Quote: Geneva Sieffert

We know for a fact that this was only brought on from the pregnancy, and that only, and the fact that it clearing up on its own as the pregnancy is almost over, says that it is all due to the hormone change during pregnancy.

Yes, all the sites I cited above mentioned that reproductive hormones in pregnant bitches can make it more difficult to control the mites. One said that pregnancy might be considered an issue with their immune system that can allow the mite to overproduce.

Unfortunately, none went on to clarify whether or not such an instance should be viewed as a mark against further breeding of the bitch or breeding of the pups.

I hope you will post back when you get info tomorrow. I'm really interested now!

I will, and thanks again.:-D

Connie,

Sorry it took so long to respond. They got their answer, they said that they were told that since it was only brought on by the pregnancy, and is clearing up on it's own without any treatment that the female should be fine to breed again. Since pregnancy affects the immune system, and that there should be no chance of it passing on. Thanks again for all the information. Take Care.:-)

Just two cents from someone who had a gsd puppy with demodex mange. She showed symptoms of the mange at about 16 weeks around her eye. The vet told me that she had gotten it from her mother and that they should not"ever" breed that female again. My pup eventually cleared up but I would never purchase a puppy from a bitch that had demodex. I realize the dilema you face with a nice dog but i think potential puppy owners should be informed of the possibility of mange....If in fact it is transferable to the litter. Connie? What do you think?

 Quote: lori gallo

Just two cents from someone who had a gsd puppy with demodex mange. She showed symptoms of the mange at about 16 weeks around her eye. The vet told me that she had gotten it from her mother and that they should not"ever" breed that female again. My pup eventually cleared up but I would never purchase a puppy from a bitch that had demodex. I realize the dilema you face with a nice dog but i think potential puppy owners should be informed of the possibility of mange....If in fact it is transferable to the litter. ....

QUOTE: Virtually every mother carries and transfers mites to her puppies. Most puppies are immune to the mite's effects and display no clinical signs or lesions. A few are not immune and it is these that develop into full-blown cases of mange. END
from http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1589&articleid=729
(and other authoritative sites)

Yes, the mites come from the mother.... and they are transferred to "most puppies, in most litters." But most pups have immunospecific protection against the effects of the mite.

In other words, from everything I read about Demodex lately (which by now is thousands of words :grin, the fact that the mother had the mites present and they were transferred to the pup means pretty much nothing.

So did your vet mean that the mother had lesions? Or maybe that the mother transferred the lack of immune response to the pup? Maybe he meant one of those two things.

Because
QUOTE: Many veterinarians believe that all dogs have small numbers of Demodex mites residing in the skin and that having a few mites is normal and common. It is when immune related, or nutritional or environmental stresses impact the dog that visible skin lesions from mite infestations become noticeable. END

from http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/dem.html

Connie,
Thanks for all the research. Sorry for the delay in responding. It seems then that the mother may have transferred a poor immune response to the pup. It was several years ago and I did not follow up with the breeder or persue info from littermates. my bad. This pup was started on raw about the same time that the demodex appeared but I still wonder if there's any info on how often it is transferred to puppies if a bitch has lesions during the pregnancy. This mother did not have lesions when I saw her.