# My new Jenny is losing hair all of a sudden



## JwPond (Apr 8, 2019)

Does anyone know what this is? I just noticed it today. I just got her and her little Minnie donkey friend about a week ago. The big one is the one with the hair loss. Her name is Ruth. The little one is Esther. Ruth hasn’t let me touch her yet, although she will eat carrots and apples that I hand feed her. The little one lets me pet her. Do you think it’s nerves, or is it ringworm, or another kind of infection? Any help is very much appreciated!


----------



## Baymule (Apr 8, 2019)

Is that the only bare spots? They look like bite marks. They could be arguing on who is going to be the leader. In every herd there is the lead mare and there is always the one on the bottom of the social order, no matter the size of the herd.


----------



## JwPond (Apr 8, 2019)

I’ve never seen them argue or fight. They were my neighbors across the street before I got them. I bought both because they’re inseparable and love each other. I don’t see any wounds where the skin has been torn. I have some blue coat spray. Do you think I should spray some on the bare areas?


----------



## Bunnylady (Apr 9, 2019)

I'm wondering about rain rot. Donkey hair doesn't shed water like horse hair does, and those two are pretty wooly; if they've been getting wet to the skin, nasty things could be going on.


----------



## Baymule (Apr 9, 2019)

That was going to be my next suggestion.


----------



## Bunnylady (Apr 9, 2019)

My minis had a bout of rain rot a few years ago. We got an extended spell of wet weather right at the time when they were growing in their winter coats. When they are summer slick it isn't a problem, and when they are properly winter fluffy they shed rain like a sheep (except for the mule, she gets soaked, regardless). Getting rained on during that period when they were fuzzy, but not yet shaggy, meant they got wet and stayed that way. It was just a few scattered postage stamp sized patches, so not bad. I obsessed over it throughout that winter, but once they shed out the next spring, it cleared up entirely and didn't return (and I learned to put their hay under shelter during inclement weather).


----------



## Rammy (Apr 13, 2019)

I know when my horse would get rain rot, from her coat being so thick in the winter, I could literally just pull her hair and she would be bald undeneath. It never was red or irritated like that.
It does look like rain rot. I changed my answer after zooming in the pic.


----------



## AmberLops (Apr 14, 2019)

It looks like rain rot to me...
You can mix some iodine with gentle shampoo and wash the spots. That will help clear up rain rot.
Adding apple cider vinegar to the water will also help...it changes the pH of the skin making it a less suitable place for fungus and pests. Tea tree oil works too but if you're not careful it can irritate the skin more.
I've always found that the natural remedies work much better for rain rot


----------



## frustratedearthmother (Apr 14, 2019)

We had a bout of rain rot some years back - but it was only on the top of her back where the rain would sit instead of running down....


----------



## Baymule (Apr 15, 2019)

The first time I saw rain rot I was horrified, I thought they had mange.  Per the instructions of a friend, I put several cap fulls of Pine O' Pine in a bucket of water and sponged it on my horses. TaDa! No more mange!


----------



## frustratedearthmother (Apr 15, 2019)

It's been decades ago - but I remember using diluted Clorox for rain rot.  Even further back (about a hunnert years ago) when I was a child - we bathed our dogs in diluted pine-o-pine and it killed the heck outta fleas.


----------



## JwPond (Apr 23, 2019)

To everyone who replied, thank you so much! I was in Tractor Supply today, and I saw on one of the bottles of medication the word “rain rot” and realized that she lost her hair just after an incredibly torrential downpour. It was the same week we brought them to our place, and I think they hadn’t figured out where the barn was yet. This Jenny won’t let me touch her. I have a sneaking suspicion she may have been mistreated before her previous owners. That’s what my friend said who I got her from. My friend and her teenage daughters treated both of them like gold. It does look like it has crusted over now. I’ve been thinking maybe I need to somehow put some type of remedy in a spray bottle to get to it, but she may bolt then. Thanks again! I’m pretty sure it’s rain rot now.


----------

