I took my puppy to the vet and was told he had sarcoptic mange. Could it be misdiagnosed?
The vet said at first he had demodex. After a skin scrape she said it was sarcoptic. However my other dogs are showing no signs and neither are myself, children,or husband. Is it possible she was wrong? The puppy is not loosing hair and is a bit itchy, but I bathed all dogs in lime sulfur solution which may have dried out their skin. If it is sarcoptic how can I get it off my furniture and carpet. *Note* I have suede furniture. Also how many treatments will it take to rid him of this. I contacted the breeder and her vet and all other puppies tested negative as well as mother and my dogs as well. He has had the dip and Revolution. Thanks for all help as I have never dealt with this. Oh, he is a Shar Pei and is prone to sensitive skin as well and 10 weeks old. Thanks!
I would like to thank everyone for their helpful info. My other dogs have tested positive and I had a skin scrape today (neg for scabies), but positive for dog allergy. We are working on it and I have put them on the dip (as the vet ordered previously) and Ivermectin. Along with antibiotic for my chi as her white blood cell count is up. Once again THANKS TO ALL for the help:)
If the vet said it was sarcoptic after a skin scrape, then yes, it is most definitely sarcoptic mange. He found the mites with the scrape.
This is actually better, as it’s easily treated. Demodex is not easily treated at all,
Typical treatment for sarcoptic mange is a series of ivermectin treatments, either orally or by injection, usually over the course of 3 -6 weeks. It’s very effective.
When my dog had this (she came home from the rescue with it) we did ivermectin injections and I was told to get a spray from the pet store to treat my house and car, and to keep her away from other dogs during the treatment phase. We were also told to use Benadryl for the itching early on.
Skin scrapes only find the mites about half the time, so negative skin scrapes on the other dogs don’t mean they don’t have it. If any of them seem unusually itchy, they should also be treated. Often, sarcoptic mange is diagnosed by treating it–if the treatment works, the diagnosis is confirmed. You were lucky the scrape found the mites on your dog.
Here’s a good link on it: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_sarcoptic_mange.html
It could be I guess but typically scrapes are accurate. If you think she’s wrong, go get a second opinion at another vet.
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If the vet said it was sarcoptic after a skin scrape, then yes, it is most definitely sarcoptic mange. He found the mites with the scrape.
This is actually better, as it’s easily treated. Demodex is not easily treated at all,
Typical treatment for sarcoptic mange is a series of ivermectin treatments, either orally or by injection, usually over the course of 3 -6 weeks. It’s very effective.
When my dog had this (she came home from the rescue with it) we did ivermectin injections and I was told to get a spray from the pet store to treat my house and car, and to keep her away from other dogs during the treatment phase. We were also told to use Benadryl for the itching early on.
Skin scrapes only find the mites about half the time, so negative skin scrapes on the other dogs don’t mean they don’t have it. If any of them seem unusually itchy, they should also be treated. Often, sarcoptic mange is diagnosed by treating it–if the treatment works, the diagnosis is confirmed. You were lucky the scrape found the mites on your dog.
Here’s a good link on it: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_sarcoptic_mange.html
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mb
I had a co-worker who’s dog had the scabies mite, and no members of her family was itchy or showed any symptoms (including her children who slept in the same bed with the dog). No idea about exact treatments. We usually treat mites with ivermectin.
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If they took a skin culture and ran the tests correctly then they shouldn’t be wrong but there is always that small margin of error. For better peace of mind I would suggest take your dog to another vet for a second opinion.
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Get a second opinion if you are unsure. It’s a good thing your dog doesn’t have the other type of mange because I am pretty sure the other kind of mange can only be kept under control and never gotten rid of.
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No I don’t think the Vet would be wrong on this one. Because they have to scrap about 2 layers of skin off the dog. Dogs get Mange from dead animals. If the dog went and rolled in to something dead or where it was it will get this. This kind of mange doesn’t spread to humans just to other dogs and animals. I would get the shampoo that the Vet has given to you and wash the dog out side and let it dry out side also. You can’t dry off the dog other than letting it dry naturally. You will have to wash your dog a few days to get rid of it. I have had to deal with it myself with my sisters dog. They didn’t even know she had it. She wasn’t loosing hair either just had bumps so the Vet looked at her and that is how we found out. Hope this helps ya.
But if you are thinking different than me then I would go to another Vet and check it out again.
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As you say, it’s a Shar Pei and yes they have very sensitive skin.
My one and only long hair had this ailment, and not one of the other dogs had a problem. It was genetic, I checked way back in his pedigree.
Your other dogs may not be prone to sarcoptic mange, sometimes it genetic. Could be in the pedigree somewhere, not necessarily transferred to the pups or the Sire and Dam. It’s called "carrying the gene" and your dog was affected.
The mites build little hives in the house, you can’t see them and normally they won’t bother you or other animals, unless it gets out of hand. So you need to vacuum, really well, all nooks and crannies, furniture, carpets, then spray for mites.
You may not have the hives – so don’t panic, it may not have gone that far yet.
ETA: Meant to say, it’s odd your dog hasn’t lost any hair yet as normally they do. But, the hair loss can be as small as the head of a nail, when mange is present, then it get’s much worse.
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breeder/trainer/show -
Sarcoptic mange is the hardest to skin scrape and find. Most vets treat even if the scrape turned out to be negative. Did your vet say she found it or she thinks that is whats going on? If she said she found it, its hard to mistake from demodex, they are easy to tell apart from one another. Why where the siblings and mother to your dog tested? Are they showing symptoms? If they are and they all tested negative I guess I would still agree with the doctor that there must be mange. Some people and animals are more immune to picking up mange then others. Example, 1 girl at my work gets ringworm every few months, I never have, we both work with animals together everyday. I am just less susceptible to it. I am sorry I don’t know what else to tell you, good luck.
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i have 3 dogs and only one of them caught the mange it comes from the dirt so you may want to treat your yard with a permitherin solution and the stuff that i treated my dog with is called NU-STOCK this stuff works miracles you should try it (google it).
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Shar Pei’s do have sensitive skin. Why did you bathe in lime and sulfur? Both things have potential to cause a pretty yucky skin reaction in any dog.
If your vet said he/she saw mange in the scrape I’d have to believe him/her. The only thing I wonder right along with you is why s/he change his/her mind about which mange it was? Demodectic mange and Sarcoptic mange are pretty hard to confuse while looking at them thru a microscope (Demodex is long and ugly and Sarcoptic is short fat and ugly!). Maybe the original diagnoses was based on sight/smell of the dog? (Dogs that have mange have a sort of smell to them… something like sweaty dog feet but that’s just my opinion lol Having smelled hundreds of mange-y dogs in my life.)
How many treatments depends on WHAT you’re treating it with. I’ve known dogs with Demodex that its a never-ending battle to cure. You said Revolution and that would be once every 2wks for 2months or more, but, are you also having the dog dipped or getting Ivermectin treatments on top of that or JUST the Revolution?
Also, Demodex is hereditary, Sarcoptic is contagious (yes to people too). It can transfer from one thing to another just by touch and the thing that transfers it doesnt have to be dead! (I laughed when I read that lol). The GOOD NEWS is that a dogs Sarcoptic mange will only affect a human for about three weeks. Not that that is consoling at all if you or your children get it!
As for your suede furniture I’ve got no ideas. Try asking a leather person around you what is OK to treat suede with. Make sure to vacuum!!! I doubt they’d stay in the furniture alive for very long anyway with no host to feed from. If it were cloth I’d steam it along with the carpet to kill anything at least every week.
Good luck treating this and I hope your dog gets better ;o)
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Experienced Vet Nurse (10+ years)
If your vet diagnosed this via a skin scraping, then it’s unlikely that he is incorrect. The sarcoptic mange mite can be easily differentiated from the demodectic mange mite.
As for environmental contamination, these mites are only infective for about 36 hours once off the dog so it’s not generally necessary to treat the environment. They also tend to be species specific, meaning that they don’t like to live on anything besides dogs so it’s unlikely for humans to get a serious infection. If the mites do get on humans they generally die within a few days. (I’ve handled tons of animals with this condition and never contracted it.)
Ask your vet how quickly the issue should resolve with Revolution. Even with just dipping, it should resolve in about a month.
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http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=616
Registered Veterinary Technician