Goat biting herself ?

[mrszlopez]

My 3-4month old baby firl goat Penny has some bald spots near her rear & up by her shoulders. Weve seen her biting herself in the areas of the hair loss & she rubs against the wooden fence. Ive had goats before & ive never had this problem before. Is this normal ?

 

[KellyHM]

Hmmm...never seen that before, but things that come to mind are external parasites (mites, ring worm, scabies, etc.). The other random possibility could be pseudo rabies if you have lots of wild pigs around...more likely some type of parasite though. You might want to have your vet do some skin scrapes & fungal culture.

 

[lilhill]

I would agree. I'm thinking mites or lice.

 

[mrszlopez]

okay. i dont have pigs lol. but i thought mites or lice first too & i have two nigerian dwarfs & two sheep in with her & she is the only one doing it. her & the sheep came from the same place. ive checked her & dont see anything at all. but i will continue to look into it. if it get s worse i will call the vet.

 

[KellyHM]

Just b/c the others aren't doing it doesn't mean it isn't parasites...she could just be more susceptible due to her age or a genetic factor...same as demodectic mange in dogs...they all carry it, but only certain ones actually have a problem with it. Good luck!

 

[mrszlopez]

What is the kind of treatment for that ? I had a puppy that had the demadectic mites. She was a mess but now shes better. Is there anything i can do to get rid of it before calling the vet ? I dont mind having the ve come out but just wondering how they go about treating it. Thanks !!!

 

[KellyHM]

Unfortunately it depends on what type of mites/lice they have. Some of them can be killed with Ivomec, but others need other meds...

 

[username taken]

most likely biting lice ... they will all have differing levels of the parasites, generally you find one absolutely infested and the others seemingly not affect but with very low levels

 

[pinkfeather]

Lice, mites, or mange. Pour on eprinex works well (ASAP PLEASE!).

 

[ThornyRidge]

get yourself some injectable ivomec for swine and cattle (sells at most feed/livestock stores) and draw up 1 cc for every 25 lbs the goat weighs.. then remove needle and carefully administer the liquid orally.. ivermecten works great for both internal and external parasites (which sounds like what is going on here..) if she is biting and chewing herself and or rubbing bald spots I would guess lice and she is itching herself raw.. this will work for that.. depending on severity you may have to administer another drench again in approximately 10 days.. make sure you have a good loose goat mineral out and give a small handful of Black oil sunflower seeds a couple times a week and before you know it her coat will look good again.