October 19, 2017

White Dog was standing in front of the full length mirror that hangs on the inside of the closet door. She was studying her furs. I scooped her up in my arms. "Sweet girl, you need not worry. YoYoMa and Nilla have other issues that made this possible. Their immune systems are broken; Yo because of his IMHA and Nilla because she is very old and frail."

This morning I drew Nilla close to me to check out what I thought was a smudge of dirt on her side. As I stroked it, clumps of hair came off attached to strange debris at the hair follicles. Ultimately a red patch of about 6"x4" was revealed. All of the White Dog Army was pushed from the room. "Better safe until we know what this is," I told them. And to Nilla, "Don't worry Baby Girl, it looks like we can fix this."

Now, I admit I am a total science geek and DO have a microscope in my office. While Steve looked closely at the furs, I did a quick skin scraping and looked under the lens. What I saw would require a call to Dr. Julia, and some treatment but was not life threatening.

I gathered each of the WDA one-by-one into the office to do a check. Only YoYoMa had similar patches in two places, his chest and right whither.

It was Red (Demodetic) Mange. Demodectic mange, sometimes just called "demodex" or "red mange", is the most common form of mange in dogs. It is caused by the Demodex canis, a parasite that lives in the hair follicles of dogs. Under the microscope, this mite is shaped like a cigar with eight legs. As long as the body's immune system is functioning properly, these mites cause no harm. Our wonderful vet's #1, Cindy confirmed that all normal dogs (and many humans) have a few of these mites on their skin. As long as the body's immune system is functioning properly, these mites cause no harm. But of course Yo and Nilla have immune systems that are not all right.

Demodectic mange may occur in older dogs because function of the immune system often declines with age. Dogs who have immune suppression due to illness or certain medications are also candidates for demodectic mange. Red mange is not contagious to other animals or humans. Surprisingly, a dog with red mange usually does not itch severely, even though it loses hair in patches. It is called "red" mange because it leaves the skin red and irritated.

The spots on both Nilla and YoYoMa were carefully washed with a medicated shampoo which should do the trick. As an extra precaution, Cindy advised us to once a week for the next month thoroughly wash the areas with a diluted lemon juice rinse. And of course we are to be on the alert for new patches occurring. If the the disease becomes more than localized we will need to consider a full body dip. 

We very closely examined Stormer and Benson, both also with compromised systems and found nothing. The younger and healthier members of the WDA all appeared to be fine enough to complain mightily about the indignity of the exam.

White Dog sighed in relief and then went into leader mode, making sure that all lined up for exams and brushings. Then she reminded Steve to sterilize all of the combs and brushes used...just to be safe.  Yo and Nilla were none the worse for their ordeal but both now sport bald patches.

Nilla was too shy to be photographed in this state, but it looks like she has a "window" on her side into her body. WD cautioned that ANY pup caught teasing her would have to face the wrath of the Queen.