無處不在的蟎蟲

無處不在的蟎蟲

來自專欄 動物君

中文字：1116，建議閱讀時間1.5分鐘，英文字：772

Mites are very tiny crab-like parasites

that live on the skin of cats, dogs and any other mammals they can get onto.

Since mites are tiny and have a semi-transparent body they look different from

ticks. In fact, the mites cannot be seen with the naked eye but what they do to

the body can be seen. Mites are so small they are they are only a few hundred

micromillimeter, amicromillimeter

is equal to one-thousandth of a millimetre and a millimetre is 0.039 of an

inch, so a mite is extremely tiny.

There are four types of mites that infest dogs which are:

Sarcoptes

scabiei (burrowing mites)

Demodexcanis (demodex mites)

Cheyletiellayasguri (Surface mites)

Otodectes cyanosis

Sarcoptesscabei

Demodex canis

Cheyletiellayasguri

Otodectes cyanosis

Another type of mite has a chance of infesting a dog but it』s very rare and that is the Pneumonyssoides caninum (nasal mites). The common name for the infestation of mites is called mange. Burrowing mites and surfaces mites are highly

contagious and will move to another host from animals to animals and even

humans, but luckly most of the mites that infest dogs don』t infest humans.

What do mites do

Since the mites are tiny you would not see

them crawling on your pet, what you will notice is the effect of the mites on

the body. Mites like the ear mite and burrowing mite will burrow under the skin

to feed and lay the eggs, so you will notice skin irritation and inflammation.

The itchiness from the mites will irritate the animals so much that they will

scratch bite and chew to a point where bald spots will start to show and the

animal will start to bleed. While the animal is in pain trying to stop the

itchiness,it can cause secondary infections which will lead to even worse problems

such as anorexia, weight loss and restlessness.

Types of e mites can cause mange

There are two type of mange a dog can get from mites, sarcoptic mange and demodectic

mange knowing the difference can help your dog a lot faster and get it back to

perfect health.

Sarcoptic mange

This is caused by the mite Sarcoptic Scabei, the other name for Sarcoptic mange is

scabies. The mite spends its whole life cycle burrowing in the outer skin of

the dog, this gives the characteristics of intense itching, this leads to raw,

painful lesions caused by self-inflicted scratching and biting.

Scabies can be passed on through dog to dog, so keep your dog away from stray dogs as

they will be the dogs that will have a higher chance of being infected, the

mites can also infect foxes and with more wild life being destroyed foxes are

moving into the city which leads to a high chance of dogs getting infected.

Your dog can also be infected by poorly maintained grooming equipment so when

you take you dog to the grooms look to see how clean they keep their equipment.

If the equipment had hair on the brushes find a new groomer.

Demodectic mange

This is unlike sarcoptic mange, since the mites do not live in the skin but on the

hair. This very rarely spreads to other dogs, the only way for the mites to

pass onto the dog is by mother to pup by muzzle (this is a behaviour where the

pup will push against the mother mainly the mouth or feet area for safety). The

main mite that causes this is the Demodex canis.

If you have a healthy dog with a great immune system they will be immune to the mite,

the immune system will stop the mite before it can cause enough damage to cause

mange. This type of mange will be see on stray dogs as they do not have the

best health, also to take note if you don』t take care of your dog the lower it

immune system will be, so the higher chance that it will get infected. The

puppy』s immune system will usually resolve this issue by the age of 1 year old,

make sure your puppy has it vaccinations so no outside sources could lower the

immune system to allow it to be infected.

Treatment

Depending on the mite depends on the type of treatment that is needed. But the most common is shampoo, powders, creams and lotions, and even oral and injectable medicine can be taken. All the bedding and the common area of the animal must be cleaned and disinfected to stop another infestation. But always take you animal to the veternaiain first

just to make sure you are using the right equipment.

中文翻譯

蟎蟲是一種微型的蟹狀類的寄生蟲，通常生活在貓、狗以及與他們接觸的其他哺乳動物的皮膚上。由於蟎蟲體型十分小，並且有著一個半透明的身體，這就使它們與扁虱看起來很不同。事實上，蟎蟲並不能通過肉眼發現，但是它們對於皮膚造成的影響是可以察覺的。它們小到只有幾百微毫米，一微毫米等於一千分之一毫米，一毫米等於0.039英寸，足見其小。

以下為四種為狗狗較易感染的蟎蟲：

Sarcoptesscabei（穴居蟎蟲）

Demodex canis（蠕蟎）

Cheyletiellayasguri（表皮蟎）

Otodectes cyanosis（耳蟎）

另外一種狗狗會感染的蟎蟲為Pneumonyssoidescaninium（鼻蟎），它一個通俗的叫法為獸疥癬。穴居蟎是一種高傳染性的蟎蟲，它能很快傳染給其他宿主甚至包括人類。但幸運的是，大部分狗狗易感染的蟎蟲不會感染人類。

蟎蟲都做了些什麼

由於蟎蟲極小，肉眼無法辨別她們是否附著在寵物身上，你唯一能分辨的就是感染蟎蟲後，對身體造成的影響。例如耳蟎和疥蟎會藏身併產卵在皮膚組織下層，這時就會發現皮膚髮炎敏感，產生的皮膚瘙癢會令寵物煩躁不安，不斷抓撓甚至撕咬感染部位，試圖止癢，這個過程進一步引發第二階段的感染，產生更嚴重的問題如厭食、體重下降、情緒不穩定等。

狗狗易從蟎蟲那感染的兩種獸疥癬：疥蟎病、毛囊蟲疥癬，了解這兩種的差別後能幫助主人更好識別病症並幫助愛犬恢復健康。

疥蟎病

它是由一種叫做穴居蟎蟲引起的，關於這種病症還有一個名字叫做疥瘡，這種蟎蟲會在狗狗的皮膚上度過整個生命周期，因此會讓狗狗奇癢無比，因此會導致狗狗抓撓、撕咬傷處，進一步引起炎症。

穴居蟎能夠通過狗與狗之間的接觸進行傳染，所以盡量避免愛犬接觸流浪犬，因為流浪犬被感染的機率很大，蟎蟲除了感染狗之外也會感染如狐狸等其他野生動物，隨著野生動物的棲息地銳減，很多動物都會進入人類生活的圈子，因此狗被感染的機率也會增加。除了通過動物之間傳染外，狗也會因為不衛生的美容器械而被感染。所以主人如果為寵物選擇美容醫院的話一定得留心觀察設備的清潔程度，如果上面還沾有其他寵物的毛髮等，建議要求其更換。

毛囊蟲疥癬

毛囊蟲疥癬不同於疥蟎病，因為蟎蟲生存在毛髮中而不是皮膚上，這種癬很少會通過接觸傳播，唯一的途徑就是狗媽媽傳染給狗崽（主要是幼崽因缺乏安全感會將自己的頭伸進狗媽媽的嘴或摩擦媽媽的腳）。產生這種癥狀的是一種叫做大蠕形蟎的蟎蟲引起的。

健康的狗狗通常都有較強的免疫力來抵抗蟎蟲，所以關注狗狗的健康水平能很好地抵禦蟎蟲的侵擾。幼崽在1歲之前，免疫系統相對較弱，所以確保為其注射疫苗以抵抗外界病毒細菌的入侵。

治療措施

不同的蟎蟲針對不同的治療。但是最普遍的做法就是使用洗髮水，身體粉、乳液、洗滌劑，如如果情況嚴重也可使用口服或注射類藥品。寵物的休息區及活動區需仔細打掃，以防仍然存在感染源。但在採取任何措施前，務必給獸醫診斷。

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