Dog with Mange

Evilution

Hey all, I have a dog, a Shih tzu (Jake), and he has a serious case of mange. Firstly, I don't know how he got it but he's had it now for over a month. I went to a vet just before xmas to get some treatment but that vet was absolutely incompetent and just gave me a shampoo of sorts to wash him in (not knowing that the dog had mange). This obviously didn't work so we're now bringing him to another vet. Before the first visit to this vet I went on the web and looked up the problem and found that it could be this thing called, and forgive the spelling, scarocoptic mange. I printed this info off for my mum to bring the vet when she went. When mum got back from the vet she said that he didn't read the thing but gave her some medication for the dog which we very quickly realised didn't work. What I had found out on the web pointed to the fact that skin and blood samples etc should be taken from the dog and analysed so when mum went back to the vet she insisted on this. The vet took the samples (butchering my dogs neck in the process :mad: ) and sent them to the fukking UK!!! for analysis. 1 week later the results come back and its what I had believed the problem to be in the beginning, the scarocoptic mange, but a very chronic version of it. Any and all medication we've been giving the dog thus far hasn't worked. Mum is due to take the dog to the veterinary clinic in UCD tomorrow for a checkup but I'm at my wits end with this. The dog is in a fair bit of discomfort and he looks awful (despite me washing him in a 'special' shampoo, which improves him only temporarily).
Has anyone had any experience of this before and if so what did you do??? I'm seriously pi$$ed off with these so-called vets and they're delay in working out what the problem was. If I told you all the full story (including the vets not cleaning their tables after other animals had been on them) you'd be equally sickened. Its at the stage now where my parents are considering having him put to sleep and I just feel so helpless. There has to be some treatment for this condition.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

jinxycat

hey, eh dunno if this will help coz tbh i can't remember the name of the stuff but it's used for washing sheep. i remember been told to use that when we found a stray dog with mange, unforunately we never had a chance to try it coz some else took the dog then but they got him treated.

swoofer

in my previous life, ie when I was very young I used to walk greyhounds, rub them down etc and when they got mange, and bear in mind I quoting from memory but when I read ur post I automatically thought of old engine oil as the treatment I used and it worked. this was easy to come by as it was on a farm and was kept over from tractors to light fires etc. And another trick was to use diesel oil on cows hoofs when they got diseased. Go to a garage and I am sure they will let u have the used engine oil. NB it must be used.

Its worth a try. And I am not joking.

gb--

swoofer

hi, just did a quicvk search on the oil thingy and found this.

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Zoo/1224/motoroil.html

may not be a good idea after all but we did muzzle the dogs while treatinmg them. It is about 40 years ago but it is also a horrible disease.

gb-

Sigma Force

I would sugget finding another vet..which area of the country are u in and I might be able to suggest one that knows what they are doing. The poor dog :-(

Another treatment that will bring relief is Neem oil it's an essential oil and is excellent for many skin problems esp. parasitic ones. You can get it in the health food shops. You need to dilute it with something like vegetable oil or almon oil, I am unsure of the ratio of Neem to base oil but I do know that Neem oil is excellent. You leave it soak into the dogs skin for a few minutes and then shampoo off. There are also shampoos with neem oil in them.

Here is a link for you to read.


http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/72005.htm&word=sarcoptic%2cmange

Neem oil is a safe to use and a natural product, but dilute it. This is a guess and you may need to confirm it with someone else but about 4 teaspoons of base oil (like almond oil) to 1 teaspoon of Neem oil.