# Help! I'm being eaten alive -- Lice, Fleas from Goats?!



## mundamanu (Oct 22, 2004)

So, about a week ago, these red welts with a liquidy raised center started appearing on my torso. Some internet research suggested they might be bed bugs as I was getting them at night. My wife is also occasionally getting a few.

Well, about two evenings ago, I realized that I had suffered a couple of new bites wihtout being in bed. I realized that something must be in my clothes. By the way, I checked the dog and the cats and they don't have fleas. So, last night was crazy. I was having dinner and all of a sudden I just felt itchy all over my torso (front and back). I went in the house and checked myself in the mirror. I was literally covered in bites!

My wife and I realized that it is the goats. I had just milked them about an hour before breaking out in the bites last night and about an hour before milking them a couple of nights ago. I have checked the goats and have not seen any external parasites on them, but I don't care. It's the goats.

I am going to check them over from head to toe this morning to see if I can see anything.

Regardless, what are the recommendations for treating lice or fleas?

I would love to hear some "proven" homeopathic/herbal remedies, but at this point I am more than willing to use chemicals. In fact, I am going to have the whole house bombed -- last night was one of the itchiest most miserable nights of "sleep" of my life.

Also, I am going to worm the goats -- I know most folks on this board recommend Cydectin. It's too expensive, and with only two goats it would need to stay good for years in order for me to use 500 ml. 

I think I would like to use Ivomec -- could somebody give me dosing and administration recommendations? I am milking the does and drinking the milk raw -- any withholding required?

Is it okay to combine Ivomec with a separate external parasite treatment, or will the Ivomec take care of the external parasites.

Thank you in advance!

Bob


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## Old Dominion (Apr 19, 2003)

For external parasites use the package label (which I think is 1cc per 50 pounds) injected sq. This must be repeated every 2 weeks because of the life cycle of parasites. Normal infestation would require two shots but from the sounds of this I would give 4. That will take you a total of 8 weeks.


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## Nancy_in_GA (Oct 20, 2004)

Bob,
This is probably way off the wall, but what you're describing sounds a lot like poison ivy. Is it possible your goats bedded down in a patch somewhere? 
Nancy


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

I did not think goats were bothered by fleas. Their skin is very tough. The lice that are on goats usually do not bother people. Our body temp is too low. You could have brought the fleas in the house even if the dog is not bothered yet. Atlas cedar is effective to use as a herbal flea collar. 4 drops of cedar essential oil on a fabric collar ,seal in airtight container overnight.
Flea powder for carpet- 3 parts cedar, 2 parts pine, and 1 part niaouli or tea tree oil. Use 12 to 15 drops blend per cup of baking soda . Sprinkle on furniture or bedding Let stand for 1 hour then vacuum up.
steff


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## gryndlgoat (May 27, 2005)

The bites you are describing, and the sites that you have bites, suggest Cheyetiella (sp) mites. These are normally thought of as rabbit mites, but cause a condition known as "walking dandruff" in dogs, and what you are describing is a classic description of what happens when they bite humans. You might notice that you get bands of bites along areas where your clothes are tight (waistband etc). It is also not uncommon for one person in a household to be more affected than the rest.

Your dogs (not sure about cats) may be harboring them but show no itching or other signs of infestation. These mites used to be very uncommon because of the formerly common use of insecticidal flea products which they are highly susceptible to. However, with the increased use of new flea products like Advantage and Frontline, which don't kill mites, the mites are having a heyday. 

Fortunately they are really wimpy critters and will be killed by any common pyrethrin-baed flea spray or shampoo and can be removed from bedding etc by simply laundering in hot water. So get yourself a good flea product, use it on the dogs and cats, spray areas where they bed down and wash all your own bedding well. You may have to do it a few times but you should notice a difference very quickly.


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## trnubian (Mar 19, 2005)

I myself have never heard of fleas on goats before. It is possible that it could be lice or a mite of some kind. If you are still want ing to does your goats for lice or mite then Ivomec would work for you. Don't give it SQ in a shot though. This rushes it through their system not giving it enough time to work. Ivomec is also REALLY hot stuff and it hurts them a lot. It also causes abscesses when ginve in a shot if not given EXACTLY right. 

Get some cattle injectable and give it to them orally. It is 1cc per 50 lb. The milk withold inthe US is 36 days. You would lose your milk for a month.

Or, you could go to your local feed elevator or farm store and buy the Co-Ral Livestock Dust. It is for beef and dairy cattle and for horses. If your goats have lice, or even the remote possibility of fleas, this should get rid of it, and there is no milk withdrawl time.

I would suggest bathing your dog and cat with a good flea shampoo and geeting them both Advantage or Frontline flea medications afterwords. Even though you don't see any fleas or lice, they are probably there and this would help cure and prevent futher attacks.

If you decide to use the ivomec, give your goats a bath with the same shampoo you use on yourself or some cheap Sauve shampoo. Don't use the flea shampoo on the goats. 

I would not give ivomec and dust the goats at the same time, you could end up with some serious reaction.


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## mundamanu (Oct 22, 2004)

homebirtha said:


> Hmmmm. This sounds similar to what I've been dealing with, but I was thinking poison ivy. How can you tell the difference?


Homebirtha,

While a number of the mite bites that I have gotten are close enough together to form a sort of poison ivy-ish string of welts, the vast majority of them are discrete bites. The other thing is that they don't spread. When more appear it is clear that it is because one has been bitten again. A bunch of new ones will appear in a way that wouldn't make sense for poison ivy. Although, I suppose if you are badly infested enough there could be so many bites in such a heavy concetration that it looks like poison ivy. The pustule in the middle certainly resembles poison ivy.

The best website to check out to see if you are suffering from the dreaded straw itch mite is http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~dgordon/MysteryBites/MysteryBitesTest.html

There are a number of pictures at the bottom of the page that enabled me to be fairly certain that it was the straw itch mite.

By the way, I suffered no new bites yesterday. Hopefully when I move the straw I won't suffer too badly.


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## debitaber (Jun 6, 2003)

I dust my goats with sevin dust, yup, regular garden dust, and it works very well. my vet told me to do it.


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## Old Dominion (Apr 19, 2003)

If you have mites in your straw you need to treat your goats for mites. I know this from experience! The only way I found out how to treat them correctly is that the same thing happened 4 years earlier to an acquaintance that lives about 400 miles away. My buck was so bad that he lost every bit of hair on his body. Not one other buck was affected in the pen. He had to wear a foal coat all winter. I was sure we were going to lose him because he didn't have one bit of hair going into winter.

Follow the package directions for Ivomec. Generic is okay. I think it is 1cc per 100 pounds. Inject it sq. Do this once every 14 days. I did it 4 times for a total time duration of 8 weeks.

Good luck,

Jolene


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## tinetine'sgoat (Aug 4, 2005)

Buck naked by the time you get to the house? AAAHHHH!!! I hope I never get mites... my neighbors do too!!!


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

I get chiggers all the time. I hate mite bites. I am really allergic. How can you tell chiggers form other mites if/when they both look like similar bites? 

How do you keep fr0om getting bitten?


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