We have a 10 Year old Male Dog, medium sized, medium long brown hair, since a long time ago he has had an infection of Mites that are worst at his back and tail, he is constantly trying to gnaw off his fur, we have tried all available products but we can not get the Mites to die off", so somebody mentioned “Kerosin” it’s said that it was used to kill the pests by contact only and that you just wash it off of the Pet right away and it is not gone get hurt. Can I use it?
Do you mean kerosene/paraffin? I googled “kerosin” and didn’t come up with a medication by that name. Very bad idea, and it won’t work.
Have you taken your dog to a vet? Are you sure it’s mites and not, say, flea allergy? A dog with a severe flea allergy will chew itself bloody, usually around the hindquarters. Flea allergies are fairly common and easy to treat - use a prescription flea treatment, and maybe a short course of prednisone to control the severe itching and break the chewing cycle.
I’m not a vet, but if it’s demodex or scabies there are several treatments that work well, although it can take weeks of bathing and meds. It could also be a bacterial skin infection (I think.) So if the itching cause hasn’t been diagnosed, or incorrectly diagnosed, you could be trying all sorts of things that won’t work and just waste your money.
Poor dog, he must be absolutely miserable. Hopefully you can get him to a vet. There’s a few vets and vet techs on the board, hopefully one will chime in.
Back and tail itching and scratching reads more fleas than scabies or demodex, both of which will also include more facial itching and scratching than fleas.
If you’re unsure what type of mite you’re dealing, go to the vet. There are now a couple of good OTC products against fleas that used to be prescription only, like Frontline and Advantage (or their generic knock offs). Nothing by Hartz, though. Again, Frontline and Advantage would deal mostly with fleas, for something like demodex or scabies, IIRC, the best products are still prescription-only, or are better if given under a vet’s supervision (so he/she can intervene if side effects show up).
Again, the above products or other prescription-only drugs may seem expensive at once, but they are usually sold in multi-month doses, so you get half a year or a year of medication’s worth for your money. And they work. It may not work in retail, but vets may sell you individual doses (of course, adding in the exam fee will increase the price).
If it is Demodex or scabies, the vet would also (to confirm) need to make a skin scrape (yet another reason to take the animal to the vet). Relatively simple, and not expensive, but would be good in distinguishing between the two, which have different treatments.
I’m seconding what KarlGrenze said. With the addition of stressing not to purchase over-the-counter products to deal with something that hasn’t been diagnosed by a veterinarian. For flea treatment, Advantage or Revolution I think are good choices, while Frontline is safe, too, many flea populations are resistant to it so it might be less likely to work. Do NOT use any Hartz or Sergeant’s products.
At any rate, you MUST get to a veterinarian and get a confirmation of what you’re dealing with. Noting over the counter is going to help your dog for anything but fleas. A skin scraping is a must, and a microscopic exam of the scraping is necessary. Ringworm also needs to be ruled out, though like demodex and scabies, fur loss and itching is more usually seen around the face. In any of these cases, though, if it were going untreated (because “every available” thing that’s not from a vet is basically not treating) for years, I would think the poor dog would be devoid of all fur by now.
Please take your dog to a doctor before doing anything else. I had a heartbreaking phone conversation with a man about his dog, before I convinced him he needed to bring his dog to the ER, because he tried a “fuel oil” treatment on his beautiful German Shepherd. It took me a few tries to figure out what he meant by “fuel oil” and had difficulty disguising my horror once I realized what he was talking about. By the time he got to us, the dog had ingested a goodly amount of the stuff, and he died before we could treat him.
Almost any material that coats an insect will plug up its pores and suffocate it. I have a friend that told about somebody that cured their dog’s mange with used crankcase oil. It or kerosine should work, but I would go with a liquid cooking oil over something that may kill the dog too. Generously coat the affected areas.
Better yet, as others suggested, see the vet.
We are a long way from a Vet and it would be almost impossible to bring the Dog to one as we don’t own a car,
think pioneering in the outback and you get it, there must have been ways of getting this under control in the past without a Vet. And no the Dog is not with out fur! He looks quite alright but what is a big problem is his SMELL he stinks like a piece of rotten meat where the mites are breeding under his skin. Thanks for the comments so far.
Kerosene is also flammable. Not as bad as gasoline but still a danger. It used to be a fairly common treatment for head lice on kids and you still (fortunately, rarely) hear of terrible burns using it.
So, no kerosene.
You need to talk to a vet. If you have access to a computer, you can email pictures to a vet. It is silly to try to diagnose and treat this yourself, you will waste time and money doing the wrong thing.
At least try to speak to a vet. They can’t diagnose your dog without seeing it, but in the situation you’re describing, they may still be able to help. Where I work, we have a small number of clients who live too far from the clinic to be able to bring their animals in except in dire emergencies. We sometimes prescribe medication based on a telephone diagnosis. It’s not an ideal scenario, and I don’t know what the legal position is where you live, but no harm in trying.
In my experience, when people bring me a dog and tell me it has mites, it usually doesn’t. Fleas are much more common in some parts of the world, lice in others, and there are also many non-parasitic causes of itchy skin. If you genuinely have no way of consulting a vet, you can certainly try to eliminate parasites as a cause of your dog’s problem by using whatever you can buy without a prescription. Without a diagnosis you may be wasting your money.
If your dog’s skin is smelly, that is likely to be a sign of a chronic bacterial and/or fungal infection, which is usually a secondary problem and rarely a primary cause of itch. This will need treatment too. Medicated shampoos can help, but may not be enough, especially if this is a long standing problem.
I don’t know where you live, which will make a difference in terms of which parasites are common and what treatment is available to you over the counter or by prescription. It is definitely worth checking your dog for fleas. Or rather, flea droppings. Fleas move fast and you may not see any unless there are huge numbers of them. With a fine comb, go through your dog’s fur along its back. Brush the hair and skin flakes onto white paper. Flea droppings are small and blackish, and turn red when you place a drop of water on the paper. If you find fleas or flea dirt, you need to treat the dog and your house to get rid of eggs and larvae.
Please don’t use kerosene or anything else that will be harmful to your dog just because someone’s sister’s best friend’s uncle’s neighbour says it works. It really won’t help.
In previous times things were not “under control” or solved as easily as you may think. Many things that seem cheap and easy have a higher risk of side effects and very poor results, especially compared to newer treatments and products.
Seconding that if the dog smells, there may also be an underlying secondary fungal or bacterial infection.
Again, repeating the “take the dog to the vet, or at least personally talk to one licenced in your region”. From what you describe, it is likely not mites (but very likely fleas). Even if they were, kerosene is far from optimal treatment. You may be risking the dog for a cure that has poor results, when there are safer, not really expensive, products available.
One point, if the dog is on Heartgard+, or similar heartworm remedies, it kills mites too.
Thirding flea allergy (the itching and chewing) with secondary fungal infection (hence the smell) and surely you must be able to at least contact a vet, even if you can’t take the dog to one? What if a human in your household were ill or injured; surely there’s some sort of medical help available? Where do you live, that you are so remote? Just curious.
I’m old enough and was rural enough to remember when animals with chronic conditions either spent many un-treated (or incorrectly treated) miserable years living with the condition, or were taken to a back field, shot and buried. Or, if small enough or baby animals, drowned in a creek or bucket, then buried. There weren’t home cures or remedies for everything. Thirty years ago I lived in an area with lots of fleas year 'round and had a dog with terrible flea allergy - there was little vets could do for her except prednisone when it got really bad, because 30 years ago there were no effective flea treatments. And I tried every alternative thing under the sun…none were the least bit effective. The poor dog was miserably itchy most of the time, or was subjected to steroids which lessened the intense itching but suppressed her immune system and made her prone to skin infections. It was a constant battle. Nowadays it would have been easy and inexpensive to treat and she would have been much more comfortable.
If you can order online, look for PetArmor or Fiprogard, generic forms of Frontline, which is effective for fleas and is now available without a prescription. That would at least control fleas. In some countried (not the U.S., I don’t think) you can purchase heartworm meds like ivermectin (Heartgard) without a prescription. Farm and feed stores also carry it for livestock, although WARNING do not try to dose a dog yourself with without veterinary supervision so you get the dose exactly right.
In any case, IMO you need a veterinary consult of some sort to a: diagnose properly and b: figure out the correct approach.
For some strange reason, I seriously doubt this dog is on heartworm preventative.
DO NOT put kerosene on your dog.
How do you get groceries? The next time you are in town, stop by a vet’s office, even if you can’t take the dog.
The best thing you can do for your dog, if you give a damn at all, is to get him to a vet. No one - even a vet - can properly treat a problem without seeing it.
I quite like all your comments, I am sure you all do live in nice places with nice Veterinarians and everything available on the shelfs, don’t forget what I asked for, I got the answer several times over, no I will not light my Dog and “BURN” the Bugs of him!
We are in the Philippines and the City Veterinarian that diagnosed the problem said it was an allergy for Chicken!
We have tried "Ivomec " but the stuff is difficult to give the shots ones a month and it did not clear the problem, we use a medicated Shampoo and a Powder but it starts again after a week, also changed the card boards the Dogs lay on and restricted their access to some of the places the lay around.
Ivomec seems to be a formulation of ivermectin. At the correct dosage (which the vet should have, I don’t have a formulary next to me), it should be able to kill fleas and scabies, and at a different dosage (and for prolongued period of time), it can also take care of Demodex.
But ivermectin does not only have to be injected. Ivermectin can be applied on the skin (at least in some formulations), and others are nontoxic such that they could be given orally. That is something you can consult with the veterinarian.
Medicated shampoos vary, and some target only bacteria, others only fungi, and others both. It may be that your shampoo is only targetting one possible agent, while the other one is the culprit. Check the shampoo and ask the vet if you could get one with broader coverage. Or ask the vet if he/she can get and send out a skin culture of the dog, to check for what type of bacteria or fungi it has.
If the medicated shampoo is just anti-fleas, yes, they don’t last long. If it is an anti-bacterial or fungal, they need to be used every week for weeks.
If the dogs have fleas, then you would also have to clean the environment around them. I don’t know what products are available for that in the Philippines, but whatever they have, you should use them accordingly (and don’t let the dogs get affected by them).