Question for breeders on Mange - Page 6

GSDfan - regarding your question on mange - obviously second opinions are a must , I would definately seek out a more knowledgeable vet and hopefully it may end up being a less serious skin issue.  I hope so for your friends sake, and definately look into alternative treatments - they are out there.  Google up Diatemaceous Earth - its cheap, all natural and acts like glass to bugs with external skeletons, cutting them and dehydrating them (as I understand it).  If nothing else, it may help reduce mite population without toxic chemicals.

most vets today are only worried about prescribing all they can , and half the time there are not half the problems you come out to treat....

They are on a sell all you can / marketing program ,,,have to pay the bills and get a new boat or or pay off that school loan , and the new house payment....

Louise has given some great tips that I give my puppy buyers and lots more to go with it....if they would only adhere to them.....oH I took the pup to the vet and he said I should   ...........................................................................................................................and in that lists of shoulds does not contain anything worthwhile for a german shepherd....a bunch of manzy panzy for a cockapoo.....or a couch potatoe.....

If you have a healthy dog, the vet will lose money...He is trained to heal sick dogs not healthy ones...and I have heard of 50ear mite caes recently and  maybe 10 of that 50 is really mites....the rest is Fungi   nasty fungi   ears were never cleaned down deep and fungi grows in wet dark damp places.....

So Louise I am very thankful you will give out the helpful things we all could do ,and should do to keep so many chemicals out of our dogs body.........THere is a time and a place for antibiotics and harsh treatments ,,,,,,if pup owners would just start at 8 weeks old and feed raw and raw veggies,   alot of these problems wouldn t come out.....and the vet that negates raw ,,,needs to study in Germany for a while......I have never had ecoli nor salmanilla and neither have my dogs and Ive been giving raw for 10 years.....if u buy it fresh and freeze it and feed it fresh and icy slushy meats, par boil the carrots, and use the apples, and avocado, and vit c ester,,,,what better health we all would have    we need to start eating dog food I guess.....our stomachs and digestion system is not the same as a dog...so Ill pass on the raw meat.......But I do like my steak   "rare".

Dermadectic is looked at in a whole different way today, especially those of us in Schutzhund clubs , that have studied the real reason for it, and know that the stress is where it mounts up on wings and blows it all up    dont need to kill a female for that or her Mom either.....  I meant literally   ..........spay her is nonsense.....

Thank you Yellow Rose - your wisdom is showing too!  You and Louise have the kind of common sense that I like to follow.  If you haven't already, would you look at my girls pedigree and tell me what you might do with her, (I'm switching from AFS Raw to BARF immediately)

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/512282.html

She is very obedient, very protective, high ball drive, high energy, always wants to please, rock solid nerves - only down side she has right now is she is not friendly to other dogs besides family dogs.  She also has a very strong focus.

most vets today are only worried about prescribing all they can , and half the time there are not half the problems you come out to treat....

Right on! Look, I worked at a teaching and with veterinary students for most of my career. They are taught litte about practice management (that's what vet techs are for--to help peddle products that aren't need), virtually nothing about alternative medicine, and are brainwashed by Hill's that Science Diet is the best there is. Oh, BTW, the students get all their Science Diet free or at a nominal cost. Hill's also provides the teaching hospitals wih complimentary Science Diet.

How often do my dogs see the vet? For xrays, rabies vaccines, and an occasional small, non-malignant mass removal. They sure as heck don't go in for annual exams. When absolutely needed, I can do my own hemogram, fecal exam, urinalysis, skin scraping, semen analysis, vaginal cytology, progesterone tests, A.I.'s, worming, skin scrapings, etc.

The vet techs are the ones teach the vet students many of their technical skills and how to perform diagnostic radiographs.

I have a good vet who repects me--nearly 45 minutes from here--owns a state-of the-art 24 hour clinic. When I go there, he listens to what I think is wrong with his patient and how we propose to treat the patient. My own human primary care physician appreciates the fact that I am pro-active.