Dog Health
Mange
This article is one of a great many articles written by Dennis Fisher about a very wide variety of subjects concerning different dogs, such as obedience training, breeding, showing, health matters, training problems and other subjects. All these articles appear on Dennis Fisher's websites. Visit http://www.allaboutgermanshepherddogs.com the site that has been set up specifically for German Shepherd Dog enthusiasts, or http://www.freedogadvice.com if you interested in a breed other than German Shepherd Dogs
There
are basically two forms of mange -
Demodectic manage and Sarcoptic Mange – that are completely different.
Demodectic mange is not contagious. It
thought that it is a condition that pups get from the Dam within a few days
after birth. It is very unlikely
for older animals to have demodectic mange.
Signs of demodectic mange in a pup are
small bad spots on the body, usually on the face, around the eyes, or the
corners of the mouth. They do not
appear to be itchy and do not seem to trouble the pup. If
the small bad spots
only appear on very small areas, there is
not much reason for concern. The condition usually improves after a time
and no medication is necessary.
However, if the condition is not
localized and is spread over wide areas of the body then it will obviously be
necessary to consult a Veterinarian, who can determine whether it is in fact
demodectic mange by examining
a skin scraping under a
microscope.
Effective medication is obtainable from
the Veterinarian and treatment is
continued over a fairly lengthy period, depending on the severity of the case.