Some of you may remember that Tad had two types of mange, which is rare. He had both Sarcoptic (highly contagious) and Demodectic (not contagious) Mange. He was cleared of Sarcoptic Mange, but because of his weak immune system, if took a bit longer to clear him of the Demodex.
To give a little lesson, Demodex is carried on ALL dogs...and humans, too. Whenever the dog's immune system becomes compromised, the mites start to thrive and you start noticing symptoms.
Keep in mind that Tad has a LOT of scarring, and he is fairly neked on his underside. However, while I was walking him out to piddle before we left the clinic for the day, I noticed a new neked spot on his tail. When I got inside, Dr. Holliday and I decided to scrape him again. His last scraping was about 3 months ago, which you may remember had those weird spores that were of no concern.
Dr. Holliday read the scraping, and sure enough, Tad is having another Demodex outbreak. Bummer...
But, the real problem is what to treat him with... We used Promeris on him before, it's a topical flea and tick prevention that can also be used to treat Demodex Mange. Well, Promeris was recently pulled of the shelves for causing an autoimmune disorder of the skin.
Our next option is ivermectin...without knowing Tad's heartworm status, that's not a good idea. It could kill him. Let me explain the heartworm status: Tad's first heartworm test was negative, however...in order for the test to show positive, he must have adult female worms. He was checked for microfilaria, which are baby heartworms...and he didn't have those either. However, it takes 6 months for the worms to grow into adults...so, if at the time of his test (4 months ago) he had 'teenage' heartworms, neither test will pick them up. So, it'll be two more months before we can retest him to ensure he's completely negative. If we're going to be using Ivermectin, we will not use it before we ensure he is as negative as he can possibly get.
So, our last option is a dip. Bah! I hate those...but, you gotta do what you gotta do. We don't carry it, but we're going to look into ordering it tomorrow for him. I think it's a dip every two weeks...or a dip twice a week...? I can't honestly remember, it's been years since we've done one.
Either way, I almost forgot to share this tidbit with you guys as I've been so wrapped up with 'other' things today... :/
Tad apparently LOVES being the problem child. Get better, dude! Yours - The Barney Dog
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I am sorry Tiffany, I know this is a little setback, but you made me laugh my head off when I read about the "teenage heartworms"!!!!! I do not mean to be insensitive with this issue since I know heartworms are a serious matter, but putting it as 'teenage heartworms" was way to cute and a nice way to help us all understand what you mean!! God bless you for all you do for our virtual baby Tad!!
ReplyDeleteI have a dog that had a relapse of demodex shortly after I got her. Advantage Multi (Advocate) is approved in Europe for use against demodex - you might try using that every 2 weeks. Also, it's the same ingredient as what is in the dip, but Preventic collars helped. I switch those out monthly. She was also on ivermectin for 2 months. I'm keeping her on the Advantage Multi and the Preventic collar just until I am absolutely sure it's not going to come back again!!
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