How Can You Tell if Your Dog Has Mange?

Good call booking the vet visit. Mange usually shows up as patches of thinning hair or bald spots with red, scaly or crusty skin. Sarcoptic mange (scabies) causes intense itching and often starts on the ear edges, elbows and belly. Demodectic mange often starts on the face, around the eyes and on the front legs, and usually isn't very itchy. Your vet can check for mites with a skin scraping.

Mange has nothing to do with how clean your home is. Almost every dog carries Demodex mites from birth, and demodectic mange appears when a young dog's immune system can't keep them in check. Sarcoptic mange is caught from other dogs, for example at parks or groomers, or from foxes. Many itchy dogs with hair loss turn out to have allergies or fleas instead, so it's worth checking for those too.

If it is mange, it's very treatable. Most dogs are treated with prescription medicines, often chewable flea and tick products used off-label, or spot-ons such as Revolution, which is approved for sarcoptic mange. Read more about mange symptoms and treatment.

This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.