Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Dr. Tobin,

I'm so relieved that a friend told me about you and your forum.

Three months ago I adopted a three month old mixed-breed rescue pup from the south. When I picked her up from the transport in New England, she was beautiful, happy and seemed healthy. When I later looked at the pictures taken that day I could see a strange darkened area around her mouth/cheeks and over her right eyebrow. She also developed a rash on her lower tummy and vulva which was not resolving with Sulphur 6C. She also had a not so sweet puppy smell and her ears would get very red at times. She also seemed to get overheated and wanted to roll in the snow to cool off. I finally took her to the vet and he did a skin scraping on her eyebrow which revealed demodex, and the rash was a staph infection. She was put on antibiotics and the rash seemed to clear up. After reading about demodectic mange and taking my pup to a TCM vet I decided to hold off treatment for the mange.

Over the last two months my puppy has grown very little in height. She was 25 pounds and eighteen inches at fourteen weeks. And now at six months she is only 39 pounds and 22" tall at her rear end, 20" at shoulders. Her lower front legs also splay out a bit. So it's clear that the puppy that was seemed like a lab/pyr cross was probably a border collie cross.

So my puppy came down with another bout of staph infection - this one covering a much greater area. She has been on antibiotics and will continue for another week. I did send in the cheek swab to rule out the collie sensitivity gene which could make ivermectin a fatal choice for treating the mange, and luckily she does not have it. My allopathic vet (I could not afford the $575 first visit fee for the holistic vet) said that Luna would probably continue to get staph infections with every scratch if the demodectic mange is not dealt with completely. So I have the bottle of Ivermectin and I'm supposed to give the awful tasting stuff in a syringe daily for a month (building up from 0.2 - 1.0ml the first five days), do a scraping, and continue for another two weeks once a scraping shows no evidence of the mites.

So I came home and read more about this treatment online - that it can lead to long term immune disorders. It already is an immune disorder that puppies most often outgrow. Luna is six months old now and is often very itchy as well as having staph episodes. The vet said it would continue unless I do this treatment. She also gave me a Preventics collar because the deer ticks are so bad that Frontline is noit doing the job on it's own. In my reading I saw that the collar contains the same active ingredient, Amitraz, and should not be used at the same time due to possible overdose.

Could you please tell me if this treatment is the way to go. And could chronic demodectic mange with staph outbreaks cause growth to be retarded? Should I use a tick collar?

I have been giving her Sulphur 30C when she's very itchy and she does seem to relax almost immediately, but she's been on it for most of two months now. I am succussing the remedy each time but I fear I may have kept her on it for too long.

Thanks, Doctor....... Carol

The staph infection is caused by the mange; get rid of the mange and the infections will stop. Ivermectin is very effective for demodex. Once you get a negative scraping you can stop the ivermectin. If you succus the sulfur each time, you can continue indefinitely. I would suggest supporting the immune system with mushrooms, astragalus, omega 3 fatty acids, etc. I don't like tick collars as Amitraz is a neurotoxin. Frontline is usuallyeffective, but it must be put on the skin, not the fur. I usually clip a small spot on the back of the neck where I am going to put the Frontline. I found that Black Walnut Hull Extract in the food will prevent ticks from biting.

Thank you Dr Tobin,

What dose of those supplements would be safe for a 40 pound puppy?

Hi Dr Tobin,

After daily doses of oral ivermectin for a month now, my pup still has mange and the staph infections keep popping up. Can a Herx type reaction happen with this treatment? I ask this because now several of her toes are completely hairless, while some areas on her face look better, some the same. I'm taking her in for another skin scrape in a few days but I know she still has it. When the itching gets intense I give her Sulphur 6C which helps a bit. Is there a more reliable treatment? She is seven months old now and has had mange for at least four months.

Thanks....