Expert: Patti - 10/31/2009

Question
A few days ago, I got a text from a friend asking me if I wanted a jack Russell terrier, and We said of course. I have this one dog, K.D., who sometimes gets jealous and feel protective of us, and stays around the new dog, Sassy. K.D. is a mix of some small dogs, and she has inherited mange from her mother. Sassy is 6 months, and K.D. is around a few years old. Should we worry about Sassy getting the mange, even though it's inherited?

Answer

Hi Kaitlin,

Is "Sassy" is your newly adopted Jack Russell Terrier?

If the kind of mange KD had was Demodectic mange (unlike Sarcoptic mange) it's not considered to be a contagious disease and isolation of affected dogs is generally not considered necessary. Demodex mites are thought to only be transferable from mother to newborn pup. After the pup is a week or so old, it has developed enough immunity so that infection is no longer possible. In other words, after age one week or so, a dog will not longer accept new mites on its body. An exception might be if Sassy had a problem with his or her immune system.

I don't think you need to worry about Sassy, as long he or she is healthy. Most demodicosis occurs in young dogs, under age one and a half. An older dog should not get demodicosis unless he or she has an underlying problem with the immune system.

I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,

Patti