Mange
The existence of certain insects found burrowing under the skin of the human being, and of various tribes of animals, has been acknowledged from the 12th century. In the 17th century, correct engravings of these insects were produced. On the other hand many doubted their existence, because it had not been their lot to see them. In 1812, Galés, a pupil in the hospital of St. Louis, pretended to have found some of them. They were put into the hands of M. Raspail, of Paris, who proved that they were nothing more than the common cheese-mites; and substituted by Galés for those seen by Bonomo.
Professor Hertwig, of Berlin, has given a graphic sketch of these insects (
Veterinarian
, vol. xi. pp. 373, 489).
Mr. Holthouse states that,
"placed on the skin of a healthy individual, they excite a disease in the part to which they were confined, having all the characters of scabies; that insects taken from mangy sheep, horses, and dogs, and transplanted to healthy individuals of the same species, produce in them a disease analogous to that in the animals from which they were taken; and that there are too many well-attested cases on record to permit us to doubt of scabies having been communicated from animals to man.
may in some degree be considered as an hereditary disease. A mangy dog is liable to produce mangy puppies, and the progeny of a mangy bitch will certainly become affected sooner or later. In many cases a propensity to the disease will be speedily produced. If the puppies are numerous, and confined in close situations, the effluvia of their transpiration and fæcal discharges will often be productive of mange very difficult to be removed. Close confinement, salted food, and little exercise, are frequent causes of mange.
The [Scabby] Mange
is a frequent form which this disease assumes. It assumes a pustular and scabby form in the red mange, particularly in white-haired dogs, when there is much and painful inflammation. A peculiar eruption, termed
surfeit
, which resembles mange, is sometimes the consequence of exposure to cold after a hot sultry day. Large blotches appear, from which the hair falls and leaves the skin bare and rough. Acute mange sometimes takes on the character of erysipelas; at other times there is considerable inflammation. The animal exhibits heat and restlessness, and ulcerations of different kinds appear in various parts, superficial but extensive.
, aperient and cooling medicines are indicated, and also applications of the subacetate of lead, or spermaceti ointment. A weak infusion of tobacco may be resorted to when other things fail, but it must be used with much caution. The same may be said of all mercurial preparations. The tanner's pit has little efficacy, except in slight cases. Slight bleedings may be serviceable, and especially in full habits; setons may be resorted to in obstinate cases. A change in the mode of feeding will often be useful. Mild purgatives, and especially Epsom salts, are often beneficial, and also mercurial alternatives, as Æthiop's mineral with cream of tartar and nitre. The external applications require considerable caution. If mercury is used, care must be taken that the dog does not lick it. The diarrhœa produced by mercury often has a fatal effect.
are useful, but considerable care must be taken in their application. They must be applied to the actual skin, not over the hair. In old and bad cases much time and patience will be requisite. Mr.
had a favourite setter who had virulent mange five years. He was ordered to be dressed every day, or every second day, before the disease was complete conquered.
Cutaneous affections have lately been prevalent to an extent altogether unprecedented on this and on the other side of the channel. In the latter part of 1843 the disease assumed a character which had not been known among us for many years. The common mange, which we used to think we could easily grapple with, was now little seen: even the usual red mange with the fox-coloured stain was not of more frequent occurrence than usual, but an intolerable itchiness with comparatively little redness of skin, and rarely sufficient to account for the torture which the animal seemed to endure, and often with not the slightest discoloration of the integument, came before us almost every day, and under its influence the dog became ill-tempered, dispirited, and emaciated, until he sunk under its influence. All unguents were thrown away here. Lotions of corrosive sublimate, decoction of bark, infusion of digitalis or tobacco, effected some little good; but the persevering use of the iodide of potassium, purgatives, and the abstraction of blood very generally succeeded.
The sudden appearance of redness of the skin, and exudation from it, and actual sores attending the falling off of the hair, and itching, that seemed to be intolerable, have also been prevalent to an unprecedented extent. This mange, however, is to a certain degree manageable. A dose or two of physic should he given, with an application of a calamine powder, and the administration of the iodide of potassium.
Mr. Blaine gives a most valuable account of mange in the dog, part of which I shall quote somewhat at length. Mange exerts a morbid constitutional action on the skin; it is infectious from various miasmata, and it is contagious from personal communication. In some animals it may be produced by momentary contact; it descends to other animals of various descriptions; there is no doubt that it is occasionally hereditary: it is generated by effluvia of many various kinds; almost every kind of rancid or stimulating food is the parent of it. High living with little exercise is a frequent cause of it, and the near approach of starvation is not unfavorable to it. The scabby mange is the common form under which it generally appears. In red mange the whole integument is in a state of acute inflammation; surfeit, or blotches, a kind of cuticular eruption breaks out on particular parts of the body without the slightest notice, and, worse than all, a direct febrile attack, with swelling and ulceration, occurs, under which the dog evidently suffers peculiar heat and pain. Last of all comes local mange. Almost every eruptive disease, whether arising from the eye, the ear, the scrotum, or the feet, is injurious to the quality as well as the health of every sporting dog: the scent invariably becomes diseased, and the general powers are impaired.
There are several accounts of persons who, having handled mangy dogs, have been affected with an eruption very similar to the mange. A gentleman and his wife who had been in the habit of fondling a mangy pug dog, were almost covered with an eruption resembling mange. Several of my servants in the dog-hospital have experienced a similar attack; and the disease was once communicated to a horse by a cat that was accustomed to lie on his back as he stood in the stall.
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