Fleas, Ticks and Mites

[livingwith]

We are the owners of a lab puppy who is 10 weeks old. When we bought her from the previous owners she was very itchy and the lady told me she just had fleas. Well 2 days later the poor dog had scratched so much she would not eat or sleep and had infected open sores, so I took her to the vet and discovered she has sarcoptic mange. Another 150 dollars, antibiotics and steroids and then in spite of further appropriate treatment (selemectin) and various washes after a month she still has it and has ...Read the full article

[Rottsamongus]

I truly hope that dispite the skin condition and the sleepness nights that come with it...you were able to fall in love with your dog and take comfort in knowing that your pup is with someone that cares. One must wonder what type of a breeder (a backyard breeder with no education I would guess) would fraudulantly sell a dog with a known condition...Neglecting the dog at this stage would clearly be abuse.
I will ignore the comment about returning the dog...hoping you said it out of frustration...

I too bought two pups recently and 1 of them has always itched more than the other. He wakes me throughout the nite wimpering as he scratches and now his hair is starting to thin around the eyes, his legs and on his belly and chest.

The vet will do a scrape tomorrow and has indicated it is probably Demodex mites that are not sufficiently being kept in check by his immune system. Similar to sarcoptic mange...it is extremely irritating for dog and owner to deal with...but hang in there and deal with it...it is your responsibility as an owner...to be in the tough side, I would say...you should have had a vet check any condition you saw present before you ever brought her home...rather than taking the breeders word for it that it was fleas....fleas can be seen...did you look???

You have to continue to trust your vet to recommend a remedy...many remedies can be costly and take months to work to rebuild the coat...If you want to go out on your own and try other remedies...I was reading up at dermisil.com they have products for our pets and seem to get good reviews by people that have tried it. there is also the possibility of trying flea and tick products like K9 Advantix...I have heard from other dog owners that it can also work on mites even though not sold for that...I don't have any veterinary experience other than raising 2 Rottweilers and now starting over with 2 more...so take it for what it is worth...but please don't consider giving up and adding your loved pet to the many neglected animals out there already...I even read that some dogs just have a week immune system initially and if you keep up on the puppy immunizations, she will eventually outgrow it on her own...maybe even give a immunization booster vitamin to help things out.

Good luck

[dab10545]

I, too, received a puppy free of ticks but had sarcoptic mange. Revolution is working wonders for us. He had an increase in scratching for a day or two after getting it, but it's now significantly reduced. He's getting ready to have his second treatment this week. My vet is my highschool friend, so she scraped and scraped until she found one of the mites. Ugly little critters! Don't give up on your puppy. Get some Revolution and see how that works for you.