for centuries as a health supplement and is used both topically and orally. Colloidal silver is a mixture of small submicroscopic particles of silver held, via electromagnetic charge, in a liquid.

Colloidal silver is available in gel and liquid form. Liquids are available in mist or drop applications. The silver can easily be added to daily food or water supplies. Follow manufacturer directions carefully.



Read more: Colloidal Silver for Red Mange in Dogs | eHow.com Colloidal Silver for Red Mange in Dogs | eHow.com