Hair Loss -- drastic.

I just read the post about shedding - and given the weather is slightly - warming low 50's, I thought that may be why my ff is shedding - however, her sis has a really thick coat and I thought she was shedding all that winter down - now I see a stripe down the spine like a reverse mohawk and skin!  on top of her neck also see skin.  She has alot of dry skin flakes in the hair.  BUT no bugs to be seen - skin looks normal color - dark/ no scabs, lesions - etc.  they havent been scratching alot. 

If she has some sort of mite - would pour on Ivermectin help? 

 

wouldnt hurt to try anyway i suppose - she is eating ok - alfalfa, grain etc. 

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  • took it - was dry skin not parasites.  at least had it been - i would have a reason why

    do you use ditameous earth?  didnt spell right probably - i got some today thinking i was so right - great another $20 bill - sigh.... but have it may as well use it - what had you said about using pour on ivermectin on goats as to dosage??

    Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

    Normally to check for mites they do a skin scraping and look at that under the microscope. Ask if the vet can use the sample you have before you take it in, just so you don't waste a trip.


    From what I've heard and read, all external goat parasites dislike humans, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.


    Melissa Johnson said:

    talked to vet - he mentioned zinc also - but thought it was metabolic - thought maybe the hay may have had a broad leaf plant in it - and she had suffered an "insult" - i didnt think they was any crustiness - at first.  

     however, i went out this evening with a pail of hot water with oatmeal in it and hair conditioner.  i thought with all that dry skin her skin must feel awful.  i took a rag and dipped and started scrubing on her topline and right above her tail head - she went bulistic like i was killing her - now it is sensitive or was it just the wet rag???  i took the rag outside in the sun and saw all these little brown specks bout the diameter of a small pencil line little less than 1/16th inch - i think it is mites - the pail of water was full of it after dipping the rag in and squeezing it out 3 or 4 times - oops, what, i have to scratch..... oh yea, i took a tuft of hair with some particles put in a bag and sucked some up from the water in a bottle with eye dropper that was laden with those particles, it wasnt skin - going to take to the vet tomorrow and see if they will look under the microscope.... yep, that's the plan.

     btw, can I get these mites?  if that's what it is??

    I am suspicious of the mites that are in the hair follicle? that live in the sebum?  i think that is what I read - so be that the case - i will have to treat Everyone - and what do I do about their barn room??  will see what he says - i notice both kids scratching away.  darn.

  • Normally to check for mites they do a skin scraping and look at that under the microscope. Ask if the vet can use the sample you have before you take it in, just so you don't waste a trip.


    From what I've heard and read, all external goat parasites dislike humans, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.


    Melissa Johnson said:

    talked to vet - he mentioned zinc also - but thought it was metabolic - thought maybe the hay may have had a broad leaf plant in it - and she had suffered an "insult" - i didnt think they was any crustiness - at first.  

     however, i went out this evening with a pail of hot water with oatmeal in it and hair conditioner.  i thought with all that dry skin her skin must feel awful.  i took a rag and dipped and started scrubing on her topline and right above her tail head - she went bulistic like i was killing her - now it is sensitive or was it just the wet rag???  i took the rag outside in the sun and saw all these little brown specks bout the diameter of a small pencil line little less than 1/16th inch - i think it is mites - the pail of water was full of it after dipping the rag in and squeezing it out 3 or 4 times - oops, what, i have to scratch..... oh yea, i took a tuft of hair with some particles put in a bag and sucked some up from the water in a bottle with eye dropper that was laden with those particles, it wasnt skin - going to take to the vet tomorrow and see if they will look under the microscope.... yep, that's the plan.

     btw, can I get these mites?  if that's what it is??

    I am suspicious of the mites that are in the hair follicle? that live in the sebum?  i think that is what I read - so be that the case - i will have to treat Everyone - and what do I do about their barn room??  will see what he says - i notice both kids scratching away.  darn.

  • talked to vet - he mentioned zinc also - but thought it was metabolic - thought maybe the hay may have had a broad leaf plant in it - and she had suffered an "insult" - i didnt think they was any crustiness - at first.  

     however, i went out this evening with a pail of hot water with oatmeal in it and hair conditioner.  i thought with all that dry skin her skin must feel awful.  i took a rag and dipped and started scrubing on her topline and right above her tail head - she went bulistic like i was killing her - now it is sensitive or was it just the wet rag???  i took the rag outside in the sun and saw all these little brown specks bout the diameter of a small pencil line little less than 1/16th inch - i think it is mites - the pail of water was full of it after dipping the rag in and squeezing it out 3 or 4 times - oops, what, i have to scratch..... oh yea, i took a tuft of hair with some particles put in a bag and sucked some up from the water in a bottle with eye dropper that was laden with those particles, it wasnt skin - going to take to the vet tomorrow and see if they will look under the microscope.... yep, that's the plan.

     btw, can I get these mites?  if that's what it is??

    I am suspicious of the mites that are in the hair follicle? that live in the sebum?  i think that is what I read - so be that the case - i will have to treat Everyone - and what do I do about their barn room??  will see what he says - i notice both kids scratching away.  darn.

  • Deborah, I havent used pour-on for a couple of months.  this is no normal - spring hair loss - the skin is smooth and no crusty spots - but there is flakes of skin everywhere - if you gently take fingers and grasp the hair, it comes out root and all as if it were never attached.  pretty soon she will be bald..... damn

     

     the hair immediately down the spine is still intact - but, if I pull on it???  but on either side gone - pretty much, near neck and like i said if i gently pull away from the skin - it just comes off in my hand like fluff.  called vet - he is to call me back.  she is eating alfalfa - i notice the lactating doe is loosing alot of hair also - but i havent see any skin yet - just loose hairs 

  • I realized that my goat's "hair loss" was most likely because I didn't pay close attention to what she looked like BEFORE she got her winter coat... I also think when she shed, she lost some of her "regular" coat. Now that she's been without her winter coat for a while now, her normal coat seems to have also filled back in.
  • And about pour-ons -- they can actually cause hair loss in some goats.
  • I'm seeing it here this year for the first time ever, and I thought it was a zinc deficiency. A vet resident at U of I also thought it was a zinc deficiency and prescribed MultiMin, but I haven't had the nerve to use it yet because I know someone who lost three does after injecting them with it. Zinc deficiency can be caused by too much calcium, which is certainly a possibility because we normally feed grass hay to all goats except those in milk, and we couldn't get grass hay for them this year, so all that calcium in the alfalfa could be the culprit.
  • It could be a mineral deficiency, but I think someone else should answer.  I don't know enough to tell you...
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