A friend of mine has a dog that has a health issue.....her vet says it has a suppressed immune system but he has done no blood work...how can she be sure the vet is correct? She thinks the problems started when her dog was stung and had a severe reaction.....hives etc.....the dog is fine now but she was curious as to how the vet thinks its an immune system problem? Its been months since the sting/hives....the vet would not do vaccinations or anything at this time. Should she get a second opinion. She says the bill was 150....without any vaccines. Just treatment for the skin issue that the other vet claims to ve demodex? The only tests were a skin scarping and treatment for the demodex.....no blood work or anything else.....

I seen pics of the dog during the reaction...reminded me of the persons pug that was posted on here a while back....the face all swollen etc....then the hives all over the body. hairloss within 2 days....

Well if it is indeed mange and not hives from a bee sting then yes, it is from a surpressed immune system.

Usually around 6 months of age is when demodex will pop up for the first time if its going to. Puberty is a big stress for puppies.

If you do a search for demodectic mange (generalized and localized) you can find a lot of great articles.

The vet bill on the other hand, is a different topic! Thats way too much for a skin scraping and a bottle or shot of ivomec.

Ok, just put two and two together. The bee sting would have been the stressor that caused the outbreak of mange. Mange is on all dogs, but when a stressor weakens the immune system the dogs immune system is unable to fight off the overgrowth of mange, which leads to hair loss etc. This is a genetic issue and needs to be pulled from all breeding lines of Pugs and Bulldogs.

Ive ran into my share of problems with this and placed all accordingly.

I do agree with the vet bill being a bit high. I also think she said the pup was about 12/14 weeks at the time this happened. And yes this pup is to be spayed (reguardless) but I guess its just the principle of this vet not really doing much to come to this conclusion.

All it takes to find the mite is a skin scraping. The vet did everything correctly. Edited to add: Your friend is lucky the vet didnt milk her for her money, a lot of vets who arent that knowledgable could have missed the signs and done a lot more testing to come to the same conclusion. Shes lucky to have such a good vet.

If the dog is a pet, then the demodex outbreak should be treated and if lucky your friend will never have another outbreak. It usually just pops up in adolecent puppies.

HOLY COW! I did a search on this and found all sorts of websites. I sent her the links. It got a bit confusing all the "localised and generalized" mumbo jumbo. I guess according to the websites she could have let the pup go and see if it corrected itself (localised) but that sounds uncomfortabley cruel. makes me itch just thinking about it.

I went through hell with Maddie off and on for a few years, and yes it was COSTLY! She too diagnosed with demodex. Scrapings, bloodwork, shampoos, patch testing, we did it all!!!!
But that is one of our responsibilities as a pet owner.
I spent thousands of dollars of testing to find it was basically yeast!!!
Diet and a product call Nzymes helped the problem. MM

Ive always remember Maddies situation MM, I recommend Nzymes to anyone with coat issues esp. the yeast.

I meant to say maddies case has always been in the back of my mind and the reason I know recommend the nzymes.

yes, demodex is fairly common, unfortunately. The only time I would let a case go would be if I were looking to keep a particular dog for breeding. In this case you have to see if the immune system will improve to fight off the mite. If its a pet its always wise to treat it and get it over with. Ivomec is the best option, its the quickest, safest and most affordable. Plus she can self treat it. Ivomec is available at most feed stores and is a cattle wormer, using it for demodex is off label. Ivomec is the main ingredient in heartworm preventatives, so if she wants, she can get revolution and treat with that instead. If shes going to use the 1% Ivomec to treat, I believe its .25 CC's daily for a month. For one of my dogs the vet had me giving .5 CC's daily, but that just seems like overkill.

quote:

Originally posted by crittermom:
HOLY COW! I did a search on this and found all sorts of websites. I sent her the links. It got a bit confusing all the "localised and generalized" mumbo jumbo. I guess according to the websites she could have let the pup go and see if it corrected itself (localised) but that sounds uncomfortabley cruel. makes me itch just thinking about it.

The vet at the University of Illinois said Maddie never had demodex it was always yeast. She added most vets see a hair problem and claim it to be demodex. MM

Im sure it is yeast MM, bulldogs are notorious for yeasty infections, mainly in the ears.

Marpan I had a case of localized that I let go and let the bitch rid herself of it. She later developed it at age 2 after her first litter. I ended up spaying her thinking it was an immune issue. I wonder if I did the right thing. If anything I feel better safe than sorry. Hers never did spread to the whole body, just one tiny patch.