Scabies?

As some may have read in other posts, we shaved Gus for the first time last Sunday. Since then he's been acting kinda strange, shaking his head a lot, and he's very itchy. I also noticed this morning that he has a scab like area on the tip of one of his ears. It's possible I knicked him with the clippers and it's just a scab, but in reading it sounds like it could be scabies?? He doesn't like us touching the spot on his ear, so it must irritate him, and he's definitely been scratching WAY more than usual. I have a vet appointment set for tomorrow morning, but I was wondering what others have found scabies to manifest itself as? It seems to be a very quick onset of the itchiness and I was attributing it to his haircut, but the scab on his ear makes me think maybe something else is going on. I read about the other type of mites- demodex (?) and he doesn't seem to be exhibiting those symptoms, more intense itching and we noticed no hair loss (aside from his haircut :) )
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How long have you been noticing these symptoms? I
ask because the hair loss may not occur right away.
My brother is a WCO here in PA and their dog got
some kind of mites that usually only come from wild
animals. He unknowingly brought them home and they
went through a few months of treatments till they found
one that worked. The symptoms were the same, head
shaking (to the point of swollen ears) scratching, but no
hair loss initially, and there was nothing visible on the ears.
This could be totally unrelated though.

Could be many things, although I would suspect some kind
of mite.
Good luck at the vet!
Shellie
The symptoms have been going on for only a couple of days, which is why I initially thought he was just weirded out by being naked! He always has itched a little, but this is like trying to eat his leg off itching, and he also has been chewing on his feet, which he rarely does. I guess we'll find out tomorrow what the problem is. It's hard when he's normally so hairy- I don't know if some of these things could have already been there, or if he's causing them due to scratching or what! Silly dog. I hope he feels better soon, he's breaking my heart.
Did you get to the vet? I am so curious if you found out
what is going on.
Can you give us an update?

Shellie
It appears I am an overreactive Sheepie Mom- who knew :)

Friday night I got home from work and gave Gus a bath with some anti-itch shampoo and conditioner. He wasn't pleased, but the bath reved him up and at least he tore around the house like he usually does :) The downfall was that it made the scabs on his ears soft, and in shaking his head he bumped them enough that they started bleeding which freaked me out. Our friend though was smart enough to be logical and say his ears are hitting his dog tags on his collar. Off went the collar and he hasn't A) broken his scabs open or B) been shaking his head early as much. I think it was cyclical... he was shaking, hitting his ears on his collar which would make them hurt, so he'd shake more, hit them more, etc. It also explains why it seems the scabs were getting bigger each day.

Gus went to the vet on Saturday a.m. to get shots, and I pestered the Vet about the other stuff too. They swabbed his ears and said his ears are so clean they could barely get anything out to swab. No mites, no ear infection, his ears are just fine. I showed her his little spots where he's been chewing on himself and she said that the fact they are completely limited to the areas where he can reach leads her to believe they're all self inflicted (as opposed to a rash or allergic reaction or something like that). She also said that he has clearly been scratching at his ears and the scabs feel only like scabs... nothing to be concerned about at this point.

He has been much less itchy lately and he hasn't been chewing on himself hardly at all. I think the bath and the hair growth (his hair grows FAST!) must be helping. He hasn't been wearing his collar and his head shaking has slowed down quite a bit. His ears don't seem to be getting worse, but the scabs are still there. It'll take some time for them to go away completley I'm sure. I likely nicked his ear which started the shaking and as I said earlier, his dog tags were hitting his ears so it hurt.

Looks like we're okay! No scabies it seems- thank GOD! Now if we can just get him to stop farting. Gross.
I am so glad he is feeling better. Good to know
there isn't anything lurking in there.

Shellie
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