Demodectic Mange

[centitout]

with topical applications only ,my vet has seen some that "migrate".the chi i bought for my son developed localised demodectic mange at 4 mths after he was vacc.3 mths on oral ivomec,no improvement,we were looking at 8 mths on it-then we did his last week of oral and used advocate and it cleared up.chis cant have a lot of the products for mange and it was starting to become generalised.

[myValkyrie]

It can be a horrid, persistent condition.

Yes, I know it can be persistent. The query though was on the fact that it 'migrated' from upper layers of skin to layers further down. I have never heard of a demodectic mite burrowing down to a layer where it can not be eradicated.

Bad case of demodex, yes. A case that seems impossibe to control, maybe. Mites burrowing further down the epidermis layers of the skin... I am not certain of.

I'm not sure about the "migrating" - the way my vet explained it to me is that the demodex, whilst it is an "illness" as such in itself - is really a symptom of the inability of the dog's immune system to cope. All dogs have demodex mites on their skin - and the dog's immune system somehow controls the population of mites - when the immune system falls down, the mites rapidly overpopulate. Which is why puppies (and older dogs) under stress are more likely to have breakouts of mange. If the dog or puppy is simply "run down", neglected or experiencing a hormone rush (anything really that challenges the immune system) , the condition will improve as the dog's system recovers (sometimes needing treatment & sometimes not). If the inherent problem with the immune system cannot be rectified, the dog is unable to recover.

This helped make it a little clearer for me & I hope it helps some of you too