need ANSWERS about 11 year old dog's health please?

[yourboyfriendsnewgirl]

hello,

me and my family are very sad about our 11 year old dogs health. :( his name is Jellybean. he is a half lab and half pitbull, great dog. for the past two weeks he has been rubbing his eyes against furniture and the carpets in the house until the fur is rubbed off and they are raw and very swollen, almost shut. he has bitten the tops of his paws red until the fur has come off in patches there. we took him to the vet and the they said he has bad allergies and possibly mites (found out by scraping the bottom of his paws) -- does this sound like allgeries or mites to any dog experts?

today he had 2 seizure type incidents where he was shaking and fell out. we rushed him to vet again and they gave him more medicine. his eyes in his head are glassy, grayish, almost rolled back in his head from all the rubbing he had been doing. since they give him meds today he has stopped rubbing his eyes and biting his paws but is laying around looking pitiful with swollen eyes he can barely see out of. now the doc says it could be cataracts in both eyes! does this sound like that also? tomm. morning he has to go for blood work b/c we failed to take his muzzle with us today (we were in a rush). sigh. very sad and just wondering if anyone has any experiences like this....

thank you.
Is he likely to die from mites??
He has never had a seizure before.
He eats a food called "Wellness for Seniors."

[paul]

Your vet is right, the dog just has mites.

[Tiny paws]

Yes it could also be cataracts...he could also have mange...ask for a skin biopsy to make sure its mange and not something else. Thank god you have been responsible and have taken that dog to the vet.

What are you feeding him and how often do you bathe him?

add:
Mange are mites under the skin. If its not treated, yes...he could die a slow and painful death and could lose all the fur on his body.

DO NOT bathe your dog more than once a month.
More than that will dry out his skin, make him extremely itchy and could become a severe skin issue.
Any dog shampoo is good as long as it says HYPOALLERGENIC (very important)

[usfbabe85]

It sounds like you could be having multiple issues. Yes, it is likely that an 11 year old large breed dog has cataracts (not related to anything else going on).

As for the itching, it is possible that it is demodectic mange, a type of mite that is present on the skin, but it can cause an infection if the dog's immune system is compromised allowing the mites to burrow in. We most commonly see it in lab, pit bull and bulldog puppies.

The typical treatment for demodectic mange that has gotten this bad is a long course of ivermectin therapy; however, it needs to be administered in increasing dosages because if you just start giving the dog the full dose it can cause a lot of problems...

...Which leads me to the seizures. If you are using ivermectin and it is not being dosed properly, or if you continue to give heartworm prevention (which is ivermectin as well) while you are on an ivermectin therapy, side effects can include neurological damage that leads to seizures. Final side note, what vet does not have muzzles available for use?

As for your additional question, he will not die from mites alone but it is extremely painful if allowed to get to the point that it sounds like it is at.

edit:
P.S. if your vet did prescribe ivermectin and did not tell you to do it in increasing dosages, find a new vet, don't even go for the bloodwork tomorrow because they are probably going to try to cover up their mistake.

[btbuster]

See if you can get Neo-Predef from your vet for the raw spots on your dog.
It is an antibacterial powder medication that is quite amazing.
I saw results witnin 2 days on my dog when she had hot spots.

The itching could be caused by allergies. Ask your vet about Benadryl.

[**DANY**]

I would say allergies, not mites. Has he had any seizures before? If not, maybe it was from the meds they gave him for the itching (if they did).