Heavy Hairloss in ND Doe

[woodsie]

My precious Scarlette looks a mess right now. Earlier this week I noticed the hair on her neck thinning…I thought it was just from it rubbing on the bars of the feeder. Now she looks a real mess..big patches of hair falling out everywhere, especially on her back and hindquarters. The hair falls out very easily, if you pull on it slightly it just comes out in a clump. We are on the west coast (BC) and our weather has been all over the map, warm +10C then down to -16 the next day. It seems plant and animals alike are having a hard time figuring out if spring is here or not.
Scarlette is also almost weaned her doling so there may be some hormonal changes happening…I have not noticed a heat cycle yet…she kidding in the middle of December. None of the other goats have similar hairless and she does not appear to be itchy or have scaly skin. A couple weeks ago I noticed that she was losing the downy undercoat but now it is the guard hairs that are coming out.

I dewormed her with Safeguard a couple days ago, she has been given about a cup of dairy ration a day while nursing and free choice good quailty 2nd cut alfafa and grass hay, and free-choice loose minerals. She is very big definitely not underweight (she still looks pregnant but has always had that "preggo look", she's a very big ND).

Anyone know what this might be? She looks terrible and I would like to get her back to her beautiful self.

 

[woodsie]

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[animalmom]

Let me start out with, gee, I dunno, but I have a ND buck that looses his hair starting at the neck and then his face. Right now I can see skin on his face and neck. I thought his collar was pulling out his neck hair, but the collar wouldn't account for the sparse hair on his face.

He did this last year when it wasn't this cold and I took a leap of faith and copper bolused him. He gets good minerals with the recommended level of copper, but this time of year he looks rather mangy. He doesn't have scaly skin or lice or anything like that. Bottom line he gets his copper bolus about this time of year.

Could your doe be needing some copper?

 

[woodsie]

I guess its possible she's not getting enough copper…all the other goats seem fine though. Our area is not copper deficient, she has always had a nice glossy coat and it seemed to go fall out rather swiftly to be a copper deficiency. I suspect these crazy weather changes but she's practically lost everything on her back sides and neck, still hair on her tummy and legs. Seems way too cold this winter to be lice or worms? I can dose her with some copper, but it has to be human supplements as we are not in a copper deficient area and non of our feed stores carry it for goats or cattle. I am at a loss.

I think I will contact the breeder I got her from to see if she has a history of losing her coat in Spring.

 

[jodief100]

My first guess would be external parasites like lice or mites, the second is mineral deficiency of some sort. Can you get a blood test on mineral levels? It could be copper or Selinium.

 

[DonnaBelle]

If it isn't mites or lice, it could be a fungus. Get some athletes foot medicine and try that.

 

[woodsie]

I am treating her with ivomec pour on which should take care of lice and worms. I had called the vet and despite the cold weather they said they having a lot of calls suspecting lice so that is likely the problem. My neighbour came over and said looks like lice to him too..I have no idea where she would've picked it up but hopefully she starts getting new hair soon. The weather is supposed to warm up soon so hopefully she'll feel better soon. thanks for the responses…I'll keep you posted on her progress.

 

[Brynn]

If it is not lice or worms try giving the doe some black oil sunflower seeds. It helped my doe with hair loss that was not because of an illness.

 

[madcow]

Two of my does (pygmies) have had instances of losing some of their hair at times. Both of them blew out dollar-sized chunks of hair right on the top of their heads within days after each of them kidding, but it started to grow back very quickly and I chalked it up to hormonal changes. One of those does last summer just cropped up suddenly with 2 dime-sized bald spots on the same side, with one spot close to the shoulder area and the other close to the rump. I was thinking it was fungal and treated with antifungal several times, but that made no difference. I then used a little Sevin Dust thinking it might be mites or lice and that didn't work either. I got some spray on Blu-Coat and hit both spots just once each and the hair started coming back and grew back in without the baldness spreading or re-occurrence. It was weird and I never did figure out what it was. Skin problems are probably the most difficult to diagnose, even with humans, and you will just need to keep trying different treatments for different skin problems until you hit one that works. The causes could be many, ranging from fungal, parasites, something they came in contact with, dietary deficiencies/imbalances, or something systemic, such as sudden hormonal changes. Skin problems are not always easy to figure out.

 

[woodsie]

Well I am happy to report that Scarlet has a nice shiny coat coming back in now and seems much happier again. I want to do the rest of the herd because I suspect it was lice but some are pregnant and due within the next month and not sure what I should use? Any advice in treating for lice on pregnant goats? I do have some BOSS and will give them some each to help gloss up the coats.