Goat Fleas, Ticks, and Chiggers!
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-by Don Lewis AT SOME POINT IN EVERY goat owner’s life, you must deal with the scourge of external parasites such as goat fleas, ticks, and chiggers. These parasites can cause skin irritation and wounds while feeding on body tissues such as blood, skin, and hair. Insect parasites can transmit diseases that reduce an animal’s weight and decrease milk production. A sufficiently severe infestation can even cause death.
Fortunately, owners can control most parasites with effective management practices and — when necessary — appropriate medicinal treatments. The first step in determining the proper procedures and treatments is to determine the cause. Let’s delve into goat fleas, chiggers, and ticks.
Goat Fleas
Almost anyone who has pets has to deal with fleas at some time. Fleas are tiny insects that survive in adulthood by biting animals and consuming their host’s blood. A
flea’s life consists of four stages: Egg, larva, pupa, and adult. In their adult stage, fleas remain on their host for life, consuming blood and laying eggs that fall to the ground. They remain in the host’s bedding material for much of their earlier developmental stage.
On average, a flea’s life cycle — from egg to death — is three months long. Both adult males and females are obligate bloodsucking parasites, meaning their only food source is blood. Two species of flea are common to goats: the cat flea and the sticktight flea.
Both these species can produce large numbers of offspring within a very short period. Equally troubling, both species can easily survive on other common barnyard animals, making infection or re-infection easier. Cat fleas can transmit tapeworms, murine typhus, and potentially plague.
Sticktight fleas are more common in poultry but will switch to other hosts when necessary. As their name implies, rather than simply taking a blood meal and releasing, the sticktight fleas remain attached, often for days at the site of their bite.
Preventing goat fleas
Because much of a flea’s development occurs while off the host, one of the best preventatives for flea infestation is maintaining a regular bedding change. Providing dry beddingevery two weeks can prevent fleas from finishing their life cycles.
Adding new goats to an established herd can introduce fleas. Maintaining a 30-day quarantine of all new additions while actively inspecting the latest herdmates for pests can go a long way toward preventing herd infestation.
Treatments for goat fleas
In the event of a significant infestation, insecticides like organophosphates and pyrethroids are the most commonly used medicinal treatments for adult fleas. But considering that a flea only spends 5% of its life cycle as an adult and 95% of the time fleas are off-host, owners can combine insecticide treatments with preventative measures to have a long-lasting effect.
Chiggers on Goats
There are roughly 48,000 species of mites known to science, with many more that still need to be classified. Most of these species are harmless or even beneficial. But some, like those from the family Trombiculidae, can (in their larval stage) become a problem for goats.
Known as chiggers, these larval-stage mites on goats aren’t bloodsucking but instead inject enzymes into living skin cells, liquefying those cells to serve as food. The result is small, painful, and itchy red lesions. Although chiggers are not known disease vectors in North America, these lesions can become infected.
Because these larval mites on goats are nearly microscopic, you might not see them; but an infestation of chiggers can have severe consequences for your goats.
Preventing chiggers on goats
Like with ticks (their cousins), good pasture management, frequent bedding changes, and trimming yard vegetation will help. Because mites don’t travel great distances on their own, mite-heavy field areas can be avoided or spot-treated with appropriate insecticides.
Treatments for chiggers
Permethrin or pyrethrins + piperonyl butoxide are the most common chemical treatments for mites. Check with your vet for appropriate products and usage.
Ticks on Goats
Ticks are small to medium arachnid parasites. Like fleas, ticks also have an egg, larva, nymph, and adult life cycle and are obligate bloodsucking parasites, but unlike fleas, all active stages (larva, nymph, and adult) need blood to survive. The duration of a tick’s life cycle is species-dependent. Some ticks can live for two years or more, and many tick species can survive for more than a year without feeding.
Three species of ticks affect goats: The American dog tick, the Gulf Coast tick, and the Lone Star tick.
One of the most common tick species, the American dog tick, has a brown body with silver or white markings on its back. When full of blood, the adult female looks like a gray bean. They can be vectors for such diseases as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia.
The Gulf Coast tick primarily affects horned goats and is often found at the base of the horns or occasionally within the ears. The Gulf Coast tick can carry and spread bacteria that cause “heart water,” a ruminant disease characterized by fluid collection around affected animals’ hearts and lungs.
You can find Lone Star ticks most often along goats’ withers and neck areas. A single white spot on the reddish back can easily identify adult females. Research has shown that Lone Star ticks can carry Ehrlichia chaffeensis, the bacterial agent responsible for human monocytic ehrlichiosis. Take care when handling goats heavily infested with Lone Star ticks.
Flea and tick prevention for goats
Like goat fleas, ticks spend a fair amount of their development off-host, so the first line of defense against ticks is regular bedding changes.
Other measures that can help disrupt the tick life cycle include trimming vegetation around shelters. Given ticks’ relatively longer life cycle versus fleas, instituting proper field rotation can also break the cycle.
Regular combings with a fine-toothed comb can remove ticks before attachment and remove attached ticks with tweezers.
Treatments for ticks on goats
The most common chemical treatments for ticks are permethrin or pyrethrins + piperonyl butoxide. Apply these insecticides directly to the goat and spray on the bedding. Follow the label instructions and consult your veterinarian about the best product for your situation.
Proper field and pen treatments are the key to limiting the damage of most parasites and may lessen the need for pesticides. But when infestations are severe, correct insecticides may become necessary.
Unfortunately, because pesticide manufacturers rarely list goats on labels, owners must use these treatments off-label. Work closely with your veterinarian to choose the most effective and safest products for your goats and yourself.
Major Tick Pathogens Common to Goats
All three tick species found on goats in the United States can cause harm, either by creating pathways for infections or transmitting pathogens, toxins, or diseases. While each species is known to be associated with specific diseases, all three can carry some pathogens.
Q-fever. Q-fever in goats is often asymptomatic but may appear as an increase in herd spontaneous abortions. The bacterium Coxiella burnetii, which is responsible for Q-fever, can be transmitted to other livestock and humans by direct contact, aerosols, droplets, and birth products like placentas. Because the bacterium is persistent in the environment, there is a real risk of infection over time. If you suspect that Q-fever has affected your flock, you should immediately isolate suspect animals and contact your veterinarian.
Tularemia. This disease is caused by the bacteria Francisella tularensis. In goats, tularemia is usually coincidental with tick season. Symptoms in goats can include diarrhea, weight loss, fever, frequent urination, and breathing difficulties. Death is most common in young animals. Humans can become infected by contact with infected animals and animal products. Tularemia can be treated effectively with early use of antibiotics.
Tick Paralysis. Tick paralysis is caused by a neurotoxin poison produced by female tick salivary glands while feeding. Symptoms of tick paralysis generally begin about a week after a tick becomes attached and include fatigue, leg numbness, and muscle pains, followed by increasing paralysis. Removal of the tick (including the embedded mouth parts) usually causes symptoms to diminish rapidly. However, a failure to act quickly can result in respiratory failure, convulsions, and even death.
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology- toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/tick-paralysis
- https://waddl.vetmed.wsu.edu/2022/11/10/q-fever- in-small-ruminants-query-fever-coxiella- burnetii-coxiellosis/
- https://www.goatfarmers.com/blog/goat-health-careproblems% 2F
- https://www.prevention.com/health/g27419738/typesof- ticks/
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/generalizedconditions/ tularemia/tularemia-in-animals
SOURCES
- Fleas https://www.thesprucepets.com/understanding-the-flea-life-cycle-6890201
- https://www.thebugsquad.com/fleas/flea-larvae/
- https://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=2396&Itemid=2656 Ticks
- https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/external-parasites-of-goats.html
- https://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=2530&Itemid=2822
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehrlichia_ruminantium
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermacentor_variabilis Chiggers
- https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g7398 https://blogs.k-state.edu/kansasbugs/2022/09/02/chiggers-small-bites-big-itch/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombiculidae
Originally published in the January/February 2024 issue of Goat Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
