Mission
Animal Clinic and Demodectic Mange
Located in the San Fernando Valley, 16907 San Fernando Mission Blvd. Granada Hills Ca, 818-363-8143
DEMODECTIC
MANGE
Demodectic
Mange, also
called “Red Mange,” is a noncontagious skin disease that has been around as long as there
have been dogs and veterinarians. It
still is one of the most difficult medical conditions to manage successfully in
some cases.
It
is caused by a tiny parasite which lives in the hair follicles and skin glands
of the dog.
Puppies
are infected with mites from contact with the skin of their mother while
nursing. The mites are present in
the skin of many healthy dogs and do not cause disease.
It is thought that pets diagnosed with demodectic mange are
“immunodeficient”‑‑unable to fight off the mites as a healthy
dog would do. This allows large
numbers of the mites to appear.
Demodex
occurs almost exclusively in young dogs (3 months to l year of age).
When the disease is seen in older animals, they usually have been
afflicted since their youth.
Generalized mange
is one of the most severe canine skin diseases, and treatment is NOT always successful!
The
skin may become infected with bacteria‑‑eventually allowing the hair
follicles to rupture expelling pus. The
skin may become dry, crusty, brittle, and ooze serum, blood, or pus.
A strong, offensive skin odor may be present due to the secondary
bacterial infection.
A
hereditary predisposition is suggested. Affected
dogs should be spayed/neutered to prevent passing the disease on to their
offspring. Even though all pups in
the litter may not show signs of demodex, they still may be a carrier capable of
passing on the disease to any offspring they produce.
Animals
with small, local lesions of demodex usually recover well without recurrence.
Diligent, time‑consuming therapy is required for full recovery in
the severe, generalized cases. Because
a defect in the immune system plays a part in
this disease, some dogs DO NOT recover!
If the skin infection spreads to other parts of the body, the dog may
become systemically sick and even die. Severely
affected animals that do recover seldom show signs of the disease again.
However there are some dogs that require a periodic treatment for the
rest of their life to keep the disease under control.
*
Your dog usually will look WORSE for 2‑4 weeks after treatment is begun
because of the hairs that are already affected when treatment is begun.
Recovery takes a minimum of 6‑12 weeks in most cases.
Many cases fail to respond due to a lack of proper treatment by
YOU‑‑the owner!
16907 San Fernando Mission Blvd. Granada Hills, Ca. 91344 818-363-8143
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