My 6 month old pup has a spot above her eyebrow which at first looked like it was from banging into something. Within the next week she was missing hair in that area & sometimes I can feel little scabs. The vet did a skin scraping & said its skin mites which every dog is born with, but when they get run down their body can't fight them off. (My pup also had a urinary tract infection.)The vet prescribed an ointment called goodwinol & since using it, the spot seems to be getting bigger. The vet says the mites are extremely hard to get rid of & to keep using the ointment at night for at least 2 weeks along with wiping the area in the morning with an oxy 10 pad (10% benzoyal peroxide). I'm concerned since I don't see any improvement (its been 1 week). I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone with experience or knowledge of skin mites &/or goodwinol. Thanks

Donna, I had only one experience with mite problems in a GSD and it wasn't pretty. The pups first year, I noticed mild outbreaks and treated it as you are. As time progressed, it irrupted into horrible scabbing and swelling on the face and feet. The veterinary conscensus was a genetic intolerance and immune deficiency for the mites, which are present in all dogs. Another dog from the same litter had it as well. Generally, in healthy animals, these mites are controlled by the immune system. In my dogs case, she could not fight them off. Unfortunatly, there was nothing my vets were able to do. She was suffering greatly and I did what had to be done.

I really hope this is not your case. This was many years ago, so perhaps... I would pay very close attention to it, and seek special care for the immune system.Topical treatments may give some relief, but not offer a solution. Holistic veterinarians may have some possible immune building ideas. Or maybe you will find it is a simple outbreak, that will be under control through your vets treatment plan.

I had a pup with the same problem. She came with a UTI at 8 weeks...she was right around the same age (6 months), and I noticed bald spots on her muzzle. Brought her into the vet, did a scraping, and it was demodex aka demodedic mange. There are a couple of threads on here about it.

If you spay the pup, that is supposed to help, because the hormones will often make it worse. Also, try not to stress her out too much...if she is very stressed in the future, for example, maybe, if you moved to a new home, she might get another outbreak even if she's been clear for ages.

My pup was supposed to be "breed quality" but she was FAR from it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> She was ugly and ungainly and imagine this, the breeder disappeared not long after we got her. I didn't want another pet, and she had zero personality (if she'd grown on me, I probably would have have kept her), so I gave her to the breeder of my other dog (at a 100% loss to me), who took her in and through a rescue group got her mange cleared up and placed her in a home. As far as I know she's been good since, I talked to the owners a couple of times and they were very happy with her. I just hope she doesn't turn out to have other health problems. But they're aware of her previous problem, and are willing to deal with a lot.

Anyway, you'll probably have to treat this pretty agressively. My vet reccommended dips once or twice a week, plus topical ointment. It took months to totally clear up, and did get worse before it got better.

In some dogs, it gets totally out of control. But in many it can be controlled.

I did a quick search on google and came up with the following sites. I'm sure you can find tons more, but this is just a few links.

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

http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dogdmite.html

http://www.lbah.com/Canine/demodex.htm

Good luck with your pup!

You want to avoid the dips. They are nasty, toxic, and in general not a good idea if you can avoid it. I agree that the dog should be spayed. In my experience, demodex is usually the tip of the iceberg. Start giving high quality food and supplements to support the immune system, and try to prevent other immune system related problems.

Sometimes the hairs that haven't fallen out yet are brittle and will break when you rub in the cream. It looks like it is getting worse even though it isn't, so continue with the cream unless you see lots of bald spots.

I had a pup with demodex,and my vet gave me the goodwinol ointment and it did not work at all.I took my boy to another vet and we used the dip since it was just on the head we only put the dip their,the next day all the red skin went away i used the goodwinol for two weeks,and it got worse.If you don't want to try the dip you could try,Ivomec.Hope that helps.

If your pup only has the "localized" form of mange, you can get a collar called Preventic and it works pretty well in combo with immune system builders. If it has gone on for awhile, ask your vet about giving Ivomect(sp) orally. He will need to know your dogs weight for the correct dosage. This seems to work the best. The dip can take a toll on your dog And your wallet!