Demodex Mites

[CamH]

Hi Guys,

So my seven month old bulldog is being treated for Demodex mites at the moment,

Its his Second round of injections as the skin scrape after the first 4 weeks still had "some" living mites according to the vet (along with a lot of dead ones).

The vet is using 1.2ml of Dectomax, from what ive read Decotmax isn't that great for dogs...

Although hes never had any sever symptoms only some very small balding spots it seems like abit of overkill from the vet.

He doesnt have any symptoms now, though the vet still thinks we should get another 4 weeks of injections, Does anyone have some info on ways to treat the mites from home

?

cheers,

Cam.

[persephone]

Demodectic mites are a normal part of dogs ( and human) skin dwellers. if the immune system is compromised , the little patches will grow and spread amazingly!

They are deep within the hair follicles .. and this is one reason that internal treatments are used.

All I can suggest is to improve his diet ..cut out any artificial colourings etc ..give him a daily probiotic ..

I'm sure someone else will be along to help :)

[*kirty*]

Finish the course of injections. You need to get the mites under control completely. As pers said, it is also extremely important to make sure the dog is as healthy as possible. Good diet with raw meat, maybe some added fish oil or coconut oil etc.

[karly101]

As above posters say, please finish the course properly, technically they need to see 3 negative skin scrapes for the dog to be deemed free of them. If you cease treatment early you will likely have a flare up and your dog will need a even longer course of insecticides. Just try and and treat once and do it properly :)

Improve the diet, try and limit any other stresses.

[Working Dog Lover]

Interesting study - although Bravecto isn't registered for use against demodex mites, nothing to stop you using it for its flea and tick control properties, and see if it helps.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25881320

[CamH]

Thanks Guys,

His Diet is pretty Decent i give him Blackhawk Dry food in the mornings and then i make his dinners with Brown Rice, Chicken mince and plenty of veges.

I give him one fish oil tablet a day, and a couple of chicken necks also. Do you think giving him immune boosters would help??

[Rappie]

The minimum course of treatment for demodex is going to be 12 weeks regardless of the protocol used. I have primarily used oral ivermectin or dectomax injections and nearly all of the treatment failures that I have seen have been due to either underlying disease, or insufficient duration of treatment.

Bravecto is registered in other countries for the treatment of demodectic mange but not in Australia. The information being published about it is promising - discuss with your vet if you want to change the treatment protocol.

[Rebanne]

Many, many years ago, one of my GSD's had a very small area of hairlessness appear due to demodex mites. there were no injections given but I was given a wash (ivermectin?) and had to apply that for weeks and weeks so I also suggest you continue with the course of treatment. BTW rice and lot's of vegies aren't needed to make up a good food. Hopefully the chicken mince is minced with the bone and not just the meat.

[Tweety]

Previously I used ivermectin on severe cases of demodex mange for foster dogs the charity had rescued. But the oral ivermectin has to be slowly introduced & increased every 3 days over a 1-2 week period to reach the correct dosage. This ensures the body becomes accustomed accordingly to this severely toxic medication. However, in that 1-2 week time frame, the mange can become SO much worse (as technically, the ivermectin has still not reached its correct dosage yet).

My vet went to the Bravecto launch. One of the skin specialists advised that Bravecto couldn't yet be marketed yet in Australia for demodex mange, however, it had good results.

We therefore trialled Bravecto on 2 of our foster dogs.

I was astounded that within 4 days I started to see a noticable difference. The mange cleared quicker, easier and cheaper than all the other options previously used.

1 tablet was all I used for both dogs!!! Obviously you still need to do all the necessary footwork to find out if there are any underlying health issues that is causing the demodex mange to break out.

I will continue to use Bravecto for the next demodex mange dogs that come into my care.

Good luck. :)