9/23/11

Mange Treatment Woes

Tad has been 'out' of it for nearly 3 days now after his Mitaban bath to treat the recurring demodex mange. He's finally coming back around, and despite the e-collar, he still has manged to get rashes and irritation on his 'sensitive' areas, namely his man-bits. His back feet are red, his man-bits are raw, and he has a wound on his tail. The e-collar doesn't keep him from scooting, and his legs are ridiculously long he can still reach his back feet.


We're considering changing his treatment from Mitaban dips to using Ivermectin, which I really wanted to avoid.

October will be 6 months from his first heartworm test. Any 'teenager' heartworms that he had at that time wouldn't be picked up by the snap test, so you wait 6 months and test them again. It gives the teens time to mature into adults and to show up on the heartworm snap test (assuming they're female - heartworm tests only pick up the hormones produced by female worms).

The other reason why I wanted to avoid it is that we don't know what breeds Tad's mixed with. The herding breeds (Collie, most importantly) are very sensitive to Ivermectin. It could be fatal to use Ivermectin in collies. To counter this because there are so many mixes out there, you start off with a low dose and work up to a normal dose. This way, if a reaction is to occur, you've most likely NOT given a fatal dose. It could cause Tad to seizure if he has any collie/herding breed in him, but it should not have any 'permanent' damage if he has a reaction. Obviously, Tad's most prominent breed is not 'collie', but we're not sure what else he has in him. Just my luck...it's collie.

On one hand, you have a drug that reacts with his skin and causes intense itching and extreme lethargy, and on the other, you have a drug that could potentially kill him. :/ But, the one that could potentially kill him is a whole heck of a lot easier, more convenient, and (if he's collie free) pretty harmless, assuming he is, in fact, heartworm negative.

5 comments:

  1. poor tad! once the mange is treated & under control, how do you prevent a recurrence?

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  2. The type of mange that Tad has currently is Demodex. All dogs carry the mites, but those that are immunosuppressed for whatever reason allow the mites to multiply and cause damage. If the mange returns a 3rd time, we will do further testing to figure out why his immune system remains in such poor condition.

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  3. Have you considered doing one of those doggie dna tests? Just a thought!

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  4. At least he is in capable, caring hands now. I know you are doing everything you can to make the right decisions for his treatment. Sending good thoughts and love to you and Tad!

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  5. Hoping that you beat this mange issue. Tad just deserves more than what was dealt him before he found you. What a lucky dog now!
    I found a site that has some 'natural' help for mange and other parasites. You may enjoy looking at it. Or not. =}
    http://www.vetinfo.com/natural-mange-treatment-dogs.html#b
    All my best to Tad and the rest of his family.

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