# coco's horrible illness



## Rose of Love (Dec 1, 2010)

Im back!! I was away beacause we were fighting for coco's life for 2 months. And during her illness i was so busy and emotional that i just couldnt go onto this website. Now i can say that we have won the battle and she is slowly getting better.

About 2 months ago we noticed hairloss in coco so we went to the vet, he thought that it was some kind of allergy of hayfever as it was the hay fever season we ot some medication and went home. After a week it didnt seem like it was helping so we went back and the vet increased the dose. Another week went by and she wasnt getting better in fact she started getting some spots that 'erupted' and were bleeding (they kind of looked like white heads). so we went to the vet and he knew that it was some kind of a mite So coco had a skin scraping done. We found out that she has demodicosis <<< all dogs and even some humans have demodex mites, but their immune system is strong enough to fight them off and keep them to a safe amount. the coco isnt strong enough to fight them off so they just kept multiplying. The vet said that she got it from her mother.

I am pretty mad at the breeder as her mother must have demodicosis as she masssed it onto her puppies. I just dont understand why she still chooses to breed from her. I have sent her an e-mail saying about coco's condition.

Anyway lol, the vets got her started on the advocat parasite spot on treatment , after a few weeks it wasnt getting any better at this point coco was in so much pain she was covered in massive bleeding open wounds. she only had a bit of hair on her back and her head and shoulders were full in fur. She was in so much pain she wouldnt mive or eat. she would just lay there in bed all day. you couldnt touch her as she would squeal.

The vets have run out of ideas and decided to put her on a shampoo tratment that is normally used to treat demodicosis, it is not recommended on chihuahuas as they cannot handle all the toxic chemicals, they had various chihuahuas die because of the shampoo. the recommended amount is 10ml per 1 litre of water they halfed that for coco. After the first treatment. She was soo ill she would jump because the pain was too much to deal with i think i only slept about an hour that night i was crying all the time i really didnt think that she would survive it it was just so bad. the rest of the day was unbearable for coco.

However the next day was a breakthrough!! The redness has gone down and she even played for a minute after 4 treatments we increased the dose to 7,5ml/1ltre. even today she still feels very ill after each treatment but she is much better now. the hair is growing back and she is back to normal. The vet said that the illness wont return. PHEW!!! 

Im just so happy that she fought off the illness, i dont know how could i live without her

the picture is when she was looking really well the wound has closed (i dont want to put the pictures when her health was critical, it looks so horrible and its like a big open oozzing wound and i cant even look at them lol) and her hair was slowly growing back, i think this was 4/5 shampoo treatments after


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## Tanna (Jan 29, 2009)

Oh My, how terrible for both of you. I'm so happy she is on the mend, I would have been beside myself, poor little girl. It's amazing what a body can tolerate. What a horrible breeder. Has she answered your e mail?


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## kimr (Nov 14, 2010)

Oh, goodness..I am so glad that she's going to be okay!


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

How awful. How old is Coco? I know most dogs have these mites, but are able to keep them to a minimun, through their immune systems. Thank goodness the treatment helped. Here's to her continue to improve. Sue


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## Rose of Love (Dec 1, 2010)

Tanna said:


> Oh My, how terrible for both of you. I'm so happy she is on the mend, I would have been beside myself, poor little girl. It's amazing what a body can tolerate. What a horrible breeder. Has she answered your e mail?


no she hasnt yet, she seemed like a very good breeder too.
Thankyou im just glad that shes ok now


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## Rose of Love (Dec 1, 2010)

susan davis said:


> How awful. How old is Coco? I know most dogs have these mites, but are able to keep them to a minimun, through their immune systems. Thank goodness the treatment helped. Here's to her continue to improve. Sue



she turned 10 months a couple days ago thank you im so proud of her


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## Chihuahuasloveme (Jan 8, 2010)

Wow how frightening I'm so happy she's getting better!


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

That poor baby. I am so glad the vet decided to try the shampoo and that it worked. That must have been so terrifying for you *hugs* I hope she gets better soon and be the happy chi she was born to be.


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## lynx8456 (Feb 26, 2009)

WOW that is one tough little girl you have. I am so glad to hear she is doing better. Can't even imagine how you felt. BTW I hope the breeder rots in hell. I would report her and have her and where ever she keeps her animals investigated.


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## Gingersmom (Mar 12, 2009)

my goodness, poor furbaby...glad she's doing better and hoping for a speedy recovery, now that you have a handle on this!


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

I would put her on a raw diet, as it seems to really help these pups with this problem. As stated, ALL dogs have these mites. All mother dogs have them, all mothers pass them on to the puppies. A poor diet/nutrition are to blame when they are able to become rampant like this. Foods like Purina, Pedigree, Beneful, etc. anything that can be bought at the grocery store or walmart, are the real place to point fingers when it comes to mange. The only true way to really help Coco recover I would say is to put her on a raw diet. You can put her on pre-made frozens like Stella & Chewy's or Nature's Variety, but a kibble with all its sugars and yeasts is going to make it so much harder for her body to sort things out, even if on the surface she is getting better, mange has to be solved from the inside out.


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## nabi (Nov 25, 2004)

I am so sorry your little one had to go thru such a terrible ordeal...that pic is really an eye opener...I have never seen a dog with this condition before, glad she is on the mend ...gentle hugs to her :angel7:


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## tulula's mum (Jan 4, 2010)

Poor love, glad she is on the mend.


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## Angel1210 (Mar 14, 2011)

Poor Coco and you! I cannot begin to imagine what I would do!! Bless you for all your strength while going through it! I'm sure she will get lots of extra lovin' from "everyone!"


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## CHITheresa (Apr 30, 2011)

So sorry about Coco. Amberleah might have mites from her mothers milk. Vet put her on revolution last Monday. not sure if it has helped yet. Vet thought it might be worms and dewarmed her 3 weeks ago and no change but worse. She has itched since day I got her. I am so worried now I read this.


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## mad dog woman (Oct 29, 2006)

I am very sorry for what you have been through but as you have stated yourself most dogs carry the demodex mite without any issues it is not something that any breeder could have forseen if mum was healthy and didn't show any signs. Demodex will usually rears its head in an ill dog or a stressed dog so something might have happened to Coco to start this flare up. Even something as simple as an upset stomach could have caused the start of this. Did you see mum and did she look healthy when you bought your puppy ? Don't take this wrong in NO WAY am I blaming you but if all the breeders dogs looked healthy by the same token you cannot blame them either x I hope Coco recovers quickly x x


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## KayC (May 3, 2005)

I am so sorry you and Coco had to go through this, so glad she is getting better now.


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## Rose of Love (Dec 1, 2010)

Thankyou everyone for your support!! 



CHITheresa said:


> So sorry about Coco. Amberleah might have mites from her mothers milk. Vet put her on revolution last Monday. not sure if it has helped yet. Vet thought it might be worms and dewarmed her 3 weeks ago and no change but worse. She has itched since day I got her. I am so worried now I read this.


Coco was never itchy so it might be worms.


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## TinyTails (Jun 24, 2011)

So sorry to hear of how bad the mange got  My sister's chi mix went through a horrible outburst of it and it took us 2-3 months to get her fully healed. Unfortunately demotex can show up in any dog and there is nothing the breeder could have done to prevent it. It is mostly brought on by stress - we rescued my sister's pup for a kill shelter in CA and flew her out to NY. The stress of the flight caused the mange outburst  She was completely fine before but once we got her it all started. As another poster said diet really really helps them heal. She had to be on meds for about a month and along with them we took her off the crappy Iams and started a high quality dry along with THK and over the next 2-3 months the sores went away and she grew a black shiny coat  Demotex does take a while to heal though and over those months we had weeks when she would relapse so you need to be patient. Good luck with the recovery


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