Crusty flaking skin - anyone know what it is - pics are available

[jlbpooh]

My two older goats (23 months and 19 months) both have this crusty looking skin between their front legs on their chests. They have had it for awhile now, but I finally got hubby to hold them down so I could get a good look at it. The two younger ones don't have any of it, and I can't fine this anywhere else on their bodies. Does it look fungal, or parasitic?

Here are the pics:

The first pic doesn't seem to be as bad as the other two pics from my other goat. There is no lump, just crusty skin.

Here are pictures from the second one, he is more affected by this. The darker spot is more like a scabby area, the rest was just very flaky and the skin was bright pink like it was pretty raw. There was no blood whatsoever though. It didn't seem painful to the touch, and I don't seem them rubbing themselves in this area. the only reason I found these spots was when I give them "massages"

Any ideas of what it could be would be appreciated.

Thank you.

ETA: Sorry about the picture quality. I forgot to bring my good camera out, and they weren't wanting to cooperate long enough to go get it. These ended up being cell phone pictures.

 

[ksalvagno]

I would say mites. Definitely start them on Ivomec. There is also this stuff you can use that smells like rotten eggs. You scrub the scabby/scaly areas with it once every three days for like 3 or 4 times. I wish I could remember the name of the stuff but I used so long ago. You get it from the vet.

Another thing that works great on the skin is Nu-Stock. Spread it on affected areas and reapply until skin is back to normal. But you still need to treat for mites.

 

[helmstead]

Is that right on the sternum? Like where their chest touches the ground when they lay down?? It could just be irritation from laying in damp hay or dirt...

Mites typically show up on pasterns and ears...

 

[rebelINny]

I had one goat last year that had very scaling crusty type skin that eventually made her hair fall out, I had a vet do a skin scraping and it came out to be a type of lice that the louse powder we had used on her twice wasn't responding to. We were told to dust her with seven dust twice in a weeks time and see if it worked. It worked and her hair immediately started coming back in. I thought it was a mite but it was a lice. I would try that first. Good luck.

 

[Beekissed]

Nu-Stock devotee here....it works for fungal skin infections AND mites, IME.

 

[ThornyRidge]

hard to see in those pictures but could it be some severe mineral deficiency? what kind of loose minerals do you use? I would definately get them on some if not already, proceed with the parasite treatment and consider some copper bolus, BOSE and possibly some zinc supplements..

 

[jlbpooh]

Yes, it is only on the sternum area, directly in between their front legs. I have completely checked every inch of all of them and can't find anything on the two younger ones, and only in that spot on the older two. It is not weepy, or pussy, or pustules, hairloss, or anything like that. I didn't think to check to see if there was an odor to it. I use Manna Pro Goat minerals, but they broke their mineral feeder recently so they aren't getting them as regularly as they were. I was going to put a new one up, but forgot this past weekend since they completely broke it now. I am going to have to put up a new one in the dark by flashlight.

I felt those spots awhile back, but they felt like callouses. I thought that maybe it was normal for them to develop that since they both had identical spots. Since it is hard for me to get help flipping them upsidedown, I didn't check it out more thoroughly then. It has never spread from where it is though, just the one has a little bit larger area with the flakies. My dogs spends the day with them everyday, and she doesn't have anything either. The goats do like to lay in the sand in front of the gate though, we have had quite a bit of rain in the last few months. That would be the only potentially wet place they lay. I keep the straw in their barn dry, and their other two favorite places to lay are both made from treated lumber.

I had thought of starting them on Ivomec because a couple of them could probably stand to be dewormed anyway by looking at eyelids. I have asked my vet to do fecals, but they wouldn't, they just dewormed them with a shot of something the time I brought them there for their rabies shots and sent me on my way. Thankfully they didn't charge me for an office visit, or I would have been upset because they didn't do anything. I figured that if that is all the vet is going to do, I can do that myself, so I haven't brought them back to the vet for anything.

Would you advise taking a scraping and having the vet confirm what it could be, or just treat as it being mites and go on? Where do you get the Nu-Stock, over the counter, or through the vet?

I can see if I can get better pictures this coming weekend, I don't get home early enough to get pictures during the week in the winter.
Thanks for all the suggestions, and anymore insight anyone may have.

 

[helmstead]

I would tend to say it's just the callous. Young goats don't typically have them...

 

[Ariel301]

My goats have a calloused area on their sternums similar to the ones they get on their knees, it's from laying on hard ground. It's really obvious on my older goats, not as much on the younger ones.

If they have flaky skin all over, and are scratching themselves a lot, I'd treat for lice and also look into mineral deficiencies--my older does came to me from a commercial dairy with really dry flaky skin and thin coats and it cleared up beautifully when I put them on a better mineral.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

My older goats also have the callous on their sternums.

Karen, the stinky stuff from the vet is a lime sulfur dip. I don't know the brand name but boy do I know when someone at work is using it! Blegh!