[Rylee]

I think my puppy has mites, i have posted a thread about this already and a few people agreed with me that it did sound like mites, even though a vet has said it's not and just given a normal ear cleaner which has done no good, as soon as you clean the ears they then get dirty again.

It's not just her ears anyway, it's also her feet and around her nose, she scratches her ear so could easily transfer them to her feet then she bites her feet so could have transferred them to her nose area. Also she nibbles at her legs too.

I have got some Thornit and started using that this morning, if things are no better i am going to take her to the vets thursday.

Does anyone know what they are likely to do to diagnose the mites, will they just look or do a skin scrape? and then if it is mites i have read they prescribe advocate? is this right? and does anyone know how much this costs? a skin scrape and the advocate? Or the cost of anything else they may do? I know every vet will be slightly different but i just want an idea of a rough cost.

 

[Sled dog hotel]

I think my puppy has mites, i have posted a thread about this already and a few people agreed with me that it did sound like mites, even though a vet has said it's not and just given a normal ear cleaner which has done no good, as soon as you clean the ears they then get dirty again.

It's not just her ears anyway, it's also her feet and around her nose, she scratches her ear so could easily transfer them to her feet then she bites her feet so could have transferred them to her nose area. Also she nibbles at her legs too.

I have got some Thornit and started using that this morning, if things are no better i am going to take her to the vets thursday.

Does anyone know what they are likely to do to diagnose the mites, will they just look or do a skin scrape? and then if it is mites i have read they prescribe advocate? is this right? and does anyone know how much this costs? a skin scrape and the advocate? Or the cost of anything else they may do? I know every vet will be slightly different but i just want an idea of a rough cost.

They may want to do skin deep skin scrapes but even these are not always conslusive especially with sarcoptic mites only about 20/50% of mites are often diagnosed this way many are missed. My vet because of this doesnt usually even bother and goes by clinical signs.

Advocate spot on does both demodex and sarcoptic mites and ear mites as well. The old fashioned treatment for demodex and sarcoptic was aludex baths that you mixed with water and then had to bath and let dry naturally.
Its still going and is still used but with the spot ons now available they are usually first choice now.

There is also a blood test for sarcoptic mites looking for sarcoptic antibodies, this though you have to wait for a build up of the anitbodies so if the sarcoptic hasnt been suspected for I think its about 8 weeks then its often inconclusive or has to be re-done anyway.

 

[Sled dog hotel]

You could try the ear pinna reflex, sometimes with sarcoptic, if you gently scratch the ears and the ear margins the back leg will go in a scratching motion, its not always conclusive but you often see it with sarcoptic mites.

 

[Rylee]

just tried the ear pinna reflex and she didn't scratch at all, she just looked at me! I did it with both ears.

 

[Sled dog hotel]

just tried the ear pinna reflex and she didn't scratch at all, she just looked at me! I did it with both ears.

Doesnt always work, a members dog had bad sarcoptic and dont think his did it either, his was missed by about 4 vets too and took over 8mths for them to figure out that was the problem.

 

[Rylee]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed it can be sorted out quickly either by the thornit or a visit to the vets, i hate seeing her scratch, especially when it makes her cry, i don't like seeing her in pain.

 

[Maisy's Mummy]

hiya, our dog has just finished treatment for sarcoptic mites. This is what it cost us:
Microbiology skin scape £48.95 (was inconclusive so waste of money)
Stronghold was around £35 (cant find invoice but sure it was around that price)
He was given stronghold every 2 weeks for 6 weeks and all the itching has stopped

 

[leannelatty]

Sled Dog is talking about me! My dog Basil had sarcoptic mites from the day we picked him up at 14weeks until he was 11.5 months old. He was seen but about 6 vets in total, skin scrapes were done, his diet was changed, he was given steroids antihistimines and antibiotics. Nothing worked. Skin scrapes are not near enough to conclusive enough - not even sure why they bother with it! Basil lost lots and lots of hair and looked like a mistrested dog. We couldnt leave him for more than 5 minutes without him scratching himself until he bled!

When he was finally diagnosed he was given stronghold and aludex baths (it stinks!) and within 6 weeks his hair had returned and the scratching was down to nothing. Id advise checking out how much the vets charge for the stronghold and aludex (if prescribed) and how much a prescription from your vet would be as its all cheaper online.

Here is the thread about how bad he was

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-chat/252826-what-difference-6-weeks-makes-pics.html

 

[Rylee]

hiya, our dog has just finished treatment for sarcoptic mites. This is what it cost us:
Microbiology skin scape £48.95 (was inconclusive so waste of money)
Stronghold was around £35 (cant find invoice but sure it was around that price)
He was given stronghold every 2 weeks for 6 weeks and all the itching has stopped

Thanks for the prices, it's good to get a bit of an idea of what to expect.

The thornit seems to be working i think, the ears look to be getting cleaner so i'm keeping my fingers crossed if not i think i will try and avoid a skin scrape, it does seem like it is pointless if a lot of the time it doesn't show up the problem. I'm going to make my decision tomorrow morning as to if i should take her to vets or not.

 

[Rylee]

I went to the vets in the end who gave me advocate for ear mites and said if mites where anywhere else on her body this would kill them too.

She had her first dose almost 2 weeks ago and the vet said if i think it needs doing again to give her a second dose after 2 weeks, which will be this thursday. The scratching of her ears which was making her cry in pain stopped immediately and her left ear which was the cleanest of them seems to be free of any dirt. The right ear was awful, and i could really see how dirty it was when the vet let me look through that thing with the light they use to look deep into her ear. Since using the advocate i have been putting drops in every 2 days and cleaning out the dirt. This is still coming out of the right ear.

Am i right in assuming this is normal? and it has to all work it's way out? Am i doing the right things cleaning the ears every 2 days? The vet didn't mention cleaning them at all but it seems to make sense to get all the dirt out.

Like i said the itching has completely stopped so i am assuming the mites have gone however i am still going to give the second lot of advocate on thursday, does this sound like a good idea?

 

[Sled dog hotel]

I went to the vets in the end who gave me advocate for ear mites and said if mites where anywhere else on her body this would kill them too.

She had her first dose almost 2 weeks ago and the vet said if i think it needs doing again to give her a second dose after 2 weeks, which will be this thursday. The scratching of her ears which was making her cry in pain stopped immediately and her left ear which was the cleanest of them seems to be free of any dirt. The right ear was awful, and i could really see how dirty it was when the vet let me look through that thing with the light they use to look deep into her ear. Since using the advocate i have been putting drops in every 2 days and cleaning out the dirt. This is still coming out of the right ear.

Am i right in assuming this is normal? and it has to all work it's way out? Am i doing the right things cleaning the ears every 2 days? The vet didn't mention cleaning them at all but it seems to make sense to get all the dirt out.

Like i said the itching has completely stopped so i am assuming the mites have gone however i am still going to give the second lot of advocate on thursday, does this sound like a good idea?

Sounds like it was mites then very probably and the advocate is doing its job. You do get horrible brown/blackish gunge with ear mites, they also live on the wax and debris produced by the ears as well, so cleaning away the debris certainly doesnt hurt as well, although as they get cleaner and cleaner you can probably ease up and just check them and do a maintenance clean if needed every so often. When Ive used canaural ear drops for mites I was also given epiotic cleaner as well and had to do that inbetween putting the canaural in to kill the mites.

Advocate as well as killing earmites (that can actually be present on the body as well as ears) it also kills sarcoptic and demodex skin mites too and fleas.

Without checking I think the ear mite life cycle is either 3/4 weeks, and I know with drops that you usually have to carry on for longer after to make sure, so a second dose of advocate probably wont hurt to make sure they have completely been got rid of, but just double check with the vet, people often use advocate as a routine flea treatment anyway but usually on a monthly basis, so just check the frequency to re apply, a phone call to the surgery should confirm it.

One ear might have had a worse infestation then the other, hence the lesser gunge in one and why its resolved quicker, if however it continues, then you might need to pop her back, as although the advocate will kill mites and the cleaner will get rid of debris and gunge, if there is any say bacterial or fungal infection present as well it wont do that and she will likely need antibiotic ear drops or anti fungal eardrops as well, the canaural actually does all three mites, fungal and bacterial infections plus has an anti inflamatory effect too for sore and itchy eats to ease it. In fact canural used to be the first thing of choice pre spot ons.

 

[Rylee]

Thank you for confirming that is does sound like it's working. I have stopped cleaning the left ear but still checking it and cleaning the right ear which is getting less and less gunk in so it does seem like it's working.

If the mite cycle is 3 or 4 weeks i will give the spot on again on thursday as the vet said this was fine if it hadn't fully cleared up.

Thank you for the advise on bacterial infections and Canural treating these, if she does need to go back to the vets, which is looking unlikely at the minute, then i like to be informed for when they start offering me treatments.