calliecritturs
Posted : 12/9/2010 3:46:20 PM
GRAPHIC PICTURES FOLLOW -- BUT THE END OF THE STORY IS *****GREAT***** ISN'T IT FOLKS????
Go to the pictures in my porfolio and look for the really HEINOUS OOZY NASTY pics of Tinkerbell. Yep -- my little pixie pug almost died of Demodex, literally.
David and I have TONS of experience with demodex -- in fact we went all the way to TEXAS from Orlando and drove back cos she was too sick to fly. We literally took her **because** she had demodex. We've dealt with it in many dogs and we're pretty good at it.
I have an article I'll send you -- email me (click across from my name on "Contact" and choose "email" cos I gotta send you an attachment).
She will NOT have to put this dog to sleep. I will gladly send you my phone number so I can talk to either or both of you. I've got stuff to send her and she CAN WIN this. Vets tend to be clueless about demodex because you can't 'cure' it (it's not a disease -- it's an immune problem) and pharmaceuticals just don't work. You have to build the body up and boost the immune system so the body "learns" how to cope with the mites. At the same time you do the frequent bathing to keep the mite population under control while you build the body up.
But at his age you also have to consider the possibility of whether the nasty pesticides they've undoubtedly have given him have crudded up his liver enough so that you have to detox that (that's part of what occurred with Tink -- try as I might I couldn't get it to resolve until finally we did some bloodwork and I discovered her liver was out of whack -- we fixed that and BINGO -- almost instant resolution!!)
I love working with demodex folks because you CAN WIN THIS. It takes work more than anything. YOu can't just go to the vet with your hand out for a pill to "cure" it -- but if the owner is willing to do some physical work (bathing, etc.) and work for the long haul to get the dog's body to get stronger where it needs to IT CAN HAPPEN.
Truly -- go see those pics. -- NO dagnabit -- I'm gonna post them again here. These are BOTH the same dog:
this was Tink when she was "LuLu" near Ft. Hood in Texas - she was 4 1/2 months old and really didn't want to live any more:
this is the Pixie Pug In Training the day we picked her up in Austin (she'd been on antibiotics to take down the infection and swelling -- but see the black distressed skull? Those bumps were ALL demodex pustules filled with blood and yuck. Her skin was HOT HOT HOT all over, and where there wasn't scabs there was NO hair at all:
This is my girl just a month later -- not even completely resolved yet but no scabbing and lots of hair regrowing and no infection:
I wish I had a pic of the pug dragging Luna in the house by her ear ... but this is her later after resolution (and had I known then what I know now I woulda gotten this earlier!)
This is big but I wanted you to be able to see how thick her coat is here -- the head was a bit scarred so it will always be just a tiny bit 'thin' but even her muzzle has darkened in as it should.
I've helped folks with young demodex dogs and old ones. Even a mature dog you can get the immune system to be way more than it is now. Tell your friend there is A LOT of hope.