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Mange.
It's a terrible word.
It's a terrible word
because of all of the connotations of
"suffering" and "ugly" and
"difficult to cure."
But, to veterinarians,
it's mostly a terrible word because we hear it as a
catch-all term.
Over the past few weeks
we've discussed the two of the four kinds of mange that
occur in dogs, along with the cause of each one and its
effects on canine patients. In coming weeks we will
discuss the other two types of mange.
Today we're talking about
Demodicosis, the parasitic skin condition caused by
Demodex canis, the mite (insect) that causes "red
mange" in dogs.
Demodicosis mites come
from a mother dog and are transmitted to her pups only
during the first seven days of life. Most commonly the
mites move onto the face and front feet when the pups
are nursing and treading with their front feet on the
mother's mammary (milk) glands. After seven days of life
one dog cannot give another dog Demodicosis.
Many decades ago someone
tried. A dog heavily infested with Demodicosis mites was
literally lashed to another dog that had been born by
Caesarean section and raised on a bottle so as to
prevent Demodicosis mites from ever entering its body.
Such pups are called SPF, or specific-pathogen-free.
These two dogs were kept in constant contact for an
entire month, and no Demodicosis mites ever entered the
Demodicosis-free dog.
Demodicosis cases are
broadly divided into two categories: localized and
generalized. A localized case is limited to one or two
lesions very close together. A generalized case, then,
is one that has more than one lesion and the lesions are
widely separated.
Lesions in Demodicosis
typically are round to oval patches of hair loss, often
with reddened skin (thus the common name) and a bumpy
appearance where each hair follicle is located. Hair
follicles are involved because most of the mites live
around hair follicles, clogging the follicle as they
live. A clogged hair follicle soon loses its hair shaft,
resulting in bald patches.
When a Demodicosis
patient is itchy the most common cause is the presence
of secondary bacterial infection. When bacteria, even
the normal bacteria that reside on a dog's skin, invade
beyond the surface of the skin, into the inner layers,
itchiness results.
Dogs with Demodicosis
commonly have infection and infected skin can actually
be a worse condition than the mites themselves.
Treatment is aimed at
killing the mites. It is imperative that the pet owner
understand that under no circumstances will all of the
mites be killed by any treatment. Virtually 100 percent
of dogs worldwide carry this mite, and eliminating all
of the mites is physically and medically impossible. Our
goal is simply to reduce the number of mites to a level
the dog's skin can tolerate until the immune system is
again strong enough to keep the mites controlled on its
own.
Outbreaks usually occur
during periods of stress or maturation. Moving to a new
home, illnesses, changing foods, surgery, puberty, these
are all things that may cause the immune system to
"dip" temporarily and result in a flourish of
mites and the inevitable hair loss.
Methods of treatment vary
widely, and your pet's doctor must be consulted for
proper treatment. Avoid home remedies which may not only
make your pet's skin worse but can even be fatal in some
cases.
———
(Dr. Jim Randolph, a
veterinarian at Animal General hospital in Long Beach,
Miss., can be reached at South Mississippi Veterinary
Medical Association, 20005 Pineville Road, Long Beach,
MS 39560. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
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