Symptoms of mites

[Leslie Honcoop]

My 9 month old wether has lost hair around his eyes and the bridge of his nose. He also has crusty sores on his ears and maybe a few around his nose. Last year, my older wether had the same symptoms and eventually had scaly skin on his tail and hair loss. He didn’t have the ear sores. I treated him with injectable ivermectin (1cc/25lbs) — 3 treatments 10 days between them. This year I tried the same for the 9 month old — but it hasn’t cleared it up. It improved but then it flared up again. It was probably 14 days between the last 2 shots. Could that be why it wasn’t effective? I did not treat the other goats as they show no signs of mites. (same as last year, only one goat had symptoms) Could the mites be present on the others? just not enough to produce the symptoms but enough to re-infect the little guy? I’ve also treated him with Cylence in case of lice. Other than his face, his coat is full and fluffed for winter. Thanks for any advice!

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

Hair loss around the eyes and on the bridge of the nose are often caused by copper deficiency. Crusty sores on his ears could be caused by something completely different. 

When you say the buck improved but then flared up again, do you mean all symptoms or only the ears? 

Is this what you're seeing in your buck? This buck should be completely black. That's skin you're seeing around his eyes because all of his hair had fallen out. 

[Leslie Honcoop]

Yes! That’s it! I will read your advice on copper insufficiency. And I’ll wrastle the little guy to clean his ears and see what I can find out about that problem. This is a big help. I’ve been headed in the wrong direction.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

It's not really a good idea to use injectable dewormers with goats because it stays in their system for a couple of months at a really low level, so that all of the worms in their gut are being exposed to a low level of dewormer, which is basically like giving the worms a vaccine so they can become immune to the dewormer. Pour-on dewormers don't work very well for goats with worms, but they work great for goats with external parasites. 

[Leslie Honcoop]

I’ve been avoiding de-wormers. I did fecals to check for worms and my goats were clear. I’ve only used the dewormer/parasiticide for the mites. I did check the wethers ears tonight and the sores are mostly gone. Smooth ears again! What do you suggest if there are mites?

[Leslie Honcoop]

I should say that because the decals were clear, I did not use de-wormer. I have the right amount of goats/pasture as the grass never gets mobbed to the ground. Trying to keep it to 3-4” tall. Also have a paddock to limit grazing when grass is rich and to keep it from being overgrazed.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

Pour-on ivermectin works for mites and lice.