Hi Clarence

I am sorry to hear that your girl has this horrible mange. I've had dobies
for 26 years and it is the first time that I have ever come across it, although
apparently it is a problem in Dobies (and other breeds as well!!). It is
believed to be hereditary.

Have you had skin scrapping done to determine that it is definitely demodectic
mange......Have you had your girl's thyroid levels checked....Kai's were low and
he is on thyroid medication to try and boost his immune system.

I had managed to bring it under control three times before with a mixture of
different drugs and washes, but it would always come back if he got the
slightest bit "stressed" and the last bout there was nothing to have stressed
him...it just started....each new episode was much worse than the one before.

This time he would not stop scratching his face and his body and it was just
terrible - swollen and scabs totally covering three quarters of his face and you
could hardly see his eye from the swelling and scabs....there was nothing I
could do to stop him scratching or rubbing his face.....I was almost at the
stage of seriously thinking of putting him to sleep because nothing was working
anymore. If you had seen a photo, you would have thought he was a very poor dog
that lived on the streets rather than a very very much loved dobie boy.
Before I started this last treatment, the vet found over 10 mites on Kai's
skin scrapping and he said he just gave up counting so it was very bad. (in a
healthy dog you would be searching to even find one mite)

I live in Sydney, Australia . I go to the best vet clinic in NSW and the vet
there didn't have any more suggestions to try after it kept coming back. A new
vet came to work at clinic....he had been working up in the Northern Territory
(tropical type climate) and apparently it is quite a problem up there. He has
had fantastic success with a drug called Ivermectin which is in a product is
Ivomec - the antiparasitic injection for cattle. There are different Ivomec
products but it must be this particular one. You give it orally.

My boy is about 40kgs and I am giving him 2.5ml every day - for three months.
It tastes lousy and they hate it so I always quickly give him something tasty to
eat as soon as I have given it to him. He has been on it for nearly a month and
the difference is really amazing. I could not be more pleased....he has stopped
scratching, his face is healing and most of the scabs and sores have
gone......the hair is starting to grow back all over his body.

After three months of treatment, the vet will do a skin scraping to see if
there are still mites present and then again a month after that. The vet said
that up until now he has had 100% success rate but, as you know, there is never
a guarantee but so far it is a fantastic improvement.

It is much much cheaper to buy Ivomec on the internet or through a
agricultural produce store...my vet wanted to charge me A$900 for the drug!!!
but I could have bought it on the internet for A$260....I ended up buying it
through a agricultural produce store for A$180!!!!! - far cry from what the vet
wanted to charge me.

But I can't stress how important it is to speak to your vet, have a thyroid
test and skin scraping done and then get the right dosage prescribed for your
girl. It is a very potent drug, especially as you are giving it every day and
if you give too much (it is relevant to their body weight), you can kill her.
I measure it very carefully each day!!!!!! Ivermectin is the drug which is
used in worming and heartworm medication as well. If you google both Ivermectin
and Ivomec, there is lots of information on the internet.

A friend has used it on his working kelpie and it totally cured the problem.

My vet (and all the information on the internet) say that it is much easier to
get rid of DM in younger dogs......but when it appears in older dogs, it is
much much harder to cure ... so you have that big advantage as she is only 12
months. Apparently in the younger dogs, once it is cured, it normally stays
away.

Hope this helps. Let me know how you get on or if I can be of any more help
but please do not give the drug to her without getting your vet's advice on
dosage.

cheers
Julie

clarence <clarenceschwind@...> wrote:

Hi,

What did you find what really works, I have got the same problem with my
1 year old female doberman with mange and have tried different medicines
to no avail.

Clarence
--- In dobermaneuropeclub@..., julie parrott
<oxfordshipton@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Emma
>
> It might be worth asking your vet to check for demodectic
mange.....they take a skin scraping and it will tell immediately if that
is the problem. If it is, please let me know because I think I have
finally found a solution that works for older dogs. I have been trying
to clear it up on my 6 yo male dobie for two years now using different
prescribed drugs and washes and I've finally found something that is
working. It is caused when the dog's immune system is down for some
reason and the mites which live on every dog's coat and normally don't
cause a problem, multiply and the dog keeps scratching and scratching -
losing hair and if it continues,
>
> All the vets I have spoken to say that it is hereditary and it is
found in Dobermanns (and other breeds as well). My dobie boy had a
magnificent coat before the first outbreak. He got stressed when I went
overseas on holidays even though he stayed in his same environment ie at
home with the rest of the family.
>
> Let me know if the tests show that this is the problem.
> cheers
> Julie
>
> "ej.2411" ej.2411@... wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm a new member and i hoping that somebody can help me. I have a 2
> 1/2 year old female doberman and i've had her for just over a year.
> She was a rescue dog from wood green animal shelter. The shelter did
> their best to give us some history on her, but there is alot we still
> don't know. Not long after we got her she started getting small lumps
> all over her chest and some grew quite big. The vet removed them and
> they were just fatty lumps and she was given antibiotics. They cleared
> her skin up. She has always had dandruff and we've found that the very
> mild dandruff shampoos clear it up, but recently she has developed
> tiny blisters on her belly and at the top of her thighs.
> Is there a particular skin problem that most dobermans suffer with ?
> and if some what's the best way to treat it? At the moment the
> blisters aren't bothering her and i don't know if she's just allergic
> to something in the fields where she goes walking or if it is a more
> serious skin problem. If anybody has any ideas i would be most
> grateful.
> Emma
>
>
>
>
>
> Send instant messages to your online friends
http://au.messenger.yahoo.com
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>






---------------------------------
How would you spend $50,000 to create a more sustainable environment in
Australia? Go to Yahoo!7 Answers and share your idea.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]