Mange on Cats
What is cat mange?
Mites and ticks are a constant source of trouble to your cat. Cat mange is one condition, which occurs due to skin mites. This skin disorder is not one of the common ailments that your cat could is prone to, but they do occur. Pet mange on the other is quite common.
This condition usually affects a cat in the region around neck, head or ear. In fact, cat mange could affect any part of the face. This mange is quite a serious infection, which is contagious even to human beings in some cases. This calls for an immediate attention for cure.
Mites that are capable of burrowing in general cause pet mange. They usually lay their eggs in the burrow and let them develop into a larva. The mites that affect the cats on the other hand are non-burrowing mites. They typically do not create burrows but can cause raised lesions and scars, which are actually a result of scratching. They are more vigorous than the burrowing type. They suck blood out of the cats literally. They feed on the scales of the cats and usual cause them more harm than the burrowing form of mites.
The worst scenario with this mange is when they cause secondary infection in your cats. This occurs due when the infection is neglected for a long time allowing the sores to develop which might ooze out infective fluids!
Among the cats the ear mites or Otodectic type of mites are most common and they are the non-burrowing type. Cat scabies affect the cats in the head region. In majority of the cases, these two types of mites cause mange in cat.
Cat mange is usually detected by the symptoms, some of which include irritation, itching, hair loss, dandruff and sores. However, the problem lies in the detection of the type of mange. This diagnosis is usually done based on the symptoms as each variation of the mange has subtle differences in the symptoms. Further, the shape of the mites in the body of the cat could be an indicator for the type of mite in a few cases. The vet himself usually does this. However, all these are only clinical diagnosis methods and there exists no laboratory diagnosis method, which could assure one about the specific type of mange with, which your cat has been affected. Perhaps the most suitable way to cure the mange is to identify it early and try different medicines until one suitably cures the condition.
There are a variety of pet meds that your vet would suggest which could alleviate the problem of pet mange. Using lime and sulfur is one age-old solution for killing bacteria and mites. This remedy should help to some extent unless the infection is too advanced for your pet. Prescription medicines could be pills or even injections depending on the type of mite and severity of infection. Ivermectin is usually applied on the skin in the affected region and is found to be very effective.
