scabies

Question
Recently my sister was diagnosed with scabies.  I do not live with her but we were away together several weeks ago.  I am just now starting to develop a slight rash.  I am going to treat it with elimite and will follow up in 7 days.  I am concerned about my 2 dogs who sleep with me.  Can they catch this from me?  They are both itching more than usual, I know this is allergy season and they are sensitive to that, but it seems worse then usual.  HELP ... if they can catch it from me, what can I do to help them?  I know that canine scabies are supposed to be different than human.. is that true? HELP

Answer
I believe that it is the same mite on dogs and people.  Scabies is highly contagious, so your dogs could get it from you.  If your dogs are itchy, they may have scabies and you would not know it.  That could also be where you got it. We routinely treat all itchy dogs for sarcoptic mites even though we do not see the mites. Have them treated with a shot of Ivermectin and an insecticidal dip indicated for mites.to be sure that their itching is not from scabies mites.