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Hello! Back in June, i got an eight week old American bulldog. He is now a 7 month old 85 lb growing dinosaur!

 

Very shortly after we got him, within days, he started exhibiting skin issues. It appeared to be an allergic reaction as we had switched his food when we got him.  When I took him to the vet they gave him anabiotic’s and it went away, then it came back.  we did this…twice. Those couple vet visits and meds cost me close to $1000 without a permanent result. I started my own research and after everything from raw food diet to 4 different dog foods, all sorts of supplements, creams, lotions,  sprays, shampoos, we realized he had sarcoptic mange. I treated him with ivermectin a week and a half ago and Instantly his itching stopped and the redness of his skin overall has cleared up. However,  he still has entire body acne and red elbows. in my extensive research, I suspect he also has a secondary skin infection, some type of bacterial skin infection and I think it’s Folliculitius. I need antibiotics to get rid of this, correct? And for a pretty prolonged time? Just as a sidenote, he’s been taking probiotics, pre-biotics, and enzymes, as one. And an omega-3 fish oil, for the past 5 1/2 to 6 weeks. This is because I thought he had gut issues which was allowing him to have an allergic reaction to something. I have kept him on this because I figured it wouldn’t hurt.

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A lot of times when dogs appear to have mange, they actually have fleas.  Here is an article talking more about mange in detail:

https://www.vetbabble.com/dogs/questions-dogs/does-my-dog-have-mange/

Mange is from mites and if it was sarcoptic mange, it can spread to people as well as it is zoonotic.  When it does, it is incredibly itchy and painful as the mites bury themselves into the skin.  Ivermectin is effective against fleas as well, so would not rule out whether it was mange.  The reason I bring this up is that unlike mites, fleas have a great ability to survive, despite killing the adults.  Flea treatment needs to be continuous for a long time and the environment must be cleaned to help.  For more information about this, I recommend this lighthearted article on how a dog might have fleas even if you can’t see them:

https://www.vetbabble.com/dogs/health-dogs/dog-cat-may-fleas-even-never-see/

So, that being said, if you are on some sort of flea treatment and there are red dots, it could be related to allergies of some sort, whether it be from fleas or the environment.  If there is an infection, like folliculitis, and there is also an allergy-causing inflammation, it oftentimes requires an approach to help settle down the inflammation and clear up the infection.  I realize you have been through a lot of diagnostics, but having a veterinarian help get you the right medications could help as it is dangerous to medicate a disease complex without knowing the complete pathophysiology of how the diseases and the body systems interact and you certainly don’t want to make it worse than it already is.

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