***Mange*** In my home I now have two dogs, with two different types of mange. Sarcoptic & Demodex. They are treated VERY differently. Sarcoptic mange is easy & cheap to treat but is very contagious. Demodex mange is difficult & expensive to properly treat but not contagious. As most of you know, my own beloved boy Yoda has been battling DEMODEX mange for 8 months now. After getting better, we did skin scrapes in November which proved negative to mites. Two negative tests must be done 1 month apart before its safe to finally stop treatment. Sadly, his December tests came back positive - so weve had to continue treatment. As Mr Magoo was coming into my care, it was imperative that my owns dogs all be treated with ADVANTAGE flea product to ensure they did not catch his SARCOPTIC mange. Sadly, I treated Yoda also. Some of you will remember Raspberry who was given a certain flea treatment whilst still on medication for Demodex mange. Within 30 mins she started having shocking seizures & was immediately rushed into the specialist hospital. $4,000 later, Raspberry luckily survived. This could very well have been my own dog Yoda. As I balance all the medications, remember the instructions, ensure I dont mix things up & remember, remember, remember for the continuously different dogs constantly arriving into my home like a revolving door - can sometimes be very hard. By bringing in a new foster dog & treating him with something so simple - I could of easily have lost my own beloved dog. Thankfully Yoda truly is scary & even the mix of medication inside him was way too scared to react. But the sad thing is..... Now that hes been treated with a monthly flea product that cannot be mixed with his DEMODEX mange medication - I cannot treat his mange. And so we watch him closely for signs that things might regress. And if they do - I will be heartbroken. Because Ive just spent 8 months treating my poor old man. As foster carers - these are sometimes the risks/mistakes/sacrifices we make on our own beloved pets.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 10:34:06 +0000
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