Demodectic Mange again

Some time back I wrote a post on demodectic mange. I had a great "before" picture, but the case was lost to follow-up. This is a different case, and this time I do have the "before" and the "after" pictures.

Shadow is a youngster who suffered a grievous injury to her left front leg. After a period of two weeks of trying to salvage the limb, her immune system was shot, and the demodex mites had gone crazy. Many hair follicles were damaged and secondarily infected and bleeding. This is the kind of case that lets you know where the term "red mange" came from. Her leg had to be amputated, and treatment was begun for the demodex. She had been treated for several weeks at this point, but the treatment regimen wasn't really intensive enough. This picture was taken on her first visit to KVC. She looks miserable, and she was.

We started her on a higher dose of cephalexin (antibiotics) than the previous doctor, daily dosage of ivermectin, and medicated baths twice weekly. I also prescribed a nutritional supplement called Immuplex. It's supposed to boost the body defense system and she surely needed that.

Shadow is much happier these days. She will probably remain a carrier of the mites in small numbers (as most normal dogs are), and we will try to minimize stressful events in her life that might get her resistance down. Motherhood is out of the question for her, as she would likely relapse, plus producing puppies with the same problem... plus she might lose her sweet, girlish figure.