The causes of canine demodicosis:

1. Canine Demodex is translucent and milky white, with a long and narrow body like a worm, with a body length of 0.25-0.3 mm and a width of about 0.04 mm. From the appearance, it can It is divided into three parts: front, middle and back.
2. All the development processes of Demodex canis are carried out on the dog body, including eggs, larvae, nymphs, and adults, of which nymphs have three stages.
3. Canine Demodex mostly parasitizes in the upper part of the hair follicles of the affected skin, and then moves to the bottom, and rarely parasitizes in the sebaceous glands. In addition, in addition to parasitizing hair follicles, they can also live in dog tissues and lymph nodes, and some of them reproduce in them. Clinical symptoms of canine demodicosis:

The symptoms of canine demodicosis can be divided into two types:

1. Scaly type: mostly occurs in and around the eyelids, corners of the mouth, forehead, and nose The head and lower part of the neck, elbows, between toes, etc. The affected area is hairless, accompanied by mild flushing of the skin and the occurrence of silvery white sticky scurf. The skin appears slightly rough and cracked, or has small nodules. Later, the skin turns blue-gray white or red copper, and the affected area is almost not itchy, and some remain unchanged for a long time. Some turn into pustular type.
2. Pustular type: It mostly occurs on the neck, chest, inner side of Yin and other parts, and later spreads to the whole body. There is large areas of hair loss on the body surface, large areas of erythema, and the skin is thick and often becomes wrinkled. There are diffuse pustular rashes as big as millet to wheat grains. The pustules are blue-red in color and discharge pus when squeezed. They contain a large number of Demodex mites and insect eggs. After the pustules rupture, they form ulcers, knots, and unpleasant smell. stench. The pustular type also has almost no itching. If there is severe itching, it may be a mixed infection. Eventually death may occur from exhaustion, poisoning, or sepsis.

Prevention and treatment measures for canine demodicosis:

1. Isolate and treat sick dogs, and use acaricides to disinfect contaminated places and utensils.
2. In addition to topical application of insecticides to severely ill dogs, antibacterial drugs should also be applied systemically to prevent secondary infections.
3. For scaly type, you should first scrub the affected area with a mixture of alcohol or ether, or scrape it clean so that the drug can reach the hair follicles. The medication is as follows: 25% or 50% benzyl benzoate emulsion, fully rub the affected area: infiltrate with 5% formalin solution for 5 minutes, once every 3 days, a total of 5-6 times.
4. For pustular type, first cut the pustule, wash it with 3% hydrogen peroxide solution, rub it with 3% iodine tincture or 3% gentian violet solution, and then treat the scales.
5. In addition to being parasitic on the skin and subcutaneous connective tissue, Demodex mites It can also parasitize in lymph nodes, so when treating pustular type, both local therapy and chemotherapy (intravenous injection of trypan blue or intramuscular injection of trypanaxanthin, etc.) must be used, supplemented by high-dose penicillin therapy.

Prevention of canine Demodex:

(1) Pay attention to the hygiene of the kennel, keep the litter dry, and disinfect regularly (Demodex contaminants such as dog cages and bedding can be thermally disinfected at 50°C for 30 minutes or 60°C for 10 minutes).
(2) Pay attention to the nutritional balance of dog food and enhance the body’s resistance.
(3) To prevent vertical transmission, affected dogs should not be used for breeding.
(4) Do not let healthy dogs come into contact with sick dogs to prevent direct contact transmission.

After recovery from canine Demodex:

Successful management of demodicosis is difficult. Localized cases need to be reviewed every few weeks until the dog outgrows the disease. Dogs with juvenile generalized demodectic mange usually need to be re-examined monthly until secondary infection has resolved, and then every 4-8 weeks throughout treatment. Some dogs with systemic disease cannot be cured and must receive regular treatment throughout their lives to control the progression of the disease.
The prognosis for puppies with localized demodicosis is excellent. 85% of dogs with juvenile generalized demodectic mange can be cured. Cure rates for adult cases vary and depend on the overall health of the animal.