# Recovering from Red Mange, how often can I bathe?



## Jason Carlton (Dec 24, 2008)

If any of you read my thread in the Dog Health forum, I recently found an Australian Shepherd / Beagle mix that has a pretty bad case of demodectic mange (or rather, he found me). The first visit to the vet found him to be infested with hookwork, tapeworm, and whipworm, which was treated, and now he's in recovery.

He had his first bath on New Year's Eve, which he actually took pretty well... all things considered  I used Sulfodene shampoo on the vet's recommendation, and after about 4 rounds of lather/rinse/repeat, I thought that I had him pretty clean.

Today, though, I found a few rough spots on his legs that I apparently missed, and he's still pretty stinky. I can't tell if the smell is from healing infections, though, or if he's still stinky from being neglected for the first 5 months of his life (before we found one another).

So, my question at this point is, how soon can I bathe him again? I know that it's not a good idea to bathe him _regularly_ more than once a month or so, but this isn't exactly a regular situation. But then again, I don't want to risk damaging his already irritated skin, either... but I don't want it to be irritated from NOT being clean, either... so I'm rather torn!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! From both me AND Bane


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

I would refer to your vet about how often you can use the shampoo's he has prescribed. Its going to take much more than one bath to clear this up. If your vet has not already mentioned treating with Ivermectin, I would do some research on the internet about this treatment with Ivermectin, and see if that would be an option for your pup. Its much easier to clear up that way, rather than the constant bathing, etc. You will also be needing to do new skin scrapes to be sure that its cleared up. It can take months with shampoos.  Hang in there.


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## Jason Carlton (Dec 24, 2008)

I might have mispoke, because the shampoo wasn't actually prescribed, per se. The vet used Promeris to treat the red mange, and when I asked about giving him a bath and what type of shampoo to use, he simply suggested Sulfodene along with a few other OTC options. So it's not really prescribed, just suggested when I asked.

For anyone else with a similar problem, I called the vet today, and he said that twice a week would probably be the limit unless I notice any problems (increased in dry skin, more hair loss, etc). I gave him another bath today, and the smell has gone away a LOT. It's still not gone completely, though, so we're all looking very forward to next week


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