Hi, just recently cleared up a problem with mange and my 3 cats.

Since I had a hard time finding specific information I thought I'd post the process.

One of my cats caught a mouse about 2 weeks ago. I saw him and got him to release it (it escaped safely) but he had already touched it with his mouth. I think maybe this is where he got it. None of my cats has ever had parasites in 30 years but there is a first time for everything. They all go outside but pretty much stay in my yard. We live in the north where there is a 5 month winter so most things outside get cleared up with the frost and snow yearly. Once a month or so another cat might cruise by so I cannot be sure of the source of the infection.

I treat them with dewormers each year and with Revolution each month for 6 months a year. But this year we were away and they were 2 weeks behind in their Revolution treatment.

The cats started scratching at their necks and heads a week ago. The would scratch a bit and shake their heads. They did not (have never had) ear mites. It got a bit more frequent each day. They were warm summer nights and they opted to sleep outside on our deck chairs. (Since we only have a few warm nights a year they like to stay out when it is especially fine and warm.) The rest of the year they just go out for an hour or so at a time depending on the temperature.

I took them to the vet. She was new at the animal hospital and not my regular vet. She tested ear wax for ear mites and it was negative and anyhow they were not scratching their ears but their heads. She felt for welts near the neck and concluded there was nothing wrong. We got a new batch of Revolution and treated them. We got them their vaccinations and anti-worming meds (about a month early but we were there) and took them home.

Since she thought they were fine one of them curled up in the bed with us (usually one comes every second night or so) and I let him. It was the first time that week one of the cats had slept in the bed. Big mistake.

The next morning I woke up with my skin full of itchy points and welts on my face. Reading up on this on the net I concluded it was some type of mange (mites).

The cats continued shaking their heads and scratching at their necks.

After about 6 hours of itching hell I took a dose of Ivermectin -- for humans it is called Stromectol. Your doctor can prescribe it for you...it is the same stuff they use for scabies (human mites) and the dosage is base on your weight. The itching stopped within 10 minutes. So I knew it was caused by mite bites for sure.

The next day our regular vet was on duty. We took them all back. He also could not find any welts on the neck. He concluded that the mite (mange) infection was in its early stages and gave the each a shot of Ivermectin.

Process:
1) The vet gave each cat a shot of Ivermectin. Ivermectin is systemic for humans and animals so it stays in the system for 12 days. That means as mites continue to bite they die, do not reproduce, and the infestation dies out. 14 days after the first shot the cats require a second injection. It is very important to do this to prevent re-infection before the mite population has completely died out. All of my cats tolerated the injection without any problems and one of them is 16 years old.

Btw, both vets checked carefully in detail for fleas and there were none. No flea dirt. No black specks. They have never had fleas.

We isolated the cats in our kitchen for 2 days. They have food water and a box there. We washed the floor, chairs and counter each day. This way we were lowering their exposure to mange mites in the house while the meds kicked in to help them get over the infection as soon as possible. We put down big fluffy folded towels for them to sleep on and laundered them both days.

2) We vacuumed the house to pick up mange mites to bring down the population in the house. We changed the vacuum bag each time we vacuumed so we didn't have mites coming out of the exhaust. We laundered all the blankets where they usually sleep. We laundered the sheets and blankets on our beds in hot water and hot drier. We vacuumed all the cushions on our sofas and chairs. This is not essential but it brings down the mite population making everyone more comfortable.

We put our latex pillows (cannot be laundered) in the freezer for 2 days. Out mattresses and pillows are covered with dust mite covers anyhow but we wanted to be sure. Btw those covers are great in general for keeping your mattresses and pillows sanitary from dust mites and dust mite excrement. We use a cotton mattress cover over them and launder it every couple of months.
http://www.allergystore.com/pristine.htm


Generally the mange mites will live away from a host animal for a maximum of 10 days. So there will continue to be some biting and tunneling and the person or cat has a mite jump on them. But with the Ivermectin there is less and less each day and the mites do not last on the host because the Ivermectin in the system kills them.

3) I got a single treatment of Ivermectin for myself which wiped out the majority of the mites on/in me. Animal mites are not adapted to humans and will not live in their skin for more than 3 weeks but it is nice to cut down the infection. I had no bad side effects from the single dose of Ivermectin at all (and I am reactive). It just cut out the itching. The welts on my face came down within 10 minutes of taking the Ivermectin leaving a few red lines of an inch or 2. The red lines were where the mites had tunneled under the skin. It took the red lines about 2 days to go. My husband was unaffected by the mite bites. Cats do not catch the mites from humans. That is a fallacy. It is just that if the human has itching for 1 to 3 weeks they think that the infection can go back and forth between human and animal but it does not.

4)It is not necessary or helpful to fumigate the house. Without a host to live on the mange mites die out within 10 days.

5) We did hose down the deck and deck chairs (where they like to sit in the sun) with pyrethin and water to bring down the mite population there. Again, that is not essential but it will make everyone more comfortable faster. We rinsed everything off the next day before we or the cats used it. Pyrethin is not systemic and leaves the environment fairly soon. You could probably use insecticidal soap as well. Normally our yard and garden is complete organic and devoid of any pesticides...for example we have not used any pesticides at all except for 5 years ago...a spot application on a fence post with carpenter ants. But mange is something we were not prepared to tolerate for long.

6) The cats stopped scratching and shaking their heads within 24 hours of the Ivermectin shot and got a whole lot happier. The application of Revolution to their necks did not wipe out the infestation. Maybe Revolution works to deter mites from getting a toehold but once there is a full infestion then the injection of Ivermectin is the way to go.

The cats are now freely going through the house after 2 days in the kitchen. They are also going outside again with lots of energy and playfulness. And they are resting a lot in the sunshine, I think relieved not to be itchy and able to sleep peacefully.

Conclusion: Even if your vet cannot find welts there may still be mange mites. It is just that the infection has not progressed to an extreme level. If you are itching too and there is no obvious other reason treat the cats (and maybe you) with Ivermectin and see if the problem abates. Mange is apparently not all that common a problem in cats so it may not be everyone's first guess

Hope this is helpful.

Bluepetunia