3 yr old Nubian doe has REALLY bad skin on back of lower back legs, and front of lower front legs. Hair is thin, and the skin looks and feels really tough and rough. Like the skin is grains of sand...pieces of dry grainy skin. WAY beyond dandruff!!! Not red, open sores,or tender.Does not seem to itch. The rough grains of skin do not rub off easily. She kidded about 5 weeks ago, was wormed then. No other spots on her. She runs with 2 other does, who do not have anything on their legs. One has a similar kind of patch, but on the back of her neck, and where the collar rubs...I assumed it was related to that, but maybe not????

Any ideas what this is,and/or what I do?

-- JJ Menzel (menzel@netins.net), April 12, 2002

Answers

Have the two other does kidded recently? If not it could be nutritional, takes alot to nurse kids or be milked and continue to grow. What kind of mineral program do you use? It also could be something like a staph infection. Invironmental staph also can attack only does with weaken immune systems. Has she only has this since she kidded? I would inject ivermectin 1% 1cc per 100 pounds just to make sure this isn't some sort of mite. I also would wash her legs down with chlorhexiderm and improve my minerals. Do you have zinc in either your minerals or grain? Whats the ppm of the minerals you use? If the weather has been really wet, build some raised platforms, as exotic as beds up off the ground in the barn, to pallets that have solid tops, this gets the goats up off the ground when they lay down. We have these out in the grass which is wet for a good part of the morning from our humidity, also helps with their hooves, letting them dry. If this scruff is also between her toes I would be it is rain scald or the like, if you mess with it to much with too many chemicals, it will grow into phemphigus or staph with secondary bacteria. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (Nubians) (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.

One of our goats had a problem rather like this and the problem turned out to be a salt deficiency. She had a salt block available to her, but didn't use it. We fed her salt by hand at one milking each day (our animals tend to be coddled - you might just want to try mixing some extra salt into her feed). Try feeding a little salt from your hand and if she gobbles it up then a deficiency is probably the problem. With our goat it took a couple of weeks to go away.

-- Alice (megatron_revised@yahoo.com), April 13, 2002.

It has been a problem only in the last week or so. I noticed when I did a hoof trim. And the ?hocks( that tough knob above the hoof) looks like it is flaking apart, kind of like an old clam shell...you can see layers and edges there)I offer loose mineral/salt, but may need to watch if she actually eats that. Or add to feed with grain( they got good at picking around it, but I guess some would stick in the grain, too). I do think it has zinc, will check.

2 other does kidded at about the same time, without symptoms.

Not sure about wet feet...we are in northern Ia, and are just getting to the place where pastures are not frozen. Goats have been indoors a lot(do not like snow), and so not on wet ground. And a dry winter, so ground is pretty dry.

Where do I get the chloro-??? stuff? At a vet? I only have a few goats, so do not need big supplies....

Thanks much for input, and I will see how it goes. JJ

-- JJ Menzel (menzel@netins.net), April 13, 2002.

I have a doe that just refuses to eat minerals. Her coat got dull, rough and brittle. She was getting bald patches where she would rub and they just weren't filling back in. Dandruff everywhere. Knew it wasn't a worm problem. None of the others had the coat problem....but the rest eat minerals. Finally started giving her B complex shots. Thought I could see improvement within a week. Once her hair started growing back I started giving her a childrens chewable vitamin (which she will eat) a few times a week. So far the vitamin tablets seem to be doing the trick and I have quite giving her the B shots. Her coat has grown back, it's soft and shiney again, and no more dandruff. Lacey

-- Lacey (cddllt@webtv.net), April 14, 2002.

Chlorhexiderm is cheap, the vet buys it by the gallon so have him just sell you a pint, put it into a spray bottle to use. You can also use novalsan, comes in a tub, looks like yellow vaseline, you can get it at a large feed store or in Jefferslivestock.com.

Might want to do a search on phemphigus. If this isn't a herd wide problem than it is this does immune/hormone system. When a simple thing like staph gets started under the skin, the does system after kidding goes crazy. Her body is replacing skin before the old skin has sloughed off, just like shingles in humans. All the outside type treatments will only mask the problem, soften the dew claw and skin, but the hormonal problem still stays. You could try one of the many, ID-1, Hoeggers serum etc. to boost their immune system, at the same time maybe a treatment of Dexamenthazone, given once a day IM for 3 days, than for 3 more days 1/2 half the amount, a powerful steriod. Sunlight will help, but until her skin heals it will look like this. You will have to scrub the shingles off her dewclaws, since they don't slough off like skin does, once she is healed. Good luck. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 14, 2002.

Vicki---would you recommend this treatment for my doe also? I would hate to be just treating the symptoms and not the real cause. Thanks, Lacey

-- Lacey (cddllt@webtv.net), April 15, 2002.

Hope I'm not doing a thread etiquette no-no here. But hated to start another thread with this one going. What I could pull up on pemphigus just gave me more questions. So just trying to glean what I can out of everyone:).

From what I gather, evidence of blisters would be a a good indication of pemphigus. My particular doe did not have this. So I am assuming either I caught it before it came to this stage. And am fairly sure it was linked with her mineral/vitamin intake. So thinking if I had not done anything, a prolong absence of the minerals & vitamins could weaken the immune system enough to go into pemphigus?

Did I understand the searches right...they seemed to have indicated there wasn't a cure for this, but basically a maintence routine with meds. Which for me personally, I would opt to maintain with the immune boosters you reccommended, and making sure nutritional intake was at its best, if it did the trick rather than a lifelong med treatment. Just wanting to know more :)...thanks, Lacey

-- Lacey (cddllt@webtv.net), April 15, 2002.

Lacey if you don't have mites on this doe than you just have a problem with her skin, nutritional. Try working with her rumen to see why she isn't wanting to even eat her grain. Can you get kelp? Does love this. B vitamins would help her appetite, but won't do anything for her hair. How about giving her some black oil sunflowerseeds, high in fat in protein. Sprinkle the Kelp and minerals over their grain in a large salt shaker, friend of mine uses the big shakers that garlic powder is sold in.

Phemphugus isn't blisters, though the first small pustules that they infect, which really isn't the word for it, are usually staph. Phemphugus is the body going hay wire and laying down more and more skin cells before the underneath has had a chance to slough off, so it is red underneath if you could scrub away the rough outer layers. On the dewclaws is the picture of what phemphugus is. It is caused by an auto=immune non response, the body just can't quit. Perhaps info under shingles in humans. Doesn't sound like this is what Lacey's goats have at all. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 15, 2002.