# Red mange?



## mel2mdl (Sep 7, 2008)

I think my dog might have this, but I really want to avoid chemical dips if at all possible. 

When we got him, he was on pretty bad nutritional diet - think Ol' Roy, but worse! He had quite a few bald patches, especially on his belly and around his ears. (Bostons often have thin fur though.) He had two bouts of serious illness - throwing up excessively, and kennel cough. The patches turned red and got worse, but he didn't seem overly itchy or uncomfortable. 

Since we've switched him to raw, the red patches are still there, but he is getting some fur. We've been bathing him in moisture soap and tree tea oil, which also seems to help. I've tried to research treatment, but, honestly since he's not uncomfortable, they sound worse than the condition. 

Is my only option chemicals, or can dogs recover on their own? Any suggestions on how to help the healing process?


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

:yuck: WHAT can be worse than Ol Roy?! Poor pup, I'm of no help with skin problems this severe, I hope you have luck finding the cause and fixing the problem. 

The only thing I can say is my dogs had grain allergies and were losing hair and getting red patches and scabbing on their skin from all the itching. Vet told us it was flea allergies, wouldn't budge on their diagnosis, and they were dead wrong because none of our dogs had fleas or flea dirt. Changed their diet and ta-da, hair grew back and they no longer itch at all.

I hope your raw diet helps your pup!


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

Switching him to raw is a great immune booster. The reason he has mange, is because of a compromised immune system. Definitely keep him on raw. You can bath him in a peroxide/borax mix, that is very effective at killing mange mites. First bath him with a natural soap in warm water. Earthbath tea tree/aloe is great for irritated skin. Than rinse him with warm water. Make sure you get all the soap off. Than premix, before you begin his bath, peroxide, borax and warm water in a bucket. Mix 16oz. of peroxide, 32oz. of warm water and 6 heaping tablespoons of 20 mule team borax(found in walmart laundry detergent isle). Apply this solution to his whole body. Make sure you get underneath, between toes, and use a sponge to get around ears, nose, mouth and eyes. Let it sit 5-10 minutes without him shaking.  Than let him shake. Do not rinse him off. Do not dry him off with a towel. Let him airdry. Do this every 3-4 days for 4-6 weeks. Also add 1/8th teaspoon of borax to his drinking water. Do this until about 10 days after the mange is gone. You should treat your house by sprinkling borax into your carpets. Let me know how it works out:wink:


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## JayJayisme (Aug 2, 2009)

What kind of raw diet is the dog on now? Is it a "BARF" type diet that includes plant matter or only meat, bones, and organs? If it's not an all meat diet, you should consider that. There may still be something in the food that is provoking an allergic reaction. After all, commercial raw food is nothing more than uncooked kibble.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

mel2mdl said:


> I think my dog might have this, but I really want to avoid chemical dips if at all possible.
> 
> When we got him, he was on pretty bad nutritional diet - think Ol' Roy, but worse! He had quite a few bald patches, especially on his belly and around his ears. (Bostons often have thin fur though.) He had two bouts of serious illness - throwing up excessively, and kennel cough. The patches turned red and got worse, but he didn't seem overly itchy or uncomfortable.
> 
> ...


Have you had the dog tested for mange? Since most mange is caused by microscopic parasitic mites, the only way to tell for sure is to have the vet do a skin scraping & examine the results under a microscope: .Dog Owner's Guide: Mange

If it comes back negative you can then rule out mange & move on to other possibilities like diet/allergies.


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