Best Way to Clean a Couch and Bedding Where Dog With Mange Sleeps?
My dog has mange and sleeps in the bed and on my couch. How to I clean those?
Mpls., Mn
12/09/2016
Hey Jesse,
If your dog has demodectic mange -aka 'red mange' then you simply need to wash the bedding if it is soiled and you do not have to worry about getting mange yourself. If your dog has sarcoptic mange, then you can get this in the form of human scabies; the mites cannot reproduce on you, but they can make you miserable as they live out their life cycle. Mange mites typically do not survive off the host, but sarcoptic mites have been known to hitch a ride on people. The best advice I can give is to launder the bedding daily in hot water and use Borax laundry booster in the wash along with the soap. Launder daily until you get the sarcoptic mites under control. If you cannot take the cushion covers off to wash them, get some diatomaceous earth - either food grade or the kind for pests from the hardware store [not the pool kind, that is the wrong kind] and dust the couch with the DE - get every crack and crevice and apply heavily. Leave the dust down and cover the couch with a sheet or two and replace the sheets daily while you use the couch until you cure your dog of mange. Then you can vacuum up the dust from the couch and remove the sheet. Also consider dipping your dog in Ted's Mange Remedy and follow his protocol to rid your dog of mange.
