Posted by Ashley (Pasadena, Ca) on 02/10/2013
★★★★★
My 2 year old rescue (approximately 50 lbs, very lean and muscular) started showing sign of sarcoptic mange. He is generally a very itchy guy (lots of seasonal allergy issues) but this was different. He was itching specifically on paws, fleshy underside, and most of all his neck. He began to rapidly lose hair, about a 5 inch wide by 3 inch all patch of his neck was now bare, red and irritated. He is a very wild and anxious rescue dog, despite a lot of training and work with me, and he does NOT do well at the vet. In addition I prefer natural remedies and I hate the idea of using anything harsh or caustic on his already sensitive skin. I decided to try a mixture of natural approaches i'd read about online before resorting to a vet visit.
Diet: I already feed him a natural high protein locally produced kibble, but I began adding 1 tbsp of kelp powder to each feeding. I also added 3 pumps of salmon oil, and half a capsule of zinc (emptied the powder onto his kibble). Lastly I ground up 1 tbsp of flax seed (also known as flax meal but I prefer to grind my own). I mixed all of this together in his meals (I feed him twice per day). He loved the taste and ate it all... I also supplemented in 1/2 can of pure pumpkin about 2x per week for a natural source of zinc (and unrelated digestive aid).
Topical: I mixed 2 drops lavender oil with about 1 tbsp of vitamin E oil. I applied usually 2x per day. This worked well on his neck to soothe the inflamed skin and itching, but I couldn't use it on other parts of his body due to incessant licking.
His mange did not seem to improve in the first week, in fact it seemed to worsen at only a slightly less rapid rate. As I started to despair and think about bringing him into the vet, around day 10 he started to get better. We continued this regimen for about 10 more days (nearly 3 weeks in total). His itching stopped and he began to slowly grow the hair back. It actually has taken him almost 4 months to grow all the hair back and even still, it is thinner than the other unaffected hair.
We had one other small bout maybe 6 months later, he was itchier than usual and losing hair on his neck again. I started adding zinc for maybe one week, and the itching stopped and hair grew back! It really is a wonderful natural way to help your pet, but may not work in extreme cases.
Hope this is helpful for those who are leery of treatments that seem potentially harsh like boric acid or conventional dips and sprays.
Posted by Lynn W (San Antonio, Texas) on 10/18/2009
★★★★★
Our dog Coco who had this when we got her home. She was still a pup. She got this from the mother dog. Coco has a very delicate system. We first tried the vet's way with a dip that stunk like rotten eggs. We brought her home and tried that until the dips irritated her skin and she ran a tempature. We put Coco on local antibiotics one for her face and an oral one. The doctor put her on Ivermectin and it worked for a while until she started to throw up the meds. This is what is used in heart worm medication. Also the vet told us not to give her Ivermectin at the same time as we gave her heart worm meds. When we had stopped the Ivermectin within 3 months the buggers came back in full force. So, we did some research holitically that landed us here on this website. We went to a local pet feed store. They have a lot of holistic foods etc. At the store, I found a local over the counter medicine for sarcoptic mange for dogs and horses. It has linseed oil, pine tree oil and sulfur. It has a smell to it but not as bad as the other stuff from the vet. Asked if it worked and one customer tried it and it worked. I cleaned her with a well known flea and tick shampoo which had Pyrethrin in it. This one product had the highest Pyrethrin in it out of all the others. Pyrethrin is a natural insecticide. We wet her down scrubbed & washed her in our tub with warm water with the flea and tick shampoo and left it on her for about 7 minutes. Her scabs came off. We dried her off. I took a face sponge for make-up put the mange medicine on her. Around her face we used vegetable oil. It took a bottle of that mange medicine. After, I put the mange medicine we rubbed her with vegetable oil. I also used the spray vegetable oil which works well for "Hot Spots". We did this for about 3 weeks. Then we changed our regime and first washed her with some of our vet's shampoo for dogs for delicate skin. It is is a Hypo-Allergenic Shampoo. Then we still used the flea and tick shampoo. Then we stopped the mange lotion and put a biological natural flea and dog spray on her. It has avocado and other natural stuff for their skin as well as something for fleas & ticks. This worked well on her. She's an indoor dog. So far so good. Her hair is growing back and she's happy and playing. We also placed her on a dog food that has Salmon in it for her skin. We also put an insecticide for the yard to kill bugs, fleas, ticks. etc. We washed her bedding and cleaned our carpet with a carpet shampoo. I would suggest covering your furniture and pillows because of the mange medicine. This process takes about three weeks to a month. Ths skin will dry and flake off and the new skin comes in. I hope this helps.
