Some of you may remember that Tad had two types of mange, which is rare. He had both Sarcoptic (highly contagious) and Demodectic (not contagious) Mange. He was cleared of Sarcoptic Mange, but because of his weak immune system, if took a bit longer to clear him of the Demodex.
To give a little lesson, Demodex is carried on ALL dogs...and humans, too. Whenever the dog's immune system becomes compromised, the mites start to thrive and you start noticing symptoms.
Keep in mind that Tad has a LOT of scarring, and he is fairly neked on his underside. However, while I was walking him out to piddle before we left the clinic for the day, I noticed a new neked spot on his tail. When I got inside, Dr. Holliday and I decided to scrape him again. His last scraping was about 3 months ago, which you may remember had those weird spores that were of no concern.
Dr. Holliday read the scraping, and sure enough, Tad is having another Demodex outbreak. Bummer...
But, the real problem is what to treat him with... We used Promeris on him before, it's a topical flea and tick prevention that can also be used to treat Demodex Mange. Well, Promeris was recently pulled of the shelves for causing an autoimmune disorder of the skin.
Our next option is ivermectin...without knowing Tad's heartworm status, that's not a good idea. It could kill him. Let me explain the heartworm status: Tad's first heartworm test was negative, however...in order for the test to show positive, he must have adult female worms. He was checked for microfilaria, which are baby heartworms...and he didn't have those either. However, it takes 6 months for the worms to grow into adults...so, if at the time of his test (4 months ago) he had 'teenage' heartworms, neither test will pick them up. So, it'll be two more months before we can retest him to ensure he's completely negative. If we're going to be using Ivermectin, we will not use it before we ensure he is as negative as he can possibly get.
So, our last option is a dip. Bah! I hate those...but, you gotta do what you gotta do. We don't carry it, but we're going to look into ordering it tomorrow for him. I think it's a dip every two weeks...or a dip twice a week...? I can't honestly remember, it's been years since we've done one.
Either way, I almost forgot to share this tidbit with you guys as I've been so wrapped up with 'other' things today... :/
