Post by mindierose on Mar 19, 2011 9:15:45 GMT -5
In November, my husband bought me a Basset Hound pup for our anniversary. They are my all time favorite dog and I was so excited. I picked it out a few weeks prior, and got him at 10 weeks old. The kids went with us to pick him out, we had a lot of pics of him, and were so attached before we even picked him up. When we arrived to take him home, the lady handed me his paperwork from the vet saying that he had his shots that day. Then she said "oh, and he has this genetic mite thing going on on top of his head, but its NO BIG DEAL. Give him this medicine everyday for a month, and it will be FINE. His parents had it and they are fine now." There was a tiny bit of thinning on the top of his head, nothing more, so I just figured whatever it was would go away, and he'd be fine, like she said. Well in the weeks to follow, his hair got very thin. I gave him his meds, and starting giving him a lot of flax meal as well. His skin cleared up, his hair got very thick, and he looked great! Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. Out of the blue, his hair is falling out in clumps all over his body. I start researching, and its Demodectic mange!!! Why wouldn't she tell me that's what it is? So now I have this dog that I am completely attached to that I wouldn't have even look at had I known about this. Sorry, but I just wouldn't have. I have 7 kids, 3 other dogs, and my little farm to take care of. Another vet bill constantly would not have been what I wanted. I started him on the ivomec again, but is that really healthy for him to be on that daily?? He is so skinny (my other dogs are fat) and long legged, doesn't even look purebred except for in the face. They only owned 2 dogs, the mom and dad, and they were both long bodied and short legged, and he has loooong legs and his body isn't very long. He is quite big for a basset, except he is skinny and sickly looking. Could the ivomec make him look sickly because he shouldn't be on it all the time? I can't imagine that the dog could have a single parasite living in him. What is the BEST way to treat this efficiently? I don't want to have a constant high bill, and it would be nice if there were something that would treat it quickly. I am so mad that the person that sold him to us didn't tell me what it was. I am to blame too, I should have asked more questions about it. Since I had been dealing with them for weeks and talking to her all the time, I really trusted them. They had even offered to give us a second puppy because she loved my family. I am very glad we did not do that at this point. I am going to have a bald basset hound soon, and the ivomec and flax doesn't seem to be working.