If you know of any reason why this would happen, please tell us. We have chickens, ducks, geese, cats, dogs, and goats, all of whom are doing fine. Up until about 8 days ago the mule was beautiful. Then he started losing hair in spots. Now his neck is nearly bald, and many large patches are coming out all over his face, legs, and belly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We're afraid he'll sunburn and are trying to keep him out of the sun.

-- Lee (foxhill@ipa.net), June 18, 2000

Answers

Have you done anything different in the past several weeks? Different water. Different feed. Different mineral source? Could the mule have gotten into something it wasn't suppose to? Way too late to be shedding a winter coat and, even then, not that severely.

-- Ken Scharabok (scharabo@aol.com), June 18, 2000.

We had a cow that did the same thing in early spring. If the hair ends up to be all gone and only the skin remains, it's lice! You may have to get a shot from the vet to get rid of them. We tried tea tree oil and everything and it didn't help. We were told that when animals are under stress that the lice can be a problem then. None of our other animals had the problem. Hope this helps!

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), June 18, 2000.

The vet says our cool, wet weather caused a really bad fungus infection. The mule is being treated internally and externally and is already feeling much better. Thank you for your help. This is our first really large animal, and we don't know much about him.

-- Lee (foxhill@ipa.net), June 19, 2000.

Lee,

Sounds like the fungus our horses got last year. Vet called it rain scald. It looks bad, but it'll pass.

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), June 19, 2000.

It sounds like lice to me. Once two of our cows got lice and started losing clumps of hair around their necks and bellies. We dusted them and it cleared up.

-- Abigail F. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), June 20, 2000.