Recent Columns You may get more from your cat than unconditional love. A lady called me last week for some advice. Mange is a skin disease that is caused by mites.
Mites are tiny little bugs that burrow in the skin.
They are usually too small to be seen without a microscope, but Cheyletiella mange mites are large, as mites go, and you can sometimes just barely see them if they happen to be moving across the surface of the skin. Cheyletiella can infest dogs, cats, and rabbits. They often do not cause much itching or skin disease, except for dandruff. The white flakes of dead skin and debris we call dandruff can be caused by many other things too, and cheyletiella mange mites can be very hard to find, especially on cats. Cats are fastidious groomers and may do such a good job of cleaning up the mites and eggs that close examination and skin scrapings may all be negative.