Help...Skin/Ear issue. Pics Included

[LoneStrChic23]

This is my moms miniature alpine buck born in February. At first he had bald ear tips....we thought it was because my Lamancha kept mouthing his ears (he suffers from ear envy I think) but it rapidly became what it is now. His ears looked similar to what one of my bunnies with horrible ear mites, but only the tips of his ears are affected. His inner ears are perfectly clean, & no smell & don't seem tender.

The other bucks he shares a pen with have no issues. These scales are so thicj they are making his normally errect ears look like airplane ears.

Back of his ear:


Ear view from the front:


And here is the top of his head....the skin is kind of scaley there & the hair has thinned out....not sure if it's relevant but thought I'd snap a pic anyways:



I had an Ivermectin/oil mix the vet gave me for my bunnies ear mite infestation....used it in him with no change at all. Was thinking of using Nolvasan on him.....Whatcha think? Any ideas on what I should put on it?

Thanks in advance!

[KrisD]

weird our dog had that on her ears and on the ends of her toes. Our vet gave us something called Kerasolve. I had to apply it daily but it made a big difference. I want to say she called it hyperkeritosis. Our dog also lost the hair on the ends of her ears because of it. It looks and behaves exactly the same way. If I picked at the crusty skin it would bleed.

[LoneStrChic23]

Weird.... I have no idea what this is.. Another post on a different forum thought it looked like mange mite damage.

Going to do some digging & see if I can find my mom a solution that doesnt involve paying my vet 1/2 the mortgage for a skin scraping.

Goats.....always something!

[Suzyq2u]

how's the heat? I'm sure you're suffering like us...maybe the sun?

[LoneStrChic23]

The heat is awful.....averaging 105°-107°. But the boys pen has lots of shade & this lil guy is the only one suffering from nasty ears

[Pony]

I'd treat with an emollient, or zinc oxide ointment. Trub has had patches like that on her flanks before, and the zinc oxide did a nice job of clearing it up.

Of course, it might have cleared on its own, but hey! Zinc oxide is cheap, and it's good for so many things.

[Donna1982]

We had a border collie growing up that had a thyroid issue and his whole body did that. Don't have s clue what your boy has though. Does he act like it itchy?

[julieq]

I've never seen anything like that, but it looks fungal in origin to me. We deal with it in our horses hooves when it's hot like this. If it was, then Lotrimin cream (clortrimazole generic) should work and it wouldn't cost too much to try. If it were one of mine I'd definitely get our vet's opinion though.

[Backfourty,MI.]

That looks like he has mites to me. I've had a few of my goats get them at different times over the years & it looks exactly like that. Usually when one of mine would get them though it would usually be on the legs, testacle's, etc. but I did have one of my bucks get a little bit on his ears before I noticed it & treated him.

http://www.goatbiology.com/mites.html
This link explains the different mites & how to treat them.

The first time one of my bucks got mites I used M-T-G on the affected area every other day & also rubbed Ivermectin horse paste on the affected area every other day & that worked.
This last time I used the Ivermectin plus injectible & also the M-T-G on the affected areas.

[LoneStrChic23]

Thanks.... I was thinking some sort of parasite vs a fungus.

Oddly it doesn't seem to bother him & its only on his ears. I have seen dogs with demodectic mange that looked similar to this...I think I'm going to start him on injectable Ivermectin & coat his ears in MTG... I don't have Ivermectin paste on hand so I'll start this for today & grab more supplies when I head into town. My vet supply has topical creams & ointments for various forms of mange so I'll look into those as well.

[Cannon_Farms]

If you can keep him out of the sun MTG will clear it up no matter if its mites of fungus, IM going with fungus. If you have a kiddy microscope you can scrape some skin off and look at it that way.
I personally would use Nustock or Tricare as it can be just that they are chapped from being in water from the trough, and it can help like the MTG in either case.

[susanne]

i also would put zinc oxide on it. but first soak in warm soapy water and get as much of the crusty stuff off as possible.
if it would be mites or fungus, you would see it on other goats too.

[TwosCompany]

I, too, had a dog with ears like that. Never had it on my livestock, just the one dog. my vet said allergies (hmmm..) and put him on steroids and Benadryl. It did clear it up but when the steroid treatment was done, back it came.

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by Cannon_Farms

If you can keep him out of the sun MTG will clear it up no matter if its mites of fungus, IM going with fungus. If you have a kiddy microscope you can scrape some skin off and look at it that way.
I personally would use Nustock or Tricare as it can be just that they are chapped from being in water from the trough, and it can help like the MTG in either case.

There is no way his ears are chapped from the water trough.....he's a miniature alpine with short, erect ears. This stuff has weighed his ears down a bit giving them a slight airplane look, but even so, its physically impossible for him to get his ears in the trough.

If goats get demodectic, would it be like in dogs and affect those with lowered immune systems, while those with healthy immune systems are fine?

Reason I ask is this lil guy had a rough start. Minimal milk from age 2 weeks to 9 weeks old (not sure if he got colostrum). No coccidia prevention until my mom got him (which was at 9 weeks old), parasite overload, obvious signs of copper deficentcy at 9 weeks old then on top of that he had puemonia!

Lots of milk & strict parasite management have gone a long way, but perhaps his immune system isn't like that of his pen mates, hence him being the only one having this issue?? My bucks (his current pen mates, same age) have always had the best of everything from the very begining & have never had the slightest issues.

I really am leaning towards mange mites the more I look at it. It looks & feels identical to the demodectic a Dane foster I took in had....didn't connect the two until it was mentioned here as I've never heard of a goat with mange!

Gave him an injection of Ivermectin & right now his ears are coated in ointment to soften the scabby areas. When mom gets here to help hold him I'm going to wash him well with a mange shampoo & put some zinc ointment on him..

Vet wants $125 for farm visit & at the moment I have no way to take him in, so I'm going to treat myself and if I see no improvement by the end of the week my mom is having my brother take him in to the vet when he gets home this weekend...

I've treated far worse at home so as long as his temp is normal, appetite is good & he's not distressed its worth trying to fix myself...

Will be nice when I'm only housing & caring for my goats alone....lol I swear my mom's goats are set on stressing me out!

[Freya]

Update? Hoping it cleared up!!!!

[motdaugrnds]

LSC if that were on one of my goats, I would prepare a solution of linseed oil and kerosene. I suspect it is some sort of insect and this solution would not permit the insect to breath anything but the kerosene; thus it would die. (I once had a rooster who had a skin condition on his legs that looked exactly like that; when I used the above mixture, I "soaked" those areas for 15 minutes each day for a week. His legs cleared up beautifully.)

[Backfourty,MI.]

Originally Posted by susanne

i also would put zinc oxide on it. but first soak in warm soapy water and get as much of the crusty stuff off as possible.
if it would be mites or fungus, you would see it on other goats too.

I have had a couple goats get mites over the years & never more than 1 at a time so I don't agree. I do think it could be mites & only him that has them.

I still would treat him with the M-T-G topically & if you have the ivermectin plus injectible & want to give it orally rather than in a shot you could try that.
I have heard that it stings like the dickens when given as a shot.
I think if you give the ivermectin you need to do it 3 times though over the period of weeks listed in the link.

[LoneStrChic23]

Hi all... Sorry I haven't updated.

It is demodectic mange.....given his tramatic past, I'm not surprised.

We scrubbed off the scabs with warm nolvasan water, alternated coating his ears in zinc oxide ointment & vasaline. He gets an injection of Ivermectin once per week....vet said to continue this for 6 weeks.

Had his second injection yesterday & already his ears look much better...you can already see areas that are healing around the bottoms & the bald spot at the center of his had is no longer crusty and is starting to fill in again.

His pen mates (my 2 bucks) are fine......we gave them an injection of Ivermectin just in case, but so far they have no signs and the vet said chances of them getting it are slim.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Well good to know you have a diagnosis & how to treat it, bet that's a load off your shoulders for sure. So glad the little guy's ears are starting to heal up already!

[Suzyq2u]

Glad to hear he's doing better, keep up the good work