Dosage for Ivermectin

[Rumpley]

I'm about to treat a new foster puppy of 11 weeks, and she's 18 pounds, with Ivermectin for localized demodex. I've read a lot on this drug, and my concern is that the vet gets the dosage right, as I read it is often misprescribed. Can anyone give me a basic formula?

I'm a little freaked out to give it to her, knowing it's so powerful, but she needs to get cured, as no one wants to adopt a balding, flaky pit bull....

[HugABull1]

Hey Rumpley, I didn't realize it was just localized, I assumed as the vet perscribed Ivermectin it was generalized. Did he explain why he was perscribing the med? With her rough start, and her other health issues, it's not at all surprising she's got demodex, and usually, a vet would try to correct the other stuff and perscribe lots of TLC and waiting the demodex out. How bad is it? I hate to see that poor girl pumped full of a heavy med when she's got all that other stuff going on

Oh, and I don't know the dosage, aren't I helpful?

[Rumpley]

I totally agree, but he said the slide was FULL of mites so she's on the verge of getting bad fast.

I'm worried that if I leave it, she'll get balder and trying to adopt out a bald puppy is near to impossible. It's one thing if it's your own dog and you can handle it, but a puppy that needs to go for adoption is another.

I talked with another rescue person initially as we could foster her for the 6 - 8 weeks and take her through a more natural homeo treatment, but we also agreed it's nice to place her at this age permanently rather than wait - so it's like being between a rock and hard space really.

I'm hoping she'll get adopted quickly regardless of her mange and I'm waiting on the Ivermectin at least for today so I can do more research and call a couple of holistic vets as well.

[JessaNGizmo]

I HIGHLY recommend the Ivermectin, Dont do the dips. The ivermectin heals them from inside out. Talk to your vet about the dosage. Grunt is not 7-8 months old, at 45 lbs and is on 1ml a day. Hes been on it for a month now and he was FULL of mites and now hes 100% clear! Talk with your vet and good luck. Any more questions PM me ok! OHh and by the way I adopted a bald pitty! LOL I couldnt resist....

[barbponys]

I'm no doubt going to sound ignorant here but...........

Before the advent of Ivermectin didn't most dogs with demodex die? If left on it's own, and usually WITH treatment, they got worse until it affected their organs? I know from first hand experience with a Dal that the dips don't work, they don't take care of the internal.....only the external.

I use Ivermectin on my horses several times a year and haven't had any problems with toxicity or side effects. Our oldest is 18......... I would assume the same would be true with a dog given the proper dose?

Pat

[HugABull1]

I'm by no means an expert, but have been down the demodex road with Angel, so here's my two cents

I think dogs with severe generalized demodex did eventually die sometimes, as the dips were often ineffective, and dogs with severe mange of either form get secondary bacterial infections. Dogs/pups get demodex due to a supressed immune system, so dogs who got severe, generalized demodex, likely had something else wrong with them, which was causing the immune system to be supressed.

From what I understand, demodex is and always has been relatively common in puppies, and generally clears up on it's own if caught early, and the underlying cause is addressed (nutrition is a big culprit for lowering a pup's defenses).

Demodex itself (the mite) wouldn't affect the organs, as it is a mite who lives in hair follicles, so is limited strictly to the skin. When there's an overgrowth in mites, they irritate the follicle and surrounding skin, which makes the pup/dog susceptible to bacteria, which CAN go inside the body and infect organs, blood, everything.

When Angel had demodex, my vet told me that ivermectin is not technically approved for dogs, it's meant for horses and swine, but that it can also be used in dogs. However, it can adversely affect collies (I believe causing blindness?), and, as Angel is a mixed breed and we couldn't be positive there's no collie in her, he didn't want to risk it with her. Her mange was localized, she had a spot around one eye, and another on her muzzle, so dips weren't an option either. There are creams you can use, but it was not safe to use it around her eye. Which left us with the option of waiting it out. It took a year, and a change in diet, but she got over it:)

[moto1320]

I'm not sure for the stage of Demodex she is at but for external preventative for fleas, mites, etc it is .03 ml/cc per lb. and for internal worming/heartworm preventative you hit them quaterly with a dose of
.1 ml/cc per 10 lbs and in the in between months with .1 ml/cc per 50 lbs for maintenence. I'm not a vet, but especially if the pup is as young as it is I would keep up with the basic and see how it goes. More is infrequently better with this stuff. If it is not working, more will begin to O.D. the dog, drive down immunity even more and make the Demodex worse.

[Rumpley]

Okay, so little Lola wonder puppy has been on Ivomec .5cc a day for the last 2 weeks. I have seen NO improvement whatsoever. However, it's not getting worse either - just staying exactly the same????The vet said it will take 2 months to see it go away, so I didn't expect drastic change, but I expected some change at least.

However a colleague of mine went with holistic treatments (sulphur??) and saw improvement within a week. She doesn't have it bad, just a little bald on ears, head and a patch on the tail. I'm not sure continuining to give her such a strong drug is worth our while at this point? What do you all think?

[Blue Steel]

Check this out. It ought to explain a lot.