How contagious is mange?

[Mousey]

My boyfriend said he saw some stray dogs wondering around that look like they eitherr have mange or bad calliouses from the street. But anyways since they are hanging around his work I was wondering if they do have mange and if he steps where the dogs have been and then comes home and steps into our garage can our dogs get it? The humane society has been called but they can't do anything until they find the dogs.

[Padfoot]

There are two types of mange, Demodectic and Sarcoptic. Demodectic mange is cause by the mite Demodex, and is not passed from dog to dog and it's not contagious to humans. Usually dogs have the mites in their skin and if they get sick with another thing, or if they are stressed or weak, they flare up. Sarcoptic mange is caused by the mite Sarcoptex and is contagious to both other dogs and humans. Even though each type of mange have certain characteristic patterns, to know exactly which one is, a skin scrapping is needed.

[corgimom]

Yeah, what padfoot said.

If they have alot of hair loss, my guess would be either a major flea problem that's making them scratch their fur off or mange. But without a skin scraping, there is no way to find out whether or not it is contagious.

I'm not sure if the mites that cause sarcoptic mange can survive off of a host long enough to "wait" on the ground for someone else to walk by or if there has to be a direct transfer from host to host.

[Mousey]

I was just wondereing incase they/we can get mange from my boyfriend walking to work from the car and back. But I guess I'll have to wait and see what the vet will say. the dogs have just started going there and hanging in front of the shop.