About three months ago my pup, Kato, showed symptoms of what was thought to be demodex. The vet took four seperate scrapings but nothing showed up. That is common from my understanding of the problem. We treated with goodwin ointment with little to no change. We went back to vet, more scrapings, and again no signs of the mite. I seriously considered neutering the pup by this point. But vet recommended Ivermectin for 30 days to see if it cleared up the problem, if it was demodex. After 30 days, the problem has not cleared up. Kato has a habit of rubbing his muzzle across the carpeting, and now we are beginning to wonder if his problems could be allergies. The hair loss and redness is located around the muzzle by his whiskers and the bottom of his lips. Not sure if you call them lips on a dog? But he scratches and rubs his muzzle almost constantly. How can I be sure it is not demodex? We have already ruled out ringworm and sarcoptic mange. I don't want to keep medicating him for something he may not even have.

Hard to diagnose this without seeing it. I will say sometimes the demodex mite may hide in a layer of the skin where it's hard to find during skin scrapings. With the follow up skin scraps you've had to still not get anything along with the ivermectin it may in fact be allergies.

I had this issue with a dog I recently got where she had some spots scratched off near the muzzle and one spot near her rear and her entire belly had spots on it where she scratched the "living daylights" out of it

All said and done, her issue was a allergy that lead to a bacterial infection that we treated.

The food she was on from the previous owner was CRAP so I kept her on what I feed the other dogs (Solid Gold/Chicken Soup), treated the areas she scratched with an antibiotic and supplemented her food with Fish Oil (Omega 3/6) along with Coconut Oil.

No problems since then

Oh the past owner noted it was "common for her". Well it's uncommon now.

So try your alternative here in attemptin to treat the allergies and see what results you get

GOOD LUCK <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I am really feeling that this has to be allergies. At about 3 months, he had a lump on the top of his head. Turned out to be some kind of skin infection. He looked pretty funny with a big bald spot. He has also had one nasty ear infection in the past. What food would be best to try to avoid more problems? Originally we had him on Flint River, since that was about the only thing my other dog would eat. It was just too much for him, and caused the runs. Both dogs eat Canidae and do well on it.

My girl developed demodex at 6 months. Started with a spot the size of a nickel on her inner forearm. Then another on her paw and one by her eye. Goodwinol ointment did clear it up. She never had any itching though. Can't remember if itching was a symptom or not. Is your pup sneezing or anything? One of my guys has allergies in the summer and sneezes alot. For some reason, it doesn't sound like demodex to me. Just a guess. Good luck!

I have found what works best on one dog may be horrible to another dog so there's no dog food that 100% of people can say "it works".

What I will say is many that are doing the raw diet attest to the fact that their dogs have less ailiments such as allergies, ear infections, etc when using raw.

Before going raw, read the articles here and elsewhere and educated yourself on it first. There's also some kibble dog out there close to raw that I have entertain with great results (i.e. Innova's Evo)

Perhaps your vet may rule out demodex and determine it's a food allergy. Perhaps you may want a second vet opinion? At least juggle those notions

Nancy

I have a gold retr. that has severe allergies. You need to have him tested & see what he's allergic to & then feed to reduce syptoms if he has food allergies. On the other hand if these are airborne allergies you can give him shots but do not expect miracles but will probably help over time. Sorry no shots for food allergies must conform to a special diet which in this situation would be a great time for a raw diet.
Good Luck
You will need it along with a lot of patience

He does not sneeze, but he sure scratches alot. Trying to keep his nails filed so he doesn't scratch the skin off his muzzle. He suffers from dry skin which is just adding to the problem. The raw diet is something I have considered, but not sure yet. I am leary of it because Kato has a tendency to inhale his food. Back when he was about 10 weeks old, he tried to swallow my daughter's hamster whole. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> I guess the best thing would be to get a second opinion and/or allergy testing and go from there?

My dog had both demodex and allergies. The demodex has cleared up with ivermectin, but it took much longer than 30 days. He was on it for six months. The allergies did not show up until later and he now gets shots once a week. As far as the demodex, the skin scrapping did not show anything until about the third scrapping. He was about 8 months old we he was diagnosed. He had the same symptoms as you describe. The other place I would look to see symptoms is between his toes. In my case, and according to my vet who deals with this a lot (he is a specialist with allergies and skin issues with the University of Pennsylvania) dogs with Demodex also show a lot of redness in between there toes and typically this is not a place that becomes irritated with normal allergies. This was my experience with it. Also note, that if it is demodex, be patience. It can be a long process to eliminate it.

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I am really feeling that this has to be allergies. At about 3 months, he had a lump on the top of his head. Turned out to be some kind of skin infection. He looked pretty funny with a big bald spot. He has also had one nasty ear infection in the past. What food would be best to try to avoid more problems? Originally we had him on Flint River, since that was about the only thing my other dog would eat. It was just too much for him, and caused the runs. Both dogs eat Canidae and do well on it.

Canidae has alfalfa in it, which a lot of dogs are sensitive to. I had a female GSD that would scratch for 3 days if given even a few kibbles of Candiae by accident.

I would get your dog on a GRAIN free diet and no supplements to see if the scratching stops or subsided. Raw is best but if you can't do that then at least go for grain free.

Cindy might just be right about that raw food diet as I started feeding my allergy_ridden retriever that miracle diet 2 wks. ago. I will tell you I have spent loads of money for shots & steroids all sorts of different expensive commercial foods with not much success.

I am not saying he is totally cured but is doing much better than he has in a long time & he is totally off the steroids which were losing their effect as he had been on them so long