Dermatitis

Hi,

I have a one year old OES who has been suffering terribly with dermatitis for at least 5 months now. So far he has only been getting this under his chin where the folds of skin are pronounced and so the bacteria is able to grow rapidly in the moist conditions.

During this period he has been visiting the vet on almost a weekly basis and just as we think we are on top of it, it reappears with a vengeance. This last bout has been particularly nasty and covers his entire chin from the bottom of his lips to the top of his neck. My vet is getting extremely concerned about this and is going to contact dermatologists to see if there are any new drugs that they can recommend. Other than that and keeping him on a combination of antibiotics, steroid cream and various other tinctures she is suggesting that major surgery might be the next thing that we have to consider.

I am really worried about all of this. I have the most wonderful dog and he is clearly distressed and in pain at the moment. I want what is best for him but I don’t want to have him subjected to major surgery until absolutely all avenues have been exhausted.

Has anyone else experienced this with their oes? And have you been able to find a solution without having to subject your dog to surgery? Is anyone familiar with this type of surgery where the folds of skin around the neck are tightened?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Louise
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Hi,
What type of a bowls are you using? In cats, particularly Persians, there is skin condition called "black chin disease". Research has shown that it is severely aggravated by plastic bowls. Use either heavy crockery or stainless steel and make sure you wash your bowls after every use. Good luck! I have gone through this with one of my Himalayan cats and it was a very frustrating, long haul before we got it under control with a combination of antibiotics, steroids constantly drying the area offand getting rid of all plastic bowls.
Kathie
Hi Kathie,

I have two stainless steel food bowls which I rotate for cleaning. I did, however, recently purchase one of the Doggit water fountains which is made of plastic. I bought it as I thought it might stop his chin getting so wet.

Louise
I have just got back from visiting my little boy at the vets. He is in quite a bad state now. He has been diagnosed with Demodectic Mange which has become quite severe very quickly and he has sores in quite a few areas of the body.

Does anyone have anymore information on this. The most alarming thing that I picked up on was that it can be fatal.

I have to phone the vets tomorrow to see how he is doing, and they may let me bring him home if he is responding well to treatment.
I hope your boy is better Please keep us posted. Just google it and there are tons of info.
My Liberty belle has demodectic mange,never heard about it being fatal.It is not to easy to treat.Had to give her meds daily for 200 days straight if miss a day start over.
Thanks for the replies. It helps to know of someone else who has experienced the same thing.

I guess the vets have to warn of the worst case scenario and I think that she is just really concerned how aggressive it is this time and how it is affecting him. He is very down and showing no interest in anything at all at the moment. When we went to the vets yesterday morning, he came face to face with another sheepie for the first time ever and he paid her no attention whatsoever....so unlike him :(

I will keep you informed of how he is doing.

Thank you for caring :)
How is your sheepie doing?? I do hope better :D
Now that he is home he seems to be doing much better. I did have to rush him back to the vets yesterday but I think I was just being an over anxious parent :D

He's due back there again this evening and he will see the same vet that has been treating him throughout the condition so I should get a better idea of how he is doing.

He is eating normally, playing and demanding walks...I am happy :)
Hi, I just wanted to post an update on Harvey and to see if anyone else has experienced the same.

Harvey is still suffering from demodex and he has now reached the age of 2. From what I have read and understand from my vet it is quite uncommon for adult dogs to suffer from this condition as their immune system matures.

A couple of months back we had thought we were over it when he had 2 skin scrapes in a row which only showed signs of dead mites. His treatment was changed from the weekly aludex baths to monthly spot on Promeris. We have been really happy with how he has been progressing over these months. His fur is pretty much back to normal and he only has one sore spot on his neck. The itching has almost disappeared entirely.

On Friday he was back at the vets for a check up and skin scrape. The results were positive and around 5 live mites were found :( On Monday he went back in for an Aludex bath. Since bringing him home we are quite worried about him as he is itching and licking as if he has reverted several months. We have put a call in with our vet but unfortunately she is out sick at the moment, so I am now waiting for the main vet to call back.

Has anyone else experienced prolonged dermodectic mange in their OES? I have been told that with OES it can be much more difficult to control.

I feel so bad for my little boy that for the majority of his life he has been sick :(
Hi I am sorry to hear about Harvey and I hope he does get better soon.

My Mom has adopted 2 dogs that had Demodetic manage and both were cured but it did take a long time. Milo is doing great. We think he is part OES or Bearded Collie mixed with something else. Winston was a huge Great Pyrenees/OES that was 140lbs and had the mange in the same areas that Harvey has it -- his chin and in all the skin folds around his neck. He eventually was cured but had to go in for checkups and went to the Dermatologist pretty often for other skin related problems. Just a few months ago, my Mom lost Winston due to kidney stones that were unrelated to the mange.

If you would like, you can PM and I can explain what my Mom and the great rescue folks did for both Winston and Milo. Or I can give you my Mom's number and she can give you more detail. Below is a link to see some pictures of what Milo looked like before and after. His name was Dunstan prior to my Mom adopting him. Pictures 1 and 2 are the before and pictures 19 and 20 are the after ones.

http://www.chron.com/channel/petshousto ... story.html

I hope this helps.

Michelle
Hi Michelle,

Thank you so much for replying :)

Its really good to hear that he will hopefully get over this in the long run then.

I'm so sorry about the loss of Winston. It really is so hard to get over the loss of a loved pet. Harvey and Bruno (our Min Pin) are really like our babies, and we would be devestated if anything were to happen to either of them. My thoughts are with your mom.

I had a look at the pictures and Milo looks absolutely stunning now. There are many heartwarming stories/pictures there!

I am going to send you a PM if you don't mind. I'm in the UK so its probably best to PM rather than call - knowing me I would probably end up calling in the middle of the night!

Thanks again,
Louise
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