Mange Causes, Treatment And Symptoms

Mange is a skin disease that affects animals, that has many forms including sarcoptic and follicular mange. Both are caused by small mites that dig into the skin, sweat glands and hairs that causes skin irritation and the loss of hair.

Sarcoptic is also called scabies or scab, and causes deep irritation that requires repeating a dip or spray with an insecticide to rid the body of the bugs. Many times a secondary bacterial infection is caused by the mites and must be treated with antibiotics.

This condition is contagious and can also be called acariasis. The most commonly affected animals are dogs and cats that are domestic, or wild animals such as wolves and livestock. The most common cases are found in dogs.

Canine mange includes demodectic and sarcoptic cases. Red or demodectic is due to the immune system shutting down because so many mites are biting and the body cannot fight them off. Sarcoptic is known also as scabies, and is extremely contagious to humans and other animals.

Some of the signs or symptoms include a severe itch, yellowing and crusting on the skin that can later be infected as well as hair loss in patches. Crusts in and around the joints and ears that spread to other areas of the body are commonly seen because of the scratching and constant biting.

Diagnosis is done by taking scrapings of dry skin from the body and looking at them microscopically for mite bugs. The diagnosis can be hard due to a dog biting the mites away from their skin, so they may not be present in the scrapings. General diagnosis is done based on the symptoms in most cases.

Treatments for this condition starts at home. The bedding must be thrown out or cleaned and the affected dog has to stay away from the bedding and other animals. Sulfurated lime is commonly used in a rinse that is used weekly to rid the bugs. Selamectin is a prescription that is a drip on medication that is put directly onto the skin. Ivermectin is not supposed to be used for this purpose, but is commonly given orally for anywhere from 2 weeks to a month.

It is important to know you should always seek a veterinarian office for advice prior to treating your animal at home, as some medications that work on specific breeds do not work with others and could cause more harm than good.