bald spot on dairy goat help please!

[lettermom]

Our nubian milk goat has a patch about the size of a dime with no fur that just showed up (well technically my Mom's goat but the goat lives at our house) Any idea what it could be? Mom's cat has some bald patches too (Mom lives next door) and i have been trying to keep him away from the goat shed but??? Could it be ringworm? ugh! what about the milk?

[susanne]

sounds like ringworm to me.
this does not affect the milk but still doe should be treated.

[LomahAcres]

Ditto the above. Watch it, because it can spread to your other goats, and I do believe also to people, mostly small kids.

[lettermom]

ugh! How do I treat her? Thanks you two!

[Eunice]

treat with iodine. Much faster than tolnaftate. I use betadine, provadine or teat dip. They all work well. Bleach works too, but is pretty harsh on the skin.

[AnnaS]

Sounds like ringworm to me, too. We have ringworm every year in the spring, the result of the heavy haircoat and the cold temps that keep the girls in the barn for days.

My current favorite treatment is gentican (sp) violet. Most pharmacies will have it behind the counter- I paid under $3. It's a purple dye that also has strong anti-fungal properties. This year's ringworms were cured with one application.

I see that Merek's Vet manual suggests 1 part bleach to 10 parts water; 0.5% chlorhexidine; or 1% providone-iodine. So all the previously suggested treatments should work.

[Common Tator]

Ringworm is a fungus. Get some anti fungal creme or powder at the drugstore, and apply it to the spot with a q tip to avoid infecting yourself.

A creme or powder designed for athletes foot should work.

[ShellCreekFarm]

Our Nubian also has a bare spot on her side. It's about the the size of a nickel but doesn't have any coloring. It's just white where the hair was. Is that ringworm? Since we just got her Monday, we figured she had just rubbed up against something. She was like that when we got her. Would there be a color to it if it's ringworm?

[LomahAcres]

Skin color doesn't always change, you're looking for small (about dime - quarter size?) round bald patches.

You can also use tea tree oil for treatment. Just don't use bleach or peroxide, we did that once in our early goat days. It burned the skin and the hair never grew back.

[okiemom]

is antifungal spray strong enough?

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Where is the spot at? Most of my olde does have hair loss down to white skin at their withers and also at their hips. They spend time out in the woods trying to scub off their winter hair. Now shaved all that stops and the hair will grow back in. The show this weekend will have alot of goats with varying degrees of this every spring, it's why even animals who aren't shown are shaved. Vicki

[prairiedog]

tea tree oil works better than creams and faster

[crazygoatgal]

IT IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT CAN BE PASSED TO HUMANS, BUT BY PHYSICAL CONTACT!!! Good luck, sorry if I am scaring you, I have just seen it happen before and its more of a bother than anything else.

[Sweet Goats]

Originally Posted by prairiedog

tea tree oil works better than creams and faster

DITTO. It is wonderful stuff.