Dog Community

Sarcoptic Mange - HELP!!!!

Posted : 6/12/2006 10:20:38 PM

Hello everyone. I have a pretty big problem here at my home. My cat was diagnosed with sarcoptic mange in March. Since then, we all got it. my 2 dogs, 2 cats, and me. I have tried everything to get rid of it - ivermectin, revolution, permethrin spray, permethrin lotion for me, bleach the floors, plastic bag the clothes, spray the yard. We still have it, but it is getting better. I have a doggy door and lately I have been keeping the animals inside. There is a rottweiler that lives next door, and the people leave him outside all the time. After we got the mange, I suspected her, always has infection in her eyes, she can hardly walk, problem with her back legs. I discovered she had a lot of fleas, so I approached the people and told them if they didn't bath her and take care of her, that I would wash her, which I did. She had over 500 fleas on her when I bathed her. I finally called my city's animal enforcement and she explained to my neighbors that they had to get their dog looked at by a vet. which they did, but just recently, they have tied her closer to their back door where she cannot get near my yard. this past weekend, I was close to the dog and she looked the same, infection in eyes, with the strong smell of dog poop around her, because she can't leave that area to deficate. These people are spanish and they took their dog to a spanish vet, who gave the dog a clean bill of health (go figure). I am still thinking that maybe she has mange and if she does, then there is no way I can get rid of it here in my home. I am seriously considering moving from this area. I own my home, and I have lived here for over 10 years. I am comfortable here, but this neighborhood is, shall I say, going down. What should I do? Should I continue with the code enforcement lady? My cats seem to be doing worse than my dogs. I love my animals dearly and I am trying here. I even quarantined one of my cats to a room by himself, so he can get better (he has it the worse). It could be that the cats got it from a stray cat around here, but I am just so upset about my neighbor's dog. If she does have mange, can the mites jump off her and go into my yard? does anyone know about this? She does have very thick skin on certain areas of her body, like on her butt, and hocks. she can't scratch herself because her back legs just can't do it. she is old and in bad shape. i know the parasites just love her. so, if she can't scratch, then she will not have raw areas where it would show she would have mange. It is not obvious. I saw a sore on one of her front legs when I bathed her. What should I do? I am at a loss here. thank you.

calliecritturs

Posted : 6/12/2006 11:22:38 PM

Usually with sarcops they will bite at whatever they can get at -- the itch is relentless -- unless she is SO shut down that she can't function.

Sarcops will hitch a ride on wildlife -- squirrels or anything else that may bring it over to your animals. And if your cats are outdoor cats then you can't control it.

In honesty the only thing you can do is quarantine and crate EVERYONE. (ALL the 4-foots) -- in crates, not allowed off a concrete floor that can be bleached every day. That seems excessive but it's just bouncing back and forth.

How often did you use the ivermectin? It needs to be weekly. Everyone done at ones and everyone on the same schedule. I'd also be doing Lyme Dip in between as soon as you see itching.

Lyme Dip CAN be used by humans as well.

I'm not sure what to use for the yard -- but if you don't allow ANY of the animals into the yard for a month the mites will die or stay with their chosen host. (and yes, I would certainly continue with code enforcement -- these people are a menace to theb neighborhood). But the only way to get it to die in the yard is to take the blood supply (your animals) away.

I know it's not good news to keep everyone SO contained but it's the only way to break the cycle.

Sarcops don't make raw places -- now the dog can scratch itself raw, but it's far more typical to see the thickened tough skin -- almost alligator hide looking at times. They literally callous the skin scratching.

To a degree yes, these mites can jump -- but they will be desperate for a blood feast -- that's why you have to keep everyone in crates and totally away from the yard.

Yes, that means walking two dogs twice a day totally not near this yard. The cats need to be contained to a small area with a litter box. Preferably an area like a laundry room that can be bleached daily.

The big thing is to boost the immune systems of EVERYONE in the family. Adding fresh cooked/mashed veggies to the dog's diet, adding Omega 3 fatty acids (jack mackerel, sardines, ground flax seed - whatever you can do), and maybe a course of echinacea for the entire family (dogs and cats too).

I hope I answered all your questions.

Melinda Allen

Posted : 6/13/2006 9:47:24 PM

Thank you so much for responding and answering all my questions. I have another question. You said that the skin gets really thick with sarcoptic. This dog next door, her skin is very thick in some places. Could that mean that she may have mites? There is no way that I will ever be able to get an honest written report from a vet from these people. They will use their vet friend. - I am sure of this. Or it could be that we just got this mite from another animal in this neighborhood. I don't know. My house is totally ceramic tile, no carpets, and I have put all couches in the family room and boarded up the family room, so the cats can't sleep on the couches. And have closed all doors to the bedrooms. I am giving them the ivermectin about once every 5 days, all at once. I just bought the pour on and that is easier to get an exact dosage, and easier to give to them. Do you know of any problems with giving ivermectin topically

I kind of figured that you would say to crate all animals. I haven't done this yet, but it looks like I will have to do this. I actually bought a microscope to see if I could view the mites, etc. under the microscope, but so far have not been able to see living mites. I would like to get a scraping from her next door, but I didn't tell you that. It looks like another phone call is in order to code enforcement. Thanks again for your help.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 6/13/2006 10:30:23 PM

Sarcops are FAST! Even vets often miss them, on slides. Demodex mites are the ones that they're able to see.

calliecritturs

Posted : 6/13/2006 11:13:51 PM

Jennie is right -- you won't 'catch' a sarcop on a slide. They ARE too fast. If you suspec them you treat for them.

They **definitely** can come from other animals -- I think I mentioned that above. ANY mammal/warm-blooded animal can have sarcops, particularly wildlife (squirrel, coon, fox, etc.).

That's another reason for crating -- then you walk the dog yourself -- the dog ONLY goes where you allow it to go -- no nosing under bushes, or someplace an animal may have 'been'.

Hint: When walking -- when they do pee/poop walk a little FURTHER and then turn around. Dogs learn that when they elminate on leash YOU go right back. So if you always turn around right after, they'll walk further and further and FURTHER before they elminate.

Ivermectin won't do much topically -- I've heard of doing that but it's kinda silly. But DO use Lyme Dip.

N Rice

Posted : 6/14/2006 12:21:45 AM

I don't know how many types of mange there are, but many years ago my grandmother found a stray 3-mo. old sheepdog with mange. He had about 3 hairs on his body. She bathed him several times a day in lysol & he recovered, dying at the ripe old age of 16.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 6/15/2006 1:51:16 PM

Lysol? Several times a day????

POOR DOG!

Melinda Allen

Posted : 6/17/2006 12:20:20 AM

I looked at the ingredients of Lysol and it contains Pine Oil. Oil will kill mange mites, as they breath through their pores, or something like that. So maybe his grandma was onto something there. I will not bath my pets with Lysol, though. We still have the problem here in my house. Hopefully next week, someone is coming to install the fence that came down during Hurricane Wilma. I am going to have him double up on the boards, so there will be no openings, that way, at least, the dog next door cannot so easily shed his parasites onto my property. Hopefully, this year another hurricane doesn't blow all the fences down in this neighborhood. Does anyone else have anymore suggestions on this mange mite problem?

calliecritturs

Posted : 6/17/2006 2:41:02 PM

Hang on -- sarcops are NOT hard to 'kill'. The problem is you can ONLY kill them when they are alive and 'on the skin' which is a tiny portion of their lives. Because for every one that is 'on' the skin there are scads of other ones buried IN the skin waiting to hatch.

Pine Sol would burn the skin horribly and if the dog's immune system survived such treatment he was probably pretty healthy to start with. That was also an age when such parasites were far less 'hardy' -- every time some 'thing' survives attempts to kill it then it becomes 'resistant' to that thing.

Hence we have stronger and stronger antibiotics because germs are getting harder to kill. Same thing with sarcops.

The only thing about that particular home remedy that was truly effective was bathing really frequently -- that consistently killed the new mites being hatched.

The original poster has several animals and a large house -- just having to keep the animals individually quarantined is going to be a huge expenditure of time and work. Maybe Grandma was *home* to bathe the dog several times a day and I doubt like heck she used the Lysol full strength (and it would have been the old-style Lysol which is barely available any more) either.

But the fumes from it and the chemical components of it would be more likely to cause seizures and all sorts of other problems (including burning the skin and starting secondary skin infections). Some of the old-timey things can work incredibly well -- but you do kinda have to do a sanity check on them before you use them.

N Rice

Posted : 6/17/2006 3:44:44 PM

OOPS - NOT several times a DAY but a WEEK. Sorry about that.

Gran's been gone for 20 yrs & the dog has been gone for 30 yrs.
I don't know what a vet would have used approx. 44 yrs. ago when the English sheepdog had only a few hairs on his body & sores everywhere, but Lysol was what Gran used & it worked. I'm sure the ingredients in Lysol 44 yrs. or so ago are different than they are now. All I shared was that it worked & grew into a hairball wonderful dog.

I'm not recommending that you use it Calliecritturs... I'm just sharing what Gran used that worked "way back when". [:-] I would expect everyone to be responsible pet owners & not try everything they read - whether it's from a pet owner, vet or whoever.