She had been developing a bald ring around her left eye for about a week and it was worrying me, so I took her into the vet. She wasn't scratching it. It wasn't oozing anything. It wasn't swollen. Even so, I was still worried. If you enlarge the photo, and look carefully, you can kind of see it.
When the vet first saw it, he said he suspected that it was mange because of her age and the location of the balding. He said he would have to do a skin scraping diagnostic test to be sure, but because of its location around the eye that she would need to be under anesthetic. So we dropped her off so they could do the test and diagnosis, and it is in fact mange. I had all sorts of questions.
What is mange?
There are three types of mange. Macie has demodectic mange. It is caused by a mite. Many dogs have these mites, but the symptoms never appear.
How did she get it?
We don't know how she got it, but we're thinking that it might have something to do with her being a rescue pup.
Could we have prevented this?
No. It might be that her immune system is not as strong as it could be which allows the symptoms to appear. This type of mange usually appears in puppies about Macie's age.
Is it contagious?
No, not the kind she has. Thank goodness because the worst kind of mange is contagious to both people and other dogs. Winnie can't get it. People can't get it.
Is she going to be okay?
Yes. In fact, for many dogs, you don't have to treat it and the symptoms clear up in about 3 months. However, that is not an option for me and I cannot just do nothing, so she is taking a medication called Ivermectin. It can have averse effects, so she will be increasing her dosage over time. (Much like many of the meds her momma has been on over the last year!) She will take the medication for nearly 2 months.
When I first heard the word mange, I got really nervous. Now that I understand what it is a bit more, I feel better about it. I am worried about people being freaked out about being around her when there's really not any reason for it. I also feel bad for my mom who is going to have to administer her the medication while we're on vacation later this month.
Also, she's back in the protective cone. The skin scraping they did to her eye is kind of like a cut. They said to make sure she didn't scratch at it, and even as Adam was talking with the vet, she started scratching at it and made it worse. So not only is she a mangy mutt, but she's also a cone head again.
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