Skin impression with acetate tape in Demodex canis and Scarcoptes scabiei var. vulpes diagnosis

This study compares the efficacy of skin impression with acetate tape and the deep skin scraping test to find D. canis and S. scabiei in dogs. During six months, 134 samples were collected by both techniques from 115 dogs treated at the dermatology service of the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Santa Maria (HVU-UFSM). Of these patients, 27 had demodicosis and 12 had scabies. The impression with acetate tape test (ITT) was shown to be significantly superior to the deep skin scraping test (DSST) in finding D. canis and S. scabiei mites (p = 0.007). Based on our results we could conclude that acetate tape impression is a reliable method for diagnosing and monitoring therapy of dermatopathies caused by mites and can be used to replace the traditional deep skin scraping method. In addition, since it is less traumatic for the dog, this method shows more acceptance by the owner.