Humans can get scabies from handling an affected animal, characterized by intense itching, worse at night, inside the arms or on the waist, chest, hands, or wrists. The good news is that the mite cannot reproduce on human skin, so the infestation ends within three weeks unless there is additional exposure. Female mites tunnel underneath the skin of a dog or cat to lay their eggs, which hatch within ten days. The immature mites become adults and lay their own eggs. This cycle takes about twenty-one days.
Mites prefer the ears, elbows, hocks, and face.
Some dogs will shake their ears frequently, which causes ear swelling. Crusty, intensely itchy ear tips are an important sign. As a test, if you rub the edge of the ear between your fingers, the dog will immediately scratch on that side. Continuous scratching and biting lead to hair loss, crusting, serum seepage, scabs, and small, itchy red bumps, and eventually to pyoderma, a secondary bacterial infection. In its final stages, scabies results in thick, darkly pigmented skin.