# Rubbing Hair Off



## BlondeSquirrel04 (Apr 28, 2012)

I have a goat who may be bred. Last year when she was bred, she had rubbed patches of hair off of her shoulders. It looked like she was scratching on the fence like a bear would to a tree. This year, though, she's rubbed almost all of the hair from her sides and shoulders. I see no lice or bugs or anything, just balding spots. I know it's her rubbing because I see her do it. It's not that she's balding for nothing.

Just wondering if this was normal. I don't want to be overlooking anything, especially if she is bred. Do pregnant goats do that more than open goats? I hope she's not sick!


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## ksalvagno (Apr 28, 2012)

She could have mites. They are usually hard to see. I would dust her with Sevin Dust or one of the livestock dusts and see if that helps. You could also give her some Rex Brand Wheat Germ Oil. That helps with skin and coat.


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## ragdollcatlady (Apr 28, 2012)

My Jane has slowly rubbed the fur off the middle of her nose for the last few years. I thought maybe from mites so I dusted her and ivermectinized  several times over the years, but no improvement. This year I used valbazen to worm....could have been that, or this was the first year we gave copper bolus a couple of months ago and Bo-Se just a few weeks ago. Her fur is growing back as good as new. I think it could have been nutritional (skin/hair etc...need selenium to stay healthy). The rest of their coats have always been in pretty nice shape and she is an easy keeper averaging 65 pounds for a smaller nigerian....not underconditioned by any stretch! But it still could have been nutritional. Some things you just can't see with the naked eye! By the way, she does rub her whole body up and down, the length of the chain link fence to scratch and loosen up the undercoat. It's a chain link massage! All our goats do this but no one has bald patches, she was the only one and just on her nose.
     I would definitely treat for mites and lice and make sure the copper and selenium are covered. Up until we had babies with a clear selenium deficiency, our vet wouldn't give us a scrip for the Bo Se. Now we can get it no problem, but because I worked really hard to keep them in such good condition, they didn't show signs of deficiency, thus the reluctance from the vet to give something that wasn't clearly needed.
Good luck


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## BlondeSquirrel04 (Apr 29, 2012)

Wouldn't my other goats have it if it were mites or lice??

I'm going to copper bolus everyone soon just to make sure. No one has that "fish tail" look, so I though they were probably not really deficient. Their selenium should be OK.


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## elevan (Apr 29, 2012)

Fish tail is not the only sign of copper deficiency .

No, your other goats would not necessarily have them if this goat has mites or lice  (they're more likely to but it's not an absolute). 

I would pursue the possibility of lice / mites first and then look into copper issues if the goat were here.

There are other vitamin deficiencies that could present with hair loss...zinc being one.


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