Dog Mange

by Barb
(Bordentown nj)

Reader Question:Dog Mange Signs

I have a 10 month old, female golden retriever. We live on a small farm in New Jersey. I walk/run my dog (Princess) on my neighbor’s 400 acre farm almost daily. She loves it. We've had an enormous amount of rain for the past 4-5 month, so our walks are very muddy and have had flea issues for the past two summers.

I also have 2 cats that go outdoors. I rotate frontline and advantage on cats. I use frontline on the dog and use capstar at times for all of them. I comb the dog to get rid of fleas and to monitor them. I do wash Princess with flea shampoo after our walks and I vacuum often.

My main concern is that Princess has sores on her neck, under her ear, and one on her head. They have a scab on top and are red underneath. I noticed two on her head about 45 days ago and thought it was resolved but now they are back. No hair loss yet. It seems they occur where her hair is thick.

Is this mange, an allergy from fleas?

Thanks,

Barb

Vet Suggestion on Dog Mange

Hello Barb,

I’m afraid the list of potential causes for your puppy’s skin problems is quite long. Flea allergies are possible, although you seem to be doing a good job with flea control.

If your dog were my patient, I would first perform an exam, and if that didn’t lead to the answer, I’d follow up with a skin scraping to look for mange mites, cytology to rule out infection, and if those tests were negative, a fungal culture for ringworm.

Often, I will also just go ahead and treat for sarcoptic mange using Revolution since that disease, in comparison to demodectic mange, can be hard to diagnose with a skin scraping.

Best of luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM