What’s Up With Gracie Lou?

Gracie Lou was heavily infested with fleas and had some hair loss when she was relinquished to the Champaign County Humane Society (CCHS). That’s not unusual. Many dogs come to the Shelter loaded with parasites. The hair loss is usually caused by an allergic reaction to the flea bites. The CCHS medical staff applied a topical flea control to Gracie Lou to kill the fleas and started her on a course of antibiotics and antihistamines. The hair loss normally resolves itself within a few months after the fleas are killed.

But we noticed something unusual about Gracie Lou’s skin. First, despite the medications, and even after being free of fleas for a few weeks, there was no sign of new hair growth. (Hair loss is evident on her cheek and shoulder in the photo above.) Second, and more worrying, was that her skin would occasionally turn bright red and look inflamed and painful. Last week we took Gracie Lou for a consultation with a Dermatologist at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine (UICVM). CCHS has a working relationship with the UICVM that makes it possible for us to get expert backup for dogs that need special care.

Within a couple of hours of being at UICVM we had a confirmed diagnosis – Gracie Lou has demodectic mange. Demodectic mange is caused by tiny mites as shown in the picture on the left. All dogs carry these mites in their hair follicles. The mites are transferred from the mother to pups as they cuddle during the first few days of life. Most of the time the mites reach a state of equilibrium with the dog and do not cause a problem. But sometimes, due to a suppression of the dog’s immune system, the mites proliferate out of control. That’s what happened to Gracie Lou.

Long-time readers of this blog may recognize demodectic mange as the disease that caused so much trouble for Donald, Daisy, and Pluto, the Redbone Coonhound Pups we had in foster care one year ago. If you click on that link you can read about the Coonhound pups and what can happen when demodectic mange is left untreated. I’ll warn you, though, those pups were not a pretty sight.

We’re treating Gracie Lou with ProMeris, the same drug we found so effective on the Coonhound pups. She’ll need a treatment every two weeks until all of the mites have been killed, but she’s on her way to recovery. The redness is gone and I’m sure she feels better.

Gracie Lou will soon be moving to a new foster home. She needs some dedicated training time, and that’s hard for us to do with the Base Pack and other fosters to take care of. I’ll pass long information on her progress.

Gracie Lou is available for adoption from the Champaign County Humane Society. Contact the shelter for more information and to arrange to meet her.