Hi. Looking to see who among you has any experience with generalized Demodex mange and how your dog(s) fared with it and any treatments you tried. Sorry for the long post.

Here's the scoop: My newest pup is now about a year old (we are guessing). He was adopted as an abandoned stray as a pup. He's probably pit mixed with who-knows-what. About 50 lbs. He's a feisty, happy, intelligent boy and otherwise fit as a fiddle.

Last summer he had a small patch of hair loss on his back. Vet did a few tests...a skin scraping and a culture, but couldn't find any evidence of any mites. We didn't treat the spot, and within a month or two the hair grew back. I chalked it up to a simple case of puppy Demodex (I've seen that before, but it was never a big enough issue to treat since they usually resolve on their own anyway.) This spot never itched or bothered him, and it simply went away on its own without me doing anything.

Fast forward a few months and a new spot appeared on the base of his tail. I noticed it, but since he wasn't scratching it, and it didn't look inflamed, I did nothing. The spot had noticeable hair loss but wasn't completely “bald.” It was a about the size of a quarter, with well defined margins. Nearly identical to the spot on his back that cleared up on its own before.

Two months later, that spot has not cleared, and he's getting more of them. Another spot lower on the tail, on one hip, and on the top of his head. So of course I take him to the vet for a check. We (vet and I) both think Demodex...and she does a scraping. No mites. She scrapes three more areas. No mites. Nothing shows up under the Wood's Lamp (a simple test for fungus). She plucks hairs for a culture. Nothing. There's no itching, no skin redness, no other symptoms. The lesions don't look like anything metabolic...or like anything else except Demodex.

So the vet and I are both a little stumped...but this doesn’t seem like it could be anything else. There's some literature on “occult” presentations of demodicosis, where no mites are found. Shar Peis and pits are apparently among the breeds this sometimes happens in.

So, yesterday my pup started on a course of oral ivermectin liquid. The dose gradually increases over several weeks, and he's expected to be on it for a couple of months (at least.) I'm also started giving him an antioxidant vitamin tablet as a way to perhaps boost his immune system. He's already on a well-balanced raw diet and takes daily fish oil and vit. E. He's in no discomfort, thankfully. He just looks a bit mangy.

So I guess what I'm looking for from you guys is whether any of you have had a dog with a generalized case of Demodex?...did you do the long-term ivomec treatment?...Did it resolve?....How long did it take?...Do you have any other advice? I think the most frustrating part of this is the lack of evidence of mites in the skin scrapings. It feels a little bit like last year when we battled fleas that I never saw. (But thankfully, that has all resolved. No more fleas or flea symptoms on any dogs.)

I've always treated demodex with Borax and hydrogen peroxide and have always been sucessful. I've also always just self diagnosed mange by the look of it...

Latest case was last August with Mitzi, a patch on her face and her hock. Dabbed on the mixture once a day and new hairs started appearring after about 10 days.

Continued with treatment another week, just to be sure.

I am one, however, to always try a simple and as chemical free a remedy as possible, first.

I've read online about that Borax and hydrogen peroxide trick. So it worked for you? Hm. I may give that a go as well...

If it works, maybe we can discontinue this daily ivermec much sooner. Thanks.

I too have used the borax and peroxide bath that you leave on and had success getting rid of it when my female was a young pup.

One thing you might consider is this:
http://leerburg.com/invigor.htm

The ingredients in Invigor are good immune boosters, Kelp, Hawthorne Berry, Astragalus, Watercress and Sprirulina.

I just started to add this to both my dogs diet to help with keeping their immune systems strong.

As I think back over the years, I've used it maybe 6 times on 4 different dogs. The way I see it is that these mites live on the dog all the time - they are only causing trouble because of some other stress on the dogs immune system whether it be poor diet, stressful situation ( in Mitzi's case we were just back from a month long boat trip and then went to a 3 day dog show. Overload!), or simply being a puppy, whatever.
Piling on an internal insecticide seems to me like a drastic, and even more stress causing solution. The borax and HP simply kills the mites in the follicles right were they are concentrated and doing the most damage, but in the meantime the physical and mental health of the dog needs to be addressed. Also, it doesn't hurt, these are not very harsh ingredients. One of Mitzi's patches was right by her eye, so I used extra caution in applying.
We missed going to the MInPin National Specialty though! Stupid mange

4 months ago I posted about Cinco asking questions about Demodex.

He's been on daily ivermectin since then with no improvement. Long story short, our regular vet referred us to a derm vet for a second set of eyes on it, because she was stumped. Turns out it wasn't demodex after all. No mites were ever found in any scrapings, but neither the vet nor I could think of anything else it could be, so we treated for mange.

It seems as if Cinco has a benign case of alopecia. Bald spots that happen "just because," not unlike pattern baldness in humans. This derm vet is trying him on melatonin supplements that may help regrow hair. The pills are cheap and harmless, so we're giving that a try. If that doesn't work, then he'll just be a little patchy. It's purely cosmetic, and doesn't bother him any.

So anyway. Further proof that a trip to a derm vet sooner would have saved us 4 months of unnecessary treatment for the wrong thing. Lesson learned.

Wow - how weird. Glad you got it figured out!

FWIW, I also successfully used Borax/peroxide with Kenzi - I just applied it a couple times to the affected spots and the hair grew back fairly quickly. I didn't want to go the ivermectin route since it is a fairly high dose used to treat (much higher that HW prevention if I remember correctly) and the possibility of ivermectin sensitivity in herding breeds.

 Quote: Tracy Collins

It seems as if Cinco has a benign case of alopecia. Bald spots that happen "just because," not unlike pattern baldness in humans. This derm vet is trying him on melatonin supplements that may help regrow hair. The pills are cheap and harmless, so we're giving that a try. If that doesn't work, then he'll just be a little patchy. It's purely cosmetic, and doesn't bother him any.

Tracy, what color is Cinco? It's a little hard to tell from your sig pic. I ask because there is a condition well-known in the Doberman breed called color dilution alopecia. Basically, black or red (brown) Dobes can have a dilution gene which makes a black coat "blue" and a red coat "fawn." These dogs sometimes develop thin and/or patchy coats.

I know there are other breeds that can have the "blue" color, though I'm not familiar with whether color dilution alopecia occurs with them. I'm just kind of thinking out loud, if he has the blue coloring, and maybe has a little Dobe in him or some other breed that can get CDA, maybe that's the cause of it.

Tracy we use a product called Grown and Shine. We grow fabulous hair on show cattle. You can read the success stories on their website. It has been used on dogs diagnosed with alopecia. Good luck!

Usually the color dilution alopecia has a symmetrical pattern. Also the hair that is present is rather brittle in the thin areas.
I like Lime Sulfur dip for demodex. An old remedy, it is the bomb for resistant ringworm and mites IME.