Recently I began using the topical broad spectrum anti-parasite medication Advocate. After 2 months of no improvement with injections of Ivermectin bi-
weekly used in conjunction with NUSTOCK and Mitactin & Sulfinex topical ointments.
This product is marketed under the name Advantage Multi in the USA and as Advocate in other countries. It’s strange that this product is marketed to treat
Sarcoptic Mange and Demodex (Red) Mange outside of the US and has a different label in the states and absolutely no mention of the product treating any
type of Mange. I have really seen no improvement using this product either. I began 25 days ago with the first application and I gave him another today.
You are supposed to give them one dose (different doses for dogs of specific weights) every month; I believed that if I gave him this second dose slightly
earlier maybe he would have a better response. I will continue with the use of Advocate for two more months since I paid $60 for the product and It might
be effective over time +2 months, but I am not hopeful for this. Hopefully it works for other users due to it’s affordable cost and ease of application. The
product is also labled to deal with lice, fleas, tiks and heartworm among others.
you are suppose to apply every 2 weeks
Like the previous poster stated, for active mange Advantage Multi / Advocate should be applied every two weeks (this is also what my vet recommended). Then once per month as a maintenance dose.
I’ve also heard cedar oil will eliminate mange. Not tried it though.
Hi, we have 2 akitas with mange, dosed with advocate 3x , that is once every 2 weeks as the vet said, with no improvement at all. Some years ago one of them had mange & treated with stronghold-very effective, intend to ask for stronghold in future.
what is stronghold?
You may not realize it but one of the ingredients in Advantage Multi/Advocate is moxidectin.
Sound familiar?? It should — it’s what’s in ProHeart 6 that killed SO many dogs and the FDA demanded Ft. Dodge take it off the market. The moxidectin is, in this case, going into the bloodstream via the skin.
Bayer (via a series of other compaies) is now pretty much controlled by Ft. Dodge — Ft. Dodge always vowed they would ‘bring it back’ both in the US and out of the country. They never admitted any culpability to the thousands of dogs who died from ProJeart 6.
Ivermectin tends to ltimately stop working and usually the more difficult cases of demodex become addicted to the ivermectin. I’ve had really good luck with a program of frequent bathing and boosting the immune system with herbs and supplements — no need for ivermectin nor the mitaban dips. NuStock works well on sarcoptic mange but not on demodex.
Callie-you’re a gal after my heart (or a guy?). Went to your site but will have to postpone some of the in depth reading. I am trying to get the blog owner to start another page on essential oils for treating mange. About 2 or 3 years ago I helped someone with a problem with bedbugs. Long story short, we used cedar oil. I also got some for inside, outside, and a concentrate for livestock and pets because of the fleaproblems here in TX. Again, long story short, I changed to a raw diet (other issues were involved), and treating with the cedar oil was a success, as far as fleas. Since I use herbs now also, I no longer have a great flea issue (they die from drinking my dogs’ herb infested blood), I haven’t had a need for the oil I had left over. But just recently I happened to stumble on something naming cedar oil as an alternative treatment for mites. And I remembered that $99.00 a quart bottle of concentrate I still had a little bit left of somewhere (don’t let that amount deter you). I had already found something listing various oils as the ingredients and puchased the ones I didn’t already have. They are Rosemary, neem, tea tree, and i also added glove oil on my own, and now I am also adding a few drops of the cedar oil. Without the cedar oil, the other oils (mixed together and diluted in extra virgin olive oil) helped to re-moisturize the skin (I was doing the borax-peroxide treatment), help heal and possibly repell, but even the product I found on line called for application twice a day. Now with the cedar oil added I have seen a remarkable difference, after even just one treatment. And my worst case I plan on doing daily, my 2nd worst case I have done twice with a day break in between. This guy, Charlie, starts on his back, then that clears up, and it moves to under his neck and chest. It has been clearing up, but as of late I hadn’t been able to get a grip on it. So I did the borax. His skin got really dry and rough and his neck and chest turn an angry red. So 2 days after the borax I rubbed the entire guy down with the oil mix. Over night the angry red had let up. HIs skin was more pinkish now with the exception of a few red spots. I waited a day and did him all oer again. His neck and chest is so soft now, and the skin color is less red than it had been in a while. What I suspect is, that everything else may very well kill the mites, that’s why initially there seems to be success. But then-BAM-all hell breaks loose-what just happened? You may have killed the mites, but what about the little presents they left behind? The eggs and the larvae have just hatched and were hungry. Cedar oil supposedly kills not only the mites but also the eggs and the larvae. And from what I can see, it does so more effectively than anything else I have used. The ingredients listed are cedar oil and ethyl lactate (a solvent) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_lactate
Supposedly the combination of the two is what makes it effective. Sammie is a real bad case.. He’s been skin and bones for weeks (although he has a good appetite and gets more than all the rest). He’s had his borax treatment and today I oiled him down for the first time (I try to rub off all the sluffed off skin first though). I have high hopes, Through all this I have not had any issues with secondary infection. I am sure the herbs they get daily have a lot to do with that. Time will tell if this combination really does the trick. The best part about this is that I KNOW I am not exposing my babies to toxins and poisons. So while I treat, I am not destroying their immune system but help in building it up to eventually deal with the problem on their own by keeping the mite population in check. Thanks for indulging me and hopefully this will help someone help their little loved one.
PS: Regarding the price of this oil. When I first puchased this, not many were selling it. I recently looked around and found the following:
The formulation I have is 66/33 (66% cedar oil and 33% ethyl lactate) and still costs $99.00
Another site sells a quart for $75.00-this is an 85/15 concentrate
And then I found one that sells it for $35.00/quart. I could not find anything on the percentages but plan on calling them.
Now all of these are highly concentrated and make up to 400 gal solutions, depending on what purpose it’s used for. I only put about 4-5 drops in an 8oz despenser for the oil mix. But i also added a few drops each of rosemary, glove, tea tree, and lavender oils.
Stronghold is the same product that’s called Revolution in the States – the drug name is Selamectin.
It doesn’t work at all well on Demodex — demodex mites never bite the dog at all — they live in hair follicles and skin pores and simply eat skin oil. It’s actually that certain dogs (with flagging immune systems) react to the waste the mites leave in the hair follicles and skin pores and that causes the “mange” (the sore, itchy skin that gives rise to infection, etc.).
Selamectin is systemic — it goes thru the skin and STAYS in the body for at least amonth — and even when “overdosed” at twice a month it still isn’t generally effective.
how can i boost my dog immune system my dog has demodex he is on ivermectin for 2 weeks now ..im not seeing a change vet said i may need to buy another 2 weeks of ivermectin…
If you will email me at
callie at critturs dot com
(omit the spaces and put in the at symbol and the period) — I will send you my article that has all sorts of ways to boost the immune system. It’s not difficult.
Ivermectin really does not kill demodex mites very well — because those mites never touch the bloodstream (and ivermectin only stays in the body 24 hours). But stopping it actually can make a relapse happen because what good ivermectin *does* do is because it artificially boosts the immune system.
The stuff I have to send you is too long to post here — but it’s all good information about how to help your dog get strong enough to control the mites as it should.
I HAVE A 4 MONTH OLD FEMALE LAB, DIAGNOSED WITH DEMODEX CANIS AND HAVE OVER FOUR SPOTS OF AFFECTED WITH THE MANGE. I HAVE DONE TWO TREATMENTS OF THE ADVANTAGE MULTI WITH NO EFFECT. I AM INTERESTED IN HOW TO BOOST HER IMMUNE SYSTEM.
Advantage Multi is, in my opinion, not good. It’s the same drug that was in ProHeart 6 that caused so many dog deaths several years ago. I will be happy to give you the stuff I’ve written on demodex and how to help the immune system grow stronger. I’m not a business, I sell nothing. This is all stuff you can get at Wal-mart and your local health store, but it’s long — too long to post here. It’s a lot of work, but it **works**. Essentially you bathe the dog frequently (which reduces the skin oil which is what the mites eat) but do a final ‘rinse’ with some essential oils in the water to keep the coat from over-drying. Then you use various herbs (easy to find stuff like echinacea rotated after a few weeks with astragalus, pau d’arco and cat claw and/or some others) — using a dose that is sensible and effective. The third ‘part’ to it is avoiding the triggers that worsen this.
One of the things you **must** consider now is spaying her because part of what causes the problem is sexual maturation. If she’s got stubborn-to-resolve demodex now, it will **worsen** as she begins to mature. Right now the primary stressor is teething and growing, but soon sexual maturation makes it all much worse. She must *not* be bred in any event (demodex is genetic)
If you’ll email me I will be glad to send you what I’ve got written (I’ve collected a LOT of info on demodex). E-mail me at:
callie at critturs dot com
(leave out the spaces and use the period and “at” symbol — I just don’t like spam so I won’t type it out here)
no pesticide is going to work because demodex mites never touch the blood supply — they eat skin oil and never ‘bite’ the dog. But vets really have little to treat demodex with — and honestly most vets won’t tell you to do as much “work” as is necessary to resolve this. I’m just another dog owner who has loved several demodex dogs and I’ve learned what DOES work. There are no magic cures, creams or fixes — you just have to help the immune system mature while making the skin NOT a good habitat for the mites.
If you’ll email me I’l be glad to help. Callie
have any of you considered seeing a veterinary dermatologist? these are specialists in skin disease and demodex is currently not considered “untreatable” but takes a skilled clinician and a well informed owner.
Sally — a veterinarian’s arsenal to treat demodex is limited. The above drug “Advocate” in the UK and “Advantage-Multi” are moxidectin which is the same chemical that killed so many pets from IMHA when it was marketed as Pro-Heart 6.
Most allopathic veterinarians just aren’t comfortable treating by boosting the immune system. That’s understandable — a vet wants to be able to hand someone something to “fix” it. And making changes in the dog’s body by boosting the immune system and strengthening internally just isn’t fast enough for what a lot of people want from a vet. That’s not saying anything bad about the vets — it’s just human nature to want the change to happen fast. Also in many cases, by the time someone finds me online they have aleady spent more on the particular dog than they may be able to — and veterinary specialists are pricey.
Hi-my dog had demodex when we got her from the local shelter 7 months ago. Her immune system was non-existent and she was as sick as a dog when we got her (extremely underweight, demodex mange, 3 types of worms, kennel cough, a parasite, and fleas). After a few months she was cured of everything, extremely healthy looking and had a full coat. A little less than 2 months ago (and lots of $$$ later) her demodex came back and she started losing hair again. We were using Interceptor which almost cured her (she was completely bald from her neck to tail when we started administering the chewable tablet) in 2 months. They recently stopped manufacturing interceptor right around her last cycle and we feel that we just missed the only product that has worked so far. We tried Ivermectin in low doses and noticed that she started to shake and drool and immediately switched to interceptor. We had her tested at Wash U to see if our dog has adverse reactions to Ivermectin (similar to those of collies), but found that our dog was not sensitive to Ivermectin, so technically we could use it. We refuse to use the acid baths, so we are now left with Ivermectin and Advantage multi-we opted for the latter and are going to try it tonight. We are supposed to apply it every 2 weeks. Anyway, we have been battling mange for a while and are hopeful that Advantage multi (recommended by our specialist) will work as well as interceptor. Anyone have positive results with Advantage multi? If so, how long did it take?
Please — if you don’t believe me, just do an internet search on “moxidectin” — it’s a horrible chemical that the FDA outlawed (but that the company has repeatedly tried to reformulate the delivery system). If you want to email me I’m glad to help.
callie at critturs dot com
(just use the punctuation and omit the spaces) Moxidectin is very dangerous and that’s what’s in Advantage-Multi.
My 11month old staffy cross has generalised dermodectic mange and has been using advocate (Advantage Multi) for 5 weeks our vet instructed us to apply it every week along side antibiotics for the secondary infection. for the first 2 weeks I didn’t notice any difference except the secondary infections clearing up but the last couple of weeks I have noticed that some of his hair has started to grow back and his skin is no where near as bad as before. He will probably have to have another months worth of treatment but im seeing improvements. I upgraded his food to burns (hypo allergenic and organic) so I think thats helped alot. He still licks n chews but not as bad. I reckon if U use it every week then U will see improvements. Hope this helps.
Demodectic mange is an IMMUNE problem — you have to boost the immune system or it will just keep breaking out in other places. You literally have to change the body –vitamins work on a cellular level but do take a long time, herbs jumpstart the immune system.
CAUTION: the cedar oil can be very toxic to dogs — it can cause respiratory problems (I know they sell them, but you don’t want to buy a dog a cedar bed either) — so the cedar oil wouldn’t be my favorite altho I understand what you’re talking about.
So many demodex dogs also have allergies — the two go together very often AND I would particularly avoid the cedar oil on bracheocephalic breeds like any of the bully breeds, boxers, pugs (short nosed dogs) all of which can easily have breathing problems.
Like I said — feel free to email me:
callie at critturs dot com
(leave out the spaces and put in the punctuation)
PLEASE folks — I know some aren’t comfortable with alternative stuff but PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE search “moxidectin” and “ProHeart 6″ before you use Advantage-Multi on your dog. Particularly these vets encouraging you to use it frequently — that’s what killed all the dogs with ProHeart 6 — the moxidectin didn’t get out of the body between applications and the resulting over-dose caused liver-failure and other diseases like IMHA that caused death.