Dogs With Mange

When you hear the term “You mangy mutt” you usually think of some poor flea infested stray with scabies all over it’s body nosing around garbage in an alley somewhere.  However, dogs with mange are not limited to dogs without homes.  In fact mange could easily strike your pet and send him into a frenzied bout of scratching, itching and biting, and worse yet, he could pass this microscopic, eight legged, skin burrowing parasite to you and your family.

What Is Mange?

Mange in dogs is a parasitic skin disease and the most common form is known as sarcoptis scabiei and it is a microscopic mite that normally lives its entire life on the host (your dog).  A female mite will burrow under the skin of your dog laying eggs along the way.  These burrows or tunnels can be as much as a couple of millimeters deep. 

The eggs hatch into larvae which in turn molt into adults who mate and the whole process begins again.  The total life cycle of a mite is approximately 3 weeks.  Now if you can imagine all this going on under the dog’s skin it’s easy to understand the scratching and biting behavior.

Mites prefer to live on the host but if they are knocked off by the scratching and biting they can survive up to 20 days in a cool moist environment like a basement.  If they land in an environment that is at normal room temperature they’re life span drops to 7 or 8 days.  What this means is they have that amount of time to find a host.  It could be the dog, or a different dog or cat, or you or a member of your family.

What Are The Symptoms Of Mange?

Signs of dog mange are often confused with symptoms of allergies.  Mites can spread to the dog’s entire body but they prefer ears, elbows, armpits, belly and haunches.  If your dog is constantly scratching in these areas and you notice the following symptoms that mites cause, then most likely it’s mange.

• Patches of hair loss
• Patches of skin with small red pustules that almost look like pimples
• A yellowish crust on the exposed skin
• Red inflamed skin

The real damage that mites do is actually the dog’s reaction to them of biting and scratching.  This can inflame the skin, lower the immune response, and just make your dog’s life generally miserable.

Because the symptoms are so similar to certain allergies, mange is often misdiagnosed by vets.  The reason for this is the standard test for mites is to take a skin scrapping and then placing it under the microscope to see if mites exist.  Unfortunately, there is only a 20% chance that the scrapping will actually have mites on it.  So even if there are no mites on the test skin, there is no assurance that mites don’t exist.

How Do You Treat Dogs With Mange?

The most common treatments for mange are chemical dips and these can be unpleasant for both the dog and the person giving the dip. 

For starters, the dog should be given a close clip so there is less hair interfering with the dip process.  Once Fido has a buzz cut, then a sanitizing bath of benzoyl peroxide is given followed by an organosulphate (Paramite) dip and a lime sulfur dip (Lymdip).

 These treatments are given every two weeks two or three times.  Care should be used when administering these dips because they can have side effects including, vomiting, diarrhea or a wobbling gait. When you consider that many mites are found in the ears or on the face you can see where it would be easy for the dog to accidentally ingest some of the dip.

Fortunately there are newer products that are veterinarian approved that can take care of the problem without the toxic dips.  Selamectin is a topical pharmaceutical that is applied monthly and can help control mange and offer protection for heartworm as well.  Frontline Plus, Frontline Top Spot and Frontline Spray all help in controlling mange as well. 

As far as home remedies for mange is concerned there really isn’t anything that has long lasting effects.  Mites are difficult to get rid of.  However, you can provide temporary relief for your dog by dipping a cotton swab into mineral oil and gently applying it to a mangy patch of skin.  This is particularly helpful for mange in ears, a favorite nesting place for these critters particularly if your dog has large ear flaps.  The mineral oil will kill any mites that are on or near the surface but will not kill eggs or larvae.

There is an alternative to the chemical dips for mange that some people swear by.  Take 16 ounces of peroxide, 8 tablespoons of borax and mix it into 2 cups of water.  Apply this to the dog and do not rinse, let him drip dry.  Do this weekly and within 2 weeks you should see hair growing back and within 2 months you may have licked the problem.

You can help your dog from the inside out as well by adding a tablespoon of olive oil to his food once a day.  The olive oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids and will help produce natural oil for his skin reducing the itching sensation.  Also, a vitamin E supplement will help his immune system fight off infection.  Smart dog nutrition can go a long way in minimizing the effects of mites.

The other important aspect of treating mange is that if you have other pets in the home beside the affected dog, you have to treat them as well.  Mites are transferred between dog easily making mange highly contagious and may take a couple of weeks to show symptoms so even if your other dog appears fine, you need to treat him.

Also of course the house needs a through cleaning and all of the dogs bedding and toys need to be washed or cleaned.

Mites are miserable little creatures and the earlier you detect the symptoms and treat them, the less suffering your dog will experience.