My dog with demodex has dry skin and won't eat. What should I do?

HI and thank you for using PetCoach. Poor Tyson. I would recommend taking Tyson back to his veterinarian for a recheck. Often dogs with Demodex may develop secondary skin infections that require antibiotics to treat as well as treating the mites. There are some oral medications that may be used to treat Demodex mange as well, however I am not sure if they are availabe in your country. I would ask your veterinarian if there are any other options to treat Tyson if he is not improving. This article may give you a bit more information about Demodectic mange. https://www.vin.com/veterinarypartner/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951505

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Tyson. Poor guy! He does look uncomfortable. I would continue everything you are doing treatment wise. Is the benzoyl peroxide cream a shampoo? If not, I would a shampoo as bathing can help. This helps to flush the mites out of the hair follicles. He will likely need an antibiotic as I suspect that he has developed a secondary bacterial infection. This is common. This should help the skin heal as the mites are treated. Good luck!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Judging from the photos, it appears that the demodex is becoming less severe and the head is in the process of healing with all of the scabs present. If the hair does not grow back and it seems like the demodex is still there, I would try other medications such as Fluralaner (Bravecto) or Afoxolaner (Nexgard). If Tyson is not on an antibiotic right now, it might help him as well as washing him in a Benzoyl Peroxide shampoo twice weekly. I hope this helps and that Tyson recovers fully soon! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Poor Tyson looks like he is quite uncomfortable dealing with this skin infection. He likely needs a course of an antibiotic as well as the Ivermectin to treat this infection and it may take a week or so to see improvement. His right eye is closed and appears that there may be some discharge as well. I would recommend discussing with your vet getting an oral antibiotic and an antibiotic eye drop for him. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please remember to rate this answer as helpful or not. Thank you!

The skin does look very sore and inflammed and in my opinion Tyson is receiving the right treatment. Amitraz is the medication that kills the parasite (so it is very important to carry on treatment as prescribed). As bacterial skin infection commonly complicates demodicosis your dog is also on antibiotic (Ceporex). Tyson skin will heal eventually but this is going to be a long process (2-3 months). Once fully healed, demodecosis could return but in many caoses it doesn't come back once the dog gets older.

Poor thing! It sounds like his immune system is really compromised. I would recommend an antibiotic for the pyoderma as well as a probiotic. Often skin health is linked to gut health and when you use antibiotics for certain infections you kill some good bacteria as well which makes taking a probiotic important. I would also recommend oral Nexguard or Bravecto for the demodex. Although Amitraz has long been used, I think your dogs reaction is secondary to the effects of Amitraz on the natural flora of his skin. It is important with disorders of the immune system to ensure he is on a good, high quality diet, and resides in a low stress environment. I hope this helps!

Hi there! I'm so sorry to hear about Ceaser's demodex infection. What a lousy parasite to be infected with! Once the infection clears, Ceaser should slowly return back to his normal condition. I am not sure how old he is, but if he is a puppy (less than 12 months old), be sure to feed him large breed puppy food to be sure he gets all of the nutrients he needs. He should get better after a few weeks on the proper food once the infection clears. If he is older and came down with a demodex infectiont, it is important to make sure he is healthy otherwise. We will sometimes see demodex infections in older dogs that have another illness that weakens the immune system and allows the parasite to overproduce. If you take Ceaser to his veterinarian again, they may want to run some tests like bloodwork to check for concurrent illnesses. In addition, a really easy test to always run if a dog is having trouble keeping weight on, or gaining weight, is a fecal test. This will test a dog's stool for parasites, like worms, that may cause the dog to have trouble gaining weight, or keeping weight on. In addition, you can get Ceaser on an omega 3 fatty acid supplement to help with the skin and fur quality. This will help his coat become shiny again. I would contact Ceaser's veterinarian for recommendations for a supplement since I'm not familiar with the products in you area. I hope you found this answer helpful. Best of luck!!!