Jordan's experience with Demodex / Demodectic Mange     January, 2006 Summary: Make sure your pet has an optimal diet. Make sure your pet is not being continually exposed to anything that can decrease their immunity, such as medications, chemicals from new products, or cleaners, bug poison, etc. If your dog (or cat) has demodex, perhaps Jordan's story will help you: Our dog, Jordan the mini pinscher, started losing his hair about two months ago. It started as a tiny spot above his eye - I noticed it and figured he had scratched his skin on something. Then within a week it was apparent that the bald spot was growing. After recently losing another dog (Duke) to a rare disease (PLN), I became concerned and started searching the Internet for possible causes. One of the first things I checked into was mange. The description of the sarcoptic mange (the most common variety) said that he would be very itchy. Since he didn't seem to be itching much at all, I ruled that out. Then after another day or two, I noticed another bald spot starting to show up further up on his head. Getting more worried, I kept searching online and came across the description for demodectic mange. After considering the alternatives, and examining him thoroughly, it seemed likely that this was what Jordan was experiencing. I called my vet and expressed concern that Jordan had demodex. The receptionist told me that she doubted it, that it was a very rare condition, but that I should bring him in for an examination. They had an opening to see the vet that same day and he did a skin scraping and after viewing with a microscope, confirmed the presence of the demodex mites. About $100 later, they sent me home with some Goodwinol and told me to apply daily to affected locations. I brought him home and continued researching these little buggers. According to the information I was reading, demodex mites are present in small numbers on most, if not all, dogs. Passed from mother to pup during nursing, a healthy dog keeps the number under control, but a dog whose immune system becomes deficient can allow the mites to spread out of control. Thriving in the hair follicles, the mites cause the affected animal to lose hair, usually starting on the head and spreading to the legs and body. This can occur naturally in a young pup (under 18 months) but older dogs would only experience this if suffering from an underlying immune deficiency. After talking to Jordan's first owner, we determined there was no way he could be that young, he had to be at least 24-30 months old at this point. The best holistic treatment seems to be making sure the dog has a healthy, balanced diet, and is not exposed to poisons that could weaken the immune system further. I went to a local pet store and described Jordan's condition and my concerns. They recommended a food by "Great Life" that included freeze dried buffalo and a lot of good healthy vegetables, and they also recommended a kelp supplement. Jordan loved the kelp and ate the new food without hesitation. After a couple more weeks, a few new spots began appearing, on his ear, leg, and shoulder. We scheduled another appointment with the vet. At this point, the vet had to do three scrapings to find any mites (I think we could hear him yelping through the walls from the painful scrapings), and when he finally was able to find living demodex, recommended a series of mitaban poison dips to rid Jordan of the remaining mites. My primary concern was an underlying cause weakening his immune system. The vet did a blood sample and reported that everything looked normal and OK. The mites themselves didn't seem to bother Jordan much - he had been active and playful throughout - and reading about possible side effects of the mitaban poison, we decided to wait on the dips. After another two weeks or so, we could see that some hair had started to return to the affected area above his eye. As of now (another week later), he is almost fully recovered - a few spots can still be detected but hopefully all his hair will grow back to normal soon. I called the vet to give them an update on his condition. The receptionist told me that she doubted the demodex would go away on its own, that she thought he still needed poison dips, and that we needed to clean everything he'd been in contact with. From what I learned online, I'm confident I know more about demodex than this receptionist and wasn't too worried. I sure was glad we decided to wait on the mitaban, since he got better without it and I read that it can cause neurological problems, further weaken the immune system, or even (rarely - 3 /1100 according to one study reported online) result in death. My theory is one of two things caused Jordan's demodectic outbreak; either (1) the recent vaccinations that Jordan received weakened his immune system or (2) the response free food diet we had him on due to his allergies (watery eyes) did not have sufficient nutrients to keep his immune system at full strength. Or possibly a combination of the two or some third unknown environmental factor had brought this on. All his hair has grown back after about 2 months. We're very relieved that he fully recovered without us having to resort to poison dips - hopefully he will live a long healthy life with us for years to come! Home