Qs re: heel mites

[Goat Servant]

Around here in western Washington, a couple of does come up with it every late spring.
This year it is a couple of my 8mo olds. These girls were put in a never used pen in Sept as soon as they came home from a show.
Anytime anyone goes out we dip their feet in bleach water as soon as they are unloaded.
Out of four, one has all four heels infected and another only one heel.

Bear with me here...they have been treated but Im wondering why? How come they have it?

Chickens are in the main pen....no one there has heel mites at least not yet.

All goats are the same lines. Ive taken note of who seems to be coming down with this...and this yr it is a young doe of the same lines as everyone else who has it the worst, and late fall instead of spring to boot!

[deetu]

Now, I don't have scientific fact, but I think the mites come off other animals, squirrels, mice, moles and affect the goats. This year, I had three goats come down with it (although none were on the legs)
The whether I just gave a shot of Ivermectin and it was gone. The two does I have tried treating with tea tree oil and didn't work. I have put a liquid wormer on it but it is too soon to see.
I feel bad injecting the Ivermectin because it is obvious that it hurts them.

Humm... now that I'm thinking about it, although all the goats are related, the goats that were affected are grandma, mom and son...

[Dodgegal79]

This might be a dumb question, but what are "heel" mites. I have never heard of that before. Could they have foot rot???

[waygr00vy]

They act like they are going to die when you give them the ivermectin shot! I just had to do a few as this is the time of year I have to keep watch for external parasites. You would really think you are killing them the way they carry on, poor things!

[chris30523]

Never heard of heel mites. May be what I call leg scunge. I have a maternal line who gets this. I can't believe it is mites because no one else gets it. It starts on the hind legs and moves from the heels up. It is scabby and some hair loss.They get it usually in the spring but I have had them get it in the fall. I dip their legs in a strong betadine solution. It stings but usually one dip is enough.The bad taste keeps them from chewing for a couple of days.They do have orange legs for a while though.

[Goat Servant]

Dodgegal its actually chorioptic mange per vet diagnosis a few yrs ago; sounds uglier than it is when caught early. It starts in the heel right above the hoof and if not treated can travel up the leg.
Little red scabs, blood? Patches of skin missing & yellowish wax -like deposits, dont know wether its skin or the little critters themselves.
WaygrOOvy I treat with ivermectin pour on every 21 days if they have been recently wormed. Put some in a syringe w/out the needle and treat the heel topically.
In the past Ive done bleach water, tea tree oil, vinegar water...nothing made a signficant dent. So I skip all that and go for the poisen.