I just noticed my male has this patch of missing hair on his right front leg last night. I took a picture of it cause I wanted to see if people thought this is mange or ringworm. He keeps licking it of course and i tied to wrap it in gauz but he just torn it off. What are your oppionions. I have an appointment at the vet tomorrow but I take him to the dog park a lot so i dont want to go tonight if it could be ring worm.
do you have a picture?
The picture is at the top of the message, can you not see it?
there now it came up
Ringworm is usually an upraised ring, I can't tell from the photo if this is upraised or not, could be a number of things including spider or ant bites. I got ringworm once from a cat we rescued. A topical oinment took care of it easily enough, but it is quite contagious as its actually a fungus vs a worm.
its not raised or in a ring shape so im pretty confident it's not ring worm but its looks a lot like demodetic mange. I know it can be common for puppies to get it cause their immune system isn't as strong. I guess I was just hoping it might just be a rash cause he literally just got over kennel cough he cought at the park. 
Let us know after you've been to the vet. I assume it's not irritating him? Poor boy - it looks nasty.
Let us know after you've been to the vet. I assume it's not irritating him? Poor boy - it looks nasty.
he keeps licking it so it makes me think it does bother him and Penny licks it too but she licks him like crazy anyways, she's like the annoying motherly type who can't stop fussing haha
Yeah my female had demodetic mange the first time she came into heat. It ended up being a small patch on her cheek. It has never affected her since. But I do not remember if it was itchy at all or not. Nothing the vet could do anyways….he knew what it was but did not prescribe anything, not that I remember anyways.
What did the vet say??
Yeah my female had demodetic mange the first time she came into heat. It ended up being a small patch on her cheek. It has never affected her since. But I do not remember if it was itchy at all or not. Nothing the vet could do anyways….he knew what it was but did not prescribe anything, not that I remember anyways.
Demodetic Mange is not usually bothersome and usually not itchy. But there is medications you can use…
From the picture, I don't wonder if this is not a hot spot that might have started as a bug bite?
What would one do if it was a hot spot?
Demodetic mange is treatable - my vet gave me a prescription liquid soap to wash it every day and a medicine (don't remember the name) to put on it when Shaye had it on her head as a puppy. Took a while to clear it up, but it definitely would not have cleared on its own. Your vet needs to tell you what it is and how to clear it.
Here is the issue with demodectic mange. In fact, MOST OF THE TIME it will clear up on its own with puppies. If you have a dog from a responsible breeder, please ask before you treat. NOT treating, in order to determine if it is simply an immature immune system OR becomes generalized, is very important for the breeder to know. Dogs that have had generalized demo should not usually be bred and the rest of the litter/parents and relatives should be observed. Dealing with Chows, where it is a major issue, I have sadly a lot of experience. But with localized demo mange in puppies, close to 90 percent clears up on its own.
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/demodectic_mange.html
and from Dr. Mike:
Localized demodectic mange is thought to occur due to transient stress or a decrease in local immune function at the affected sites. Generalized demodectic mange is thought to be due to a specific deficiency in T-cells that suppress these mites. This is thought to be a hereditary condition but if the exact mechanism by which inheritance occurs is known, I am not aware of it.
The best way to tell if the condition is severe enough to warrant the assumption that it can be passed on to future generations is to wait and see if it clears up on its own. For this reason, we try not to treat demodectic mange until it is evident that it will not get better on its own. At least 80% of dogs will outgrow this condition.
Read more: Mange Mites - Demodex - VetInfo
That said, I do hope your vet has seen the dog as only a scraping and exam can be sure what it is. In case of something contagious, bacterial, etc, you risk it getting much worse.
What did the vet say it was??
