Goat hairloss thinning/very thick fuzzy undercoat

[heidi smith]

Looks like she is just shedding out. Kind of off season but that "fuzz" is common in fainters. Kind of feels super soft like cashmere?

Several of our Kiko does develop a thick lush coat and then change of season causes a shed out. That white soft fluff underneath sheds out leaving the course outer coat yet the outer coat does shed too. They get real slick shiny coats AFTER this fluff shed. Now that we are going into fall their coats will start to develop that thick undercoat.

How old is the doe? Seems wrong time of year but looks just like that cashmere like fluff. On our Kiko bucks it comes off in "sheets".

 

[heidi smith]

she is 6 months old. at first that's what i thought was happening but she does have patches that all of the outer hair is gone. so its just weird. I am going to switch to loose mineral and we are going to give all of them a booster of multivitamin 90. I'm ordering it from my vet. It has selenium, zinc magnesium and copper. I'm hoping that that's the issue. We are worming this weekend and then also going to dust them just to cover our bases. i am pretty new to this so I'm learning

 

[heidi smith]

Do you see her rubbing on things? She could have mites that you can't see. Or it could be a mineral deficiency, zinc is usually the "coat" mineral, as is copper. Do you have a loose mineral out for them?

Welcome to BYH from California.

thanks so much for the advice

 

[heidi smith]

she is 6 months old. I haven't noticed any extra rubbing. we are going to worm and dust this weekend just to be safe and ive ordered a shot from my vet that has magnesium, zinc, copper and selenium. Hoping this helps shes my baby

 

[heidi smith]

I'm also not completely sure what else she is mixed with. For sure fainter but the place i got her from bucks were out with does and there was no record keeping i know there were pygmy bucks and cashmere bucks.

 

[heidi smith]

I only have them for pets and am not planning on breeding so it didn't matter to me.

 

[heidi smith]

From my experience, switching from block minerals to loose minerals isn't an overnight miracle. Don't be worried if you don't notice improvement right away. But as many will tell you, the loose minerals are a better choice.

And call around to vets, you may find one who does fecal testing cheap enough to treat before worming. In my case, fecals were required, as my does coat was gone, but it showed she was overwhelmed with coccidia. Which i wouldn't have thought to treat for prior to the fecal test.

ok thanks so much for the advice. when they lost their coat were their bald spots or just the outer coat

 

[heidi smith]

I thought about shedding but I thought it is the wrong time of year plus she is only a baby so that didn't fit what I see in my Alpines either; the kids don't usually loose their baby coat until next summer.

The blocks are hard for them to eat sometimes and not really good for their teeth. Mine love the Sweetlix Magnum Milk minerals but not overly fond of the Purina ones.

Usually when treating for mites you use inject Ivermectin. But you usually see evidence of mites in places that don't have thick hair covering, like legs, hooves, nose, ears, etc. Their skin is often crusty and irritated looking. If her skin looks good, as you said it did, it probably isn't mites but check her over as they will cause them to scratch.

I would try to find a vet to get a fecal done.

i am going to call the vet today to do a fecal before we worm. i don't want to create more problems.

 

[heidi smith]

Fainters and myotonic goats have different coats. That soft silky spun fluff underneath feels like cashmere. I will see if I can get a pic of one of ours.

Depending on the goat and age she could just be shedding off baby fur. Yes, wrong time of year in one way but also depends on when she was born.
Right now all my dogs are losing their summer coats and shedding up a storm to bring in winter coats.

@babs look at the sheen on the rest of her... I'm not thinking mineral issues... or like you said no evidence of mite issues.

she was born at the end of march. yes the undercoat is very soft cashmere. she is only losing the outer hair. from when i first noticed it it has definitely continued so something is weird for sure. going to have the vet come up and do a fecal just to be sure before i worm her.

 

[babsbag]

The cashmere is sure soft isn't it? I have one that has a thick undercoat like that. I guess that under coat is worth some money if you had a way to "harvest" it.

I use the multi-min 90 on my goats but I know that I have a selenium and copper problem even with loose minerals. I see a vast improvement in the coat when I do the shots but it doesn't last long, maybe 4 months. Just be sure when you give the shot that you tent the skin well and get it under all of the layers of skin. I suck at giving shots and when my friend did my herd no problems, when I did it I got a lot of injection site abscesses as I evidently got between the skin layers and not under. The stuff stings like crazy too so hold on tight.

You may think about having your vet draw blood and get a mineral analysis done. Copper is best tested for in the liver which you can't do in a live animal, but the blood levels will give you some idea of overall copper levels and they can test for the other ok. I would hate to be giving shots if she is just shedding.

It is good that you are getting a fecal done as it is nice to know what to treat for specifically.