Ah Foxy, sorry to hear about the poor wee ham lugged one

I hope he gets better soon - at least you know what's wrong with him now (if that's any consolation)

Well you mustn't Foxy coz you did absolutely everything possible to help his condition, I know that for sure, and it was down to your vet to diagnose exactly what his problem was, not you!

Funnilly enough, I thought about this before when my friend's lab was scratching his ears like mad and she was told he had that sarcoptic mange and I did wonder then about your Benji, but I thought he had the same problem as Georgie with his itchiness. Anyway, onwards and upwards now mate, he's all sorted!

i KNOW i'M COMING IN ON THE END OF THIS SARCOPTIC MANGE STORY BUT i HAVE A FEW COMMENTS.
hOW IS THE LIL DOG DOING WITH THIS PRESCRIBES TREATMENT?
I DID SOME STUDIES ON MANGE WHEN i WAS AT THE SHELTER HELPING VETS.
I DO WANT TO SHARE THIS BECAUSE i NEVER HEARD OF DIAGNOSING SARCOPTIC WITH A BLOODTEST, AND i HAVE NEVER HEARD OF TREATING IT WITH CORDISONES.
THE DISEASE IS CAUSED BY A MICROSCOPIC SPIDERLIKE INSECT CALLED A MITE. tHE DIAGNOSIS MUST BE MADE BY EXAMINING SKIN SCRAPINGS UNDER A MICROSCOPE, OR IN DIFFICULT CASES BY A SKIN BIOPSY.
tHE INTENSE ITCHING IS CAUSED BY FEMALE MITES TUNNELING A FEW MILLIMETERS UNDER THE SKIN TO LAY EGGS. MITE EGGS HATCH IN 3-10 DAYS, THE WHOLE CYCLE TAKES 17-21 DAYS. ONCE THE EGGS HATCH AND SOON TURN INTO ADULTS AND START LAYING EGGS THEMSELVES.THE MITES PREFER THE SKIN OF THE EARS, HOCKS FACE,HAIRLOSS AND CRUSTS CAN BE SEEN, THE INTENSE SCRATCHING CAUSE THE BREAKS AND DRAINAGE COMES OUT. IF YOUR DOG HAS SCABIES, YOU CAN CONTACT IT AND THE FIRST SIGN WILL BE SCRATCHING AT THE MID BELT SECTION OF YOUR BODY.MITES CAN LIVE UP TO 3 WEEKS ON HUMAN SKIN.
TREATMENT FOR DOG~AT LEAST 3 DIPS OF LIME SULPHER OR PARAMITE, SPACED 2 WEES APART. PARAMITE IS STINKY BUT WORKS GREAT. CORTISONE CAN ONLY HELP RELEIVE THE ITCH`NOT KILL THE MITE.

:smt010 Hi Foxy, Sorry to hear about Benji - poor love. At least now he can be treated easily and should improve rapidly.
Big hugs.

Hi Doglady No the vet wasn't treating the Sarcoptic mange with Steroids he had put him on steroids because he has always thought it was an allergy that he was treating and I have tried different foods with no success. He has all year round scratching not just in the summer when the pollen is high so that resulted in every couple of months going to the vet and he would always prescrible steroids which would help a little bit but not stop the scratching entirely.

When we went two weeks ago Benji had scratched his skin and made it bleed and very sore close to his eyes so I told the vet I was getting desperate now and was there ANYTHING else he could do - I felt near to tears at the time He went out the room and came back and said bring him in tomorrow for 8 in the morning and we will do a scrape on his ears. We couldnt get him in for 8 because I don't drive and my boyfriend starts work at 7.30am so we ended up leaving him at the vets for the night so he could do the scrape the following morning. They phoned about 1 to say he could come home and they had found nothing on the scrape. They prescribed him a month of Prednisolone tablets and said they had done a blood test for Sarcoptes and sent it to the lab.

The blood test came back this Wednesday and Benji had tested positive for Sarcoptes which is sarcoptic mange. We went to the vets on Wednesday night and he gave us 3 viles of Stronghold which is how they treat sarcoptic mange at our vets. I put it on the back of his neck as soon as we got home on Wednesday night and was told by the vet to cut Benji down to 1 5mg Prednisolone tablet a day instead of the 2 oriiginally prescribed the week before. We have to go back a week on Wednesday for a check up to see how he is doing. Hope this explains things more

Also none of us has any itching or strange rashes so I don't think it has passed on to us.

Hi Foxy, glad to hear you have got a diagnosis at last but i must say i would be a bit disappointed with the vet as i would have thought that would have been the first thing your vet would have tested for all that time ago as that is what happened with Bandit as it is not hard to detect....Cheers...Ian..

Thanks Ian, I was going to pm you and tell you but forgot Yes I can't understand why they didn't do the test ages ago and the receptionist said the same when she found out how long we had been struggling with him. I still am not completely convinced that the stronghold can cure it completely because 48 hours later he is still scratching a bit Do you think he should be completely cured by now if it was sarcoptic mange?

Pleased you have a diagnosis at last foxy, it can be caught from any animal carrying the mite at anytime unlike demodectic mange that is usually only transferred at birth or shortly after and will stay with the dog all it's life and only cause trouble if the dogs immunity is not working properly, like a sick dog or one who is on steroids or whos hormonal system is faulty, think this may be what is worrying you but sarcoptic mange is different and the usual cause of infection is the urban fox. It should respond to Stronghold but it is easy to become reinfected and it can pass to humans although in my experience it is usually only the children in the family.

Thanks Jackie Yes I am really pleased that at least something showed up in the blood test because it gave me some hope at last He is still scratching a little bit though but I suppose he has a lot of mites if they have been there and breeding for 18 months or so. Perhaps the second dose in 2 weeks might help more

Hi Foxy, i don't really know too much about sarcoptic mange apart from what others have said. The stronghold treatment should cure it though and i know you need to give two consecutive treatments a month apart. When you put the stronghold on just allow it to dry before the kids play with Benji.I still can't believe the vet did'nt test for this before as it could have been cleared up months ago...Anyway at least you know the problem now and it can be treated relatively easy.....Cheers...Ian..