urgent help/info please

I had to take my westie Bobby to the vet about afew weeks ago as the skin on his feet is so bad at the minute, the worst it's ever been, his feet are badly swollen,red,weeping and driving him mad with itch. The vet thought it might be mite's and took a skin sample and give me some Clindacyl Tablets to give him twice a day, anyway afew days later the results came back with no mite's showing up. Then Yesterday i had to take Bobby back to the vets yesterday as his feet are no better and the vet wanted to do another skin test but wanted to go deeper so they wanted me to bring him back today so that they could knock him out while they did this. This time however they said mite's showed up and they wanted to put him on different tablets called Cephorum i've to give him them twice a day and they give him a steroid injection but then they said they wanted to give him some thing else but that it's not licensed for use in dogs *ALARM BELLS STARTED TO RING, AS IT MUST NOT BE LICENSED FOR A REASON THEN RIGHT?* it's ONLY FOR USE IN SHEEP , It's called ORAMEC DRENCH, AND WANT'S HIM ON IT FOR 3-4MONTHS MAYBE LONGER DEPENDS ON HOW IT WORKS. Anyway i asked if it was safe and about side affects the vet said it had been used on dogs before and it was safe but the side affects could make him be sick but thats all they really said. So when i went to collect Bobby i had to sign a sheet of paper saying i was aware of this med ORAMEC DRENCH was not ment for dogs and was a med for sheep.
I signed the paper but wasn't happy about giving Bobby this so i thought i would check it on the internet before i give him any and i'm so glad i did, i knew i had a bad feeling about this as soon as the vet said it's not licensed to use on dogs and i was right to be because i came across this
on two websites
( HYPERDRUG.COM) > IT SHOULD NOT BE USED IN OTHER SPECIES, AS SEVERE ADVERSE REACTIONS INCLUDING FATALITIES IN DOGS, MAY OCCUR. AND THE OTHER WEBSITE
(BESTPETPHARMACY) > IT HAS BEEN FORMULATED SPECIFICALLY SHEEP/CATTLE AND IT SHOULD NOT BE USED IN OTHER SPECIES, AS SEVERE ADVERSE REACTIONS INCLUDING FATALITIES IN DOG, MAY OCCUR.

I AM SO SO HORRIFIED ABOUT THIS AND DO NOT WANT TO GIVE BOBBY A DROP OF THIS STUFF, I DON'T WANT TO GIVE HIM SOMETHING HARMFUL. WHAT DO I DO? I'M SO UPSET AND WORRIED ABOUT IT THAT I CAN HARDLY TYPE THIS ALL OUT SO I'M VERY SORRY IF MY TYPING IS HARD TO READ/UNDERSTAND AND SPELLING IS WRONG.

PLEASE CAN ANYONE GIVE ME ANY INFO OR ADVICE. I WAS GOING TO PHONE THE VETS TOMORROW, BUT DON'T KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO.

I think you're right to be concerned. Do more research before you give him any drops. I do know that most drugs are tested on a wide section of species. They will keep upping the dose when testing a drug until something adverse happens - usually till the animal dies. Hence lables such as 'potentially fatal to dogs'. If you give a dog enough of anything it will die. So don't totally dismiss the drug he's been prescribed.
1st things 1st what type of mite did they find?
In my opinion all dogs & creatures - humans included will have some kind of parasite/mite on them. Could only be a passing hitchhiker from a walk or a small amount generally. So the problem might not be mites.
Personal experiences from Westies (admittedly a Westie x JRT who is my step daughters). He had a similar sounding problem with his feet. We got it sorted completely in about 1 week by finding a food which has a very low wheat/grain content. What is he fed on at the moment?
I'll see if I can find the drug you mentioned & do a bit of research for you.

Hilary

ps get a second opinion from another vet.

I would also get the opinion of another vet.

I took one of my afghans to a vet (not my usual vet as I couldn't get there at that time) with a foot problem, he was sore between the toes, they diagnosed hook worm, I didn't agree with this and managed to get to my normal vet who confirmed my thoughts that it was because his feet weren't drying out properly after his walks because of the hair and he just prescribed some cream.

I wouldn't use anything that is considered dangerous, if it is mites there must be something else they can use.

I'd be worried too. I agree with the others, seek a second opinion from another vet and see what they say. As an alternative I have read that Thornit Ear Powder sprinkled onto the feet helps get rid of the mites. That may be worth a try.
Becky

Hi,

I've heard the same about the ear powder but don't have any personal experience of this myself.

I agree with other - please get qa second opinion. YOu can go back to you usual vet surgery but see someone else or go to a different surgery altogether.

Also, as stated before, don't totally dismiss the idea of this unlicensed drug but at the same time, dn't give it to your dog if you're not 100% happy with it.

Plenty of dogs get mites and I've never heard of an unlicensed sheep drug being given to solve the problem. There are enough meds out there for dogs that should be tried first.

Additionally, be careful about where you do your research. Absoluely anyone can put nfo onto the internet so amke sure your sources are reliable and then you weon't go far wrong.

Good luck and I hope it clears up for him soon.

Laura xx

Oh another thing did your vet say what kind of mites they were as some of the usual spot on treatments can work. When my dogs get harvest mites I use frontline spray on their feet.
Becky

No they never said and i suppose i never thought to ask i just thought mite's are mite's didn't think much of that. I agree not to dismiss a drug but they should have told me more facts and maybe give me a print out of information about this drug considering i had to sign paperwork for this drug to be aloud to be given to him. I'm not willing to give bobby something just so they can test it out on dogs, and if that the case theY should have informed me what they where doing.
The vet hasn't given me enough info about it having been used before on dogs to make me completely happy about giving it to him. All they vet said when i asked about it was that yes it had been used on dogs before ( DIDN'T SAY HOW THAT WAS DONE,HOW IT WORKED ON THEM, OR HOW IF HAS CAUSED LONG TERM DAMAGE TO THEM OR EVEN BEEN FATAL).
I also agree there must be something else they could/can give to help with this. Not alot of info on the internet i could find on this drug but what i did find kept saying nearly the same stuff as i posted earlier snip bit's from two of these websites about the info they included for the drug.

I need as much advice/help on this as i can get.
THANK YOU FOR THE ADVICE/HELP ALREADY GIVEN, I WILL PHONE THE VET AND ASK ABOUT THE MITE'S AND MORE ABOUT THE DRUG, I'LL LET YOU ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.

Ok i've phoned the vet's and i'm waiting on the vet to call me back to talk about this ORAMEC DRENCH. Anyway i've been doing more research on the internet about it and have found some more stuff. The active ingredient in the ORAMEC DRENCH is IVERMECTIN and i've found some links, so hopefully i will be able to post these right so they work. I hope i'm not doing anything wrong with posting these links and if i have i've not ment to i'm just trying to find out information and get some advice.

http://www.vmd.gov.uk/General/Adverse/current.htm

http://www.noah.co.uk/issues/briefingdoc/bd24.pdf

It doesn't sound good to me.

I almost forgot i found another bit of info about this Oramec Drench stuff on a farming website > http://www.farmrite.co.uk/product.ds2?p=101051
and it says it's a wormer, and does not control external parasites. So i don't understand if the vet say's it mite's way give me a wormer. I would have thought mite's would be a external parasite, but then i'm not a vet/doctor.

Personally, I wouldn't use any drug that wasn't licensed on any of my dogs. Okay, if they had a life-threatening illness and the unlicensed drug was a last-ditch attempt, maybe I'd consider it but, from your posts, it sounds like this is a whole different scenario. I feel there must be other things to try before resorting to unlicensed drugs. From your posts, I am getting that you have only tried one other medication to rid the dog of the problem. There must be other licensed drugs to try, before an unlicensed one is necessary. Hope you are able to get something sorted out for the poor dog Your Vet must be able to prescribe something else, at least for now.

I agree with the last post.....no way would I give my dogs this drug.
Thornits powder is good to treat the feet as well as ears, and it's a completely natural product.
The easiest way is to sprinkle a little of the powder into a small plastic bag.....I use a freezer bag....pop the dogs paw in and just shiggle it about so the powder is dispersed on the paw. Good luck with Bobby and I hope his problems are resolved soon.