How Stray Dogs Pray for Treatment

Authored by Prasenjit Dutta, From his own experience

-Retired Civil Engineer,
-Former Secretary and Founder of Pashupati Animal Welfare Society-PAWS at Barasat, Kolkata
-Proprietor of RKD Pet Shop that supplies pet-use products nationwide.

This video below is not only about simple and successful treatment of Scabies or Sarcoptic Mange in stray dogs caused by mites in the skin, but for narrating the story of how dogs actually draw our attention to their ailment and beg for treatment from those who they know by smell as the local caregiver.

For 14 years that I’ve been living in the area visible in video, dogs of the locality have received on spot treatments from me or got admitted to my associated NGO Pashupati Animal Welfare Society-PAWS at Barasat (www.pawsrescue.in). It so turned out that on several occasions that absolutely unknown injured or sick dogs have waited outside the gate of my housing complex to draw my attention while exiting or entering. There seems to be some telepathic connect between dogs that tell sick dogs about where to come and seek treatment. It’s apparent to me because on such occasions, the resident dogs of my housing have not chased them away, but I’ve seen them sitting quietly beside the ailing dog in order to draw my attention. This can only happen with those who enjoy the genuine trust of dogs.

Now to narrate the particular incident related to this Scabies affected dog in the video, a little background story is required to be told. Keltu the black male dog and Khuki that’s his mate of this season were in my feeding group of 8 dogs that hang around some 50 m away from this location. Keltu was a newcomer there and from day one he snuggled up to me earning for the touch of my hand. As soon as I patted his cheek he started scratching and biting his body violently. He indicated to me and I saw in the semi darkness that he was not only a bag of bones but his entire back was a mess of red and bleeding sores. I understood that he has been shooed away by people from his original feeding area and has been wandering hungry through weeks. I took it onto myself to cure him and make him healthy. It’s visible in the video that after 3 weeks of feeding dog food in double doses he’s quite fleshy and muscular. As for the treatment, I gave him a dose of Ivermectin injection on the very second day. But I couldn’t give him the second dose until yesterday, that’s after a gap of 3 weeks. That’s because he decided to choose Khuki as his mate and got bashed up by other suitors in the group. Both of them simply disappeared from the next day. I found them again by chance some 50 m away at this motor garage location where they had decided to rear their puppies to come. I wanted to sterilize Khuki, but it’s been impossible to catch her because no human can get close enough to net her.

His second signal to seek treatment was 2 days back when he simply refused to eat and kept on snuggling against my legs, whining loudly and howling, biting and scratching his body intermittently. His signal was “Treat me now, I can eat later”. So yesterday I gave him another dose and although he had struggled a bit during the first shot 3 weeks back, this time he stood as still as a car stands in a car wash station. He definitely knows now that it’s the injection that caused so much of cure from the earlier horrid condition. And look at the effect after 24 hrs when shooting this video. Not a single attempt to scratch and he ate up his food quickly. His skin also looks a lot better and the healing that’s happening is evident.

Hopefully many Animal Lovers will be able to cure many mange affected dogs after reading this. It’s very important to treat such dogs because unless they look disease free, people don’t even allow them to sit around anywhere, much less feed them tidbits. For dogs that do not allow touching, the solution lies in Ivermectin 10 mg Tablets in suitable doses, but oral medication takes a lot longer to show effects.

About Scabies:
Scabies in dogs or sarcoptic mange caused by mites called Sarcoptes Scabiei, is a highly contagious skin infestation caused by these mites that burrow into the skin, causing intense itching and skin damage. It’s spread through direct contact between dogs or, less commonly, via contaminated items like bedding. Symptoms include hair loss, crusts that often crack and peel to create red and raw sores all over the body and cause intense itching, particularly on the ears, elbows, and abdomen.

While specific treatment should be as per Vet doctor’s guidance, the general protocol requires subcutaneous Ivermectin 10 mg/ml potency injection at dosage of 0.4 ml per kg body weight at intervals of 8 days for 4 to 6 weeks as a minimum if it’s not possible to implement other supportive treatment like bathing and cleaning with Medicated Shampoos.