Chicory Has Staphylococcal Folliculitas

 Admit it, you had to use phonics and carefully sound out the disease. I know I did. How come they have to make these scientific names so hard to say? Why don't they just call it what it looks like, Staffy's pussy hair root. It may not sound all fancy but you know the cause and just what it looks like and where it is,  right? That's pretty informational.

But since no-one wants to name a disease they've researched and spent countless hours working on -pussy hair root, I guess we'll just have to give it a nickname. I'm definitely not going to try to spell or say that big mouthful. Staphylococcal can cause lots of different diseases like mastitis and it is just manifesting itself in the roots of hair follicles in this  particuliar form.

Staffy Pussy Hair Root disease, is common in goats, sheep, and horses. We don't see it much because it happens in areas of high humidity or rainy weather and we usually have neither. This year we have had an unusually wet spring and tada... here it is. I've had this disease strike a few times before and it has stayed on the udder and teats, never reaching the stage where it spreads all over the goat and causes it considerable discomfort and embarrassment.  No goat wants to seen with large patches of missing hair. The poor things don't even have a curtain to hide behind like dogs do.

You will be shocked but due to the Fourth of July being right around the corner, I'm booked trying to get ready for family which is coming home and I didn't have time to research the subject to death which is my usual M.O. Disappointed, well I have a link here for you just in case you need more information.

I couldn't find any pictures of goats with this disease, just humans with the problem. So lucky you, ta da... here they are. Feeling a bit nervous, don't worry, I've never gotten Staffry Pussy Hair Root disease from a goat. So no, you aren't going to go bald any time soon, unless it's already in your genes to do so and I can't do anything about that.

I do recommend disinfecting your hands after treating the animal and better yet using plastic disposable gloves. To treat the disease you can follow the instructions on the link or you can try my method which is to, like them,  pop the pustuls or better yet find someone in the family that loves popping pimples and let them have at it. There is usually one in evey family. One in my family I swear was born a monkey, she could never leave a scab or anything like it alone.

But dear me, I've gotten off track again. Hm...then I Betadine the area to kill germs and dry up the pustul. Don't water down the Betadine but use it straight from the bottle. This is the stuff surgeons use on you to disinfect the area they are going to do surgery on.

Be sure and milk your other goats first before the infected animal and disinfect your hands after treatment. In most cases this disease will not spread to other animals in the herd unless they come in direct contact with the bacteria. Your hands can do that so be carefull. This is why it is a good idea to use disposable plastic gloves you can then toss.  

 Some also recommend giving broad ban penicillin shots but since Chicory's case is light, I'm just going to treat the small area and see what happens. I hate to use peniccilin if I don't really have to.  The Betadine is working well for now and if I need to go up a stage, I will try using watered down Clorox. I know they don't recommend it but I've used Betadine on Athletes foot and it works well but in a bad case, I've resorted to watered down Clorox and that works great too. You just have to make sure and water it down well. I know for a fact it kills Staphylococcal bacteria.

If you question if this is really what your goat has and you don't want to just jump in to treat it, then you'll have to take it to a vet and have them culture some of the drainage from a pustul. Vets are a long journey for us and quite expensive. Honest vets in our area will admit they know extremely little about goats and why should they? They hardly ever have to treat one. Another good reason to treat first and call if I can't clear something up. Then, LOL, I've been known to take pictures and ask for a diagnoses based on them. I don't want the poor animal to have to remain in the trailer for hours while I do my shopping. No, I don't go to shopping very often and when I do, like today, it takes hours.

Heres that link and let me know if you get the research bug and find something wonderful. I will probably do more digging on the subject when the holiday is over. http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/staphDermatitis06.html