Well, my little murph-man has demodex. I'm kinda mad at my vet (and have definitely decided to switch). I took him for his lepto booster and asked about the patches on his face. I was told that they were probably just scratches, but to keep an eye on it. The vet didn't want to do a scraping because Murphy is already afraid of the vet and has a tendency to be wiggly. He said that he "hesitated to do a scraping because of having the blade in close contact with his face." So, we left.
It continued to get worse, so I took him back yesterday. He again said that he didn't want to do the scraping, and suggested just doing a fungal culture first to check for ringworm. I insisted that we do the scraping, though, because I was there. We got the vet tech that is afraid of Murphy (last time, she insisted that he be muzzled, which is fine, but she is clearly uncomfortable with him). I offered to muzzle him for the scraping. In fact, I often muzzle each of my guys. I leave it on for about a minute, then give them peanut butter. I figure it is better for them to get used to it when they don't really need it. But, I digress.
So, the vet had me hold Murphy myself for the scraping because he does so well for me. I didn't really want to, but I thought it would be better for Murphy than having the tech that clearly didn't like him do it. It is demodex. He gave me OxyDex gel (benzoyl peroxide) and antibiotics for a secondary skin infection. Murphy was a champ through the whole process. Hopefully, his hair will grow back in soon. I actually think the outbreak could have been triggered by the period when he was on the meds and stopped eating.