Wondering...

[KDN]

Last Wednesday I took Iz in to get spayed.  When I left her, I pointed out a bald spot on the back of her head and told them Raven did it.  (Izzy is quite persistent at being a worry wart and Raven does NOT share her toys/ bones/food and has grabbed her several times, never breaking the skin, but leaving marks). About an hour later they called and wanted to do a skin scraping.  Turns out they diagnosed her as having demodex and she is now taking ivermectin for that.

These marks have happened a couple of times.  She has had a mark on the back of her head twice, and one on her back.  Both times I just applied MTG (a horse hair growth/fungicide/conditioning treatment) and it went away.  Of course, she had gotten a new spot right before going in to the vet.  I've seen it happen (the snatching up and biting), so I'm not dreaming as to when the marks appeared.

I guess my question is, since they say most dogs have demodex mites present, could the scraping have revealed that and coupled with the mark caused him to go ahead and medicate her for it?  SHe's never itched or scratched at it, and like I said, a couple of days of MTG has always done the trick.  I know that skin issues are a problem in pits and realize that the vet is certainly proactive and loves this breed.  I just hate it because now, instead of a a little patch with hair beginning to grow back she has a big red raw spot from being scraped (along with one on her shoulder).

[KivaLuver]

You can use the topical treatment with the ivermectin without any problem. Ask the vet how many mites he found per field. That will tell you if you have a serious problem or not. Pitties seem to be have sensitive skin just like Cairns.

[Kim H]

I've had skin scrapings done before on dogs and they have been negative for mites. So I would say there were enough in the scraping that it was a problem that needed to be dealt with. I think its more common in pups. Hopefully once on the meds will be enough to take care of it and you'll never see it again.

[KDN]

Hopefully so...she seems more aggravated by where they scraped than anything.  Didn't bother her before so that's what made me wonder, especially since the one spot (the only spot she had when she went in) had gone before.  Thanks for the well-wishes.  I'm sure she'll be fine.