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My dog has hair loss, bald spots, and skin infection. Is it mange?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Golden Retriever | Male | unneutered | 5 years and 5 months old | 77 lbs

The last 2 weeks we had a visit to the vet and scabies is suspected due to hair loss, bald spots and bacterial infections. I did a research and found out that there are 3 or 4 types of mange and can’t really identify which one he has. We live in Egypt and we don’t have access for allergy testing here.

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1 Answer

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Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 22nd, 2018

Poor guy. There are really only 2 types of mites that we see in veterinary medicine- Scabies and Demodexx mites. Scabies (a type ofmite) is infectious to people so if you yourself are not itching then you can kind of rule that one out. The other mite, Demodexx isn't infectious to people or other pets, and nowadays it can be treated with oral flea preventatives such as Bravecto, Nexgard or Simparica + a medicated topical shampoo through your vet. I would recommend just starting Baileys' on one of these to cover any kind of mite issue. Then I would suggest getting Bailey on an oral antibiotic to clear up the skin infection that is present. The ears look to be infected as well. This will require a topical ear medication and cleaner from your vet to resolve. Skin allergy testing is not commoonly used anymore due to the poor overall response to allergy immunotherapy shots. THe most common allergy medication used nowadays is Apoquel. I would ask your vet about this as well, especially if mites are not the underlying problem, which can be easily confirmed or denied with a simple skin scraping test done through your vet. I hope that you can get Bailey's skin issue resolved soon. Best wishes and take care!

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