Question for breeders on Mange - Page 4

Is that where they are really found the most?  Due to the moisture in the eyes - I'll pluck them all immediately!!!

Blitzen I do remember the vet said it was demodex from a skin scraping. He said the dogs should not be bred. No I never got the itchies. A neighbor of mine had scabies one time and they tunneled under the skin causing the itching, right? He had little bumps too, his daughter got it also.  My friend (helper) said her dogs (several Rotts) were diagnosed the same too, demodex. Maybe our vets 10+ years ago needed glasses in Montana!  or better microscopes. I do remember the hair missing on their face, or thinning would be better, but I think I had to do the whole dog with this medicine. You added X amount in water, about 2-3 gallons, I think, with this liquid.It turned the water white. So sorry my memory is not what it use to be, especially for something I probably rather have forgot. Maybe I caught it quick? I do know they never got any secondary bacterial infections you mentioned come with it. No antibiotics either. I also had 2 other dogs that never got it. I will go look in past records to see if I wrote anything down on it. I am not always good at doing that. Just shots and worming usually.

clewsk9s I have bought Utopia Silver. I gave the last to my son who thought he had ring worm and was using some antifungal stuff on it for a while with no luck. When he used the silver too it went right away. So his family bought 6 bottles and gave me one. My dogs had a little cough they were passing back and forth recently so I put some on their food, cough was gone in a couple days. I have also bought Dr. Walsch (sp) colodial minerals (Cherry Mins). They always seem to give me a pick up if I am feeling run down.

trailrider - where do you buy the Utopia brand?  I've heard of it before.  I was just trying to order some from Kaire where I usually get it and they changed recently and you now have to become a distributor for it - theirs is really good stuff though, with a price to match!

I believe I will start using it in Chloe's ears as a preventative after we get done with the drops the vet gave me.  What do you all think about adding Yogurt to the dogs diet after taking an antibiotic?  And, would you think giving a dog an antibiotic for a yeast infection in the ears would do any good?  IMO no. Vet prescribed one, I'm not so sure about it though.

humm... i always heard that red mange came from the dirt..like parvo...if a previous dog on the property had it, then all other dogs after that one may get it...maybe differt kind of mange?....anyway...i had a long hair dog that got some kind of mange once and all i did was buy a $13 bottle of dog DIP, whithin two weeks the dog was pretty much back to normal....i wish i could remember the name of the stuff...it must have been pretty potent cause you had to throw away all articles of clothing you were wearing when you treated the dog (including your underwear)---but that was years ago, come to think of it, i probably wouldn't use something so harsh on my dogs now (tho there was never any sign that it had hurt that dog)---then a couple years back i had another dog get it, the stuff we used that time came in a container that looked like turtle car wax...it was neon green..all you had to do was rub it on the dog, leave it on a few mins, then wash off...very easy and wasn't harsh...it was also mainly SULFER based-like others have mentioned, it worked great and if my dogs ever need it again i would definetly use something SULFER based--sulfer is used on people for skin problems to, so im pretty sure its not harmful ..

Blitzen and some others are exactly right in saying it's not as much about the mites as it is the immune system. Ivermetine is the drug of choice which is in some heartworm preventatives. I had one isolated case a few years back, of sarcoptes. No official diagnosis from the dog dermatologist, as he couldn't find any, but treated for them anyway. He used Ivermectine on a 10 day dossage as well as an antibiotic for the secondary skin infection. His final recommendation was to keep the dog on "Revolution"... which is a heartworm and flea,tick and mite once a month topical.  He said that it will not cure an outbreak, but will protect the dog from an outbreak in the future. This will also work for short term demodex. SO MANY VETS ARE SPAY AND NEUTER HAPPY AS THIS IS THEIR BREAD AND BUTTER INCOME!! Unless the dog has a long history and has produced such things... concentrate on the treatment and do not take such drastic measures right off the bat. Give some immuno boosting suppliments and see how that helps.. you can find some products here... b-naturals.com

Hope that helps and good luck!

Debby

ebinezer052899@yahoo.com http://castlebrookshepherds.net/enter.html

djc - excellent website, thank you for the link, can you give your opinion on the last post I did and copied below?

My Prior Post:  "I believe I will start using it in Chloe's ears as a preventative after we get done with the drops the vet gave me.  What do you all think about adding Yogurt to the dogs diet after taking an antibiotic?  And, would you think giving a dog an antibiotic for a yeast infection in the ears would do any good?  IMO no. Vet prescribed one, I'm not so sure about it though.

My vet first said to neuter Beckett because he was not a 'typical' shepherd, he's a sable working lines, "and breeders aim for a more typical look", and anything I've brought him in for since then, she always 'suggests' that we consider having him altered, because he'll have a much better life...every animal I've ever had has been altered, including my horse, I guess I resent the implication that I'm being irresponcible by not having him neutered. I will wait to see how he developes, how he works, how his hips are, before I decide one way or another, one little bout of itchies is NOT going to decide that for me, not especially since it was localised, and cleared up on it's own. jo

Let's get our facts straight here - - an above poster stated that allergies are a sign of a weakened immune system.  Wrong. Exactly the opposite.  Allergies indicate an unusally STRONG immune system - overactive immunity.  The body's immune system reacts to an allergen as a foreign body, and overreacts needlessly because it doesn't recognize it to be innocuous.  Mange and many others disorders can be indicative of a compromised immune system, but NOT ALLERGIES.

Seaecho, please don't jump so quickly, I did not say weakened - I said dysfunction which could be overactive or underactive.  I have a condition called Hashimoto's Tyhroid - my immune system is aggressively overacting to my Thyroid and trying to destroy it.  It is still considered dysfunctional as it is not operating normally.  Allergies (IMO) are a proper reaction of the immune system to an allergen but in doing so it should build the antibodies a system needs to correct itself.  Chronic allergies cause a chronic hyper immune system and will eventually create a hypo immune system.  After testing positive for high white cell count for 2 decades I now experience a sub temp everytime I am sick and my immune system is Dysfunctional.  If I receive a flu vaccine I end up getting the flu full force and was therefore exemp from vaccines in the Military because of it.

Quoted from above:

"I believe treating symptoms is a futile attempt and we must delve into treating root causes - at this point a very high percentage of living entities have immune system problems of one sort or another.  Allergies are an immune system dysfunction"

Please point me to the statement where I said "weakened" and I will be happy to put an IMO in there for you.  I thought our conversations here were being very nice and I in no way am trying to spout out facts, just my own observations from my own life experiences and I always welcome those of others.

clewsk9 I get Utopia online. Just google Utopia Silver and you should find their page. Let me know what you think or how it compares to what you have been getting.