MANGE!

January 3, 2013 8:12 AM

We found out today that my lab has Sarcoptic mange. What can we do to help ease our poor, miserable dog's itching?

He has seen a vet and is being treated (more details below if you're interested), but what should we do to ease his itchy suffering while we wait for the mites to die?

I've been rubbing jojoba oil on his skin in the morning and at night and he actually comes over to me and gives me access to his bald spots when I get the bottle out so I think that's helping. The vet also recommended Zyrtek and gave him a big anti-inflammation shot this morning.

Is there anything else we can do to make sure he is as comfortable as possible while we wait out the three weeks or so for all the eggs to hatch?

Probably non-relevant details to the main question:
We believe he (4 years old this month) was infected by one of my mom's dogs who brought it home from the kennel and it looks like they all have it. We did call the daycare/kennel where we think he got it and told them about the issue and are keeping him away from other dogs for now.

The itching has been going on for several weeks. The first time we took the dogs to the vet for itching, mange scrapings came back negative and the vet thought it was allergies and told us to give him Benadryl. We took him back to the vet again because of the bald patches and intense itching and he confirmed mange.

We were given Revolution to treat the mange and all of the dogs will be on the same medication. We will be washing bedding, collars, toys etc to stop the cross contamination.

posted by Kimberly to pets & animals (10 answers total)

I'm not a vet, or a dog owner, but I wonder whether it might be helpful to try mixing some neem oil with the jojoba? It might do some good in the meantime before the other meds kick in. (Warning: it reeks!)
posted by UniversityNomad at 8:18 AM on January 3

Lavender oil cut with vitamin e will cure mange in much less toxic way then what the vet gives.

Since you already started, I would try an occasional ice pack to numb the area. I use dermoplast on my dogs as well, but I would check with the vet for any interactions with the chemicals you are applying. Only use topical desensitizers if there isn't broken skin.
posted by Vaike at 8:44 AM on January 3

Hope your pup gets better soon. These people know their stuff. Cheers.
posted by watercarrier at 9:50 AM on January 3

Aww, scabies suck! My dog had them when we adopted her as a puppy. So itchy! My vet suggested benadryl (1-2mg per pound of dog every 8 hours) to curb the itching. He also told us to use Epi-Soothe Shampoo. It works best if you can leave it on for a few minutes before rinsing, which can be challenging with some dogs.

FWIW, fairly high dosages of ivermectin are needed to treat sarcoptic mange; I'm not sure that Revolution (which is a low maintenance dose used for heartworm prevention) is strong enough. Ask about ivermectin injections.
posted by workerant at 9:55 AM on January 3

[We're not worried about the course of treatment, we're getting instructions from a pet dermatologist. He said he's seen over a thousand cases of mange and the benefit of the treatment he has prescribed for the dogs is that he's only seen the mange reoccur in five dogs out of a thousand. Given the likelihood of re-exposure, we are happy to follow his advice. I just don't want Mr. Bacon Face to be so miserable while we're working to clear this up.]
posted by Kimberly at 10:02 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]

When my dog developed an itch*, the vet gave us a soothing spray that temporarily relieved the itching. I want to say it was a cortisone spray, and it was also available at PetSmart, but I could be wrong about that. Maybe your vet would let you use something like that in addition to the medication?

*Her itch was more of an OCD type of thing, not related to mites or anything.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 10:23 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]

Colloidal oatmeal. Aveeno makes a leave-on one that is awesome. It helps a LOT with itchy dogs.
posted by biscotti at 1:21 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]

Lavender oil cut with vitamin e will cure mange in much less toxic way then what the vet gives.

Lavender oil is considerably more toxic than ivermectin.
posted by atrazine at 1:38 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]

Sorry, my information was out of date. I thought they were still using that awful dip for mange. Hope puppy is doing well.
posted by Vaike at 11:36 AM on January 4

In case any future mange mom/dad out there cares, the solution we ended up using was jojoba oil to sooth the dry skin and slow the critters down and lots of Zycam/Benadryl. The Revolution killed the bugs and stopped the itching in about four days. He's not scratching, the hair is growing back on his sad little butt and things seem to be going well. We are dosing him again next Friday to get the ones that hatch from eggs and then two weeks after that to get any stragglers and we should be good.
posted by Kimberly at 5:15 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]