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Deer Losing Hair - mainly around neck

Joined Aug 2010
517 Posts | 0+
Illinois
Today I visited my deer Rosa and her pals.

My Rosa has never looked so awful to me. I noticed about a month ago, when we had extreme heat that her hair was beginning to thin our a lot around her neck.



I looked really closely and didn't notice any type of lice or any other topical issues other than hair that had begun to fall off and thin.



I de-wormed her with Cydectin topical. A week later, when I returned she looked OK, was active, although her hair had fallen off more around her neck.



Today her hair was almost bald in certain spots around her neck, top part and under her chin, leading to her chest. Also near her tail.



No deer are with her in her pen, so it is not a result of other deer pulling out her hair. Also, since it is under her neck and on top of it, it cannot be a result of her pulling out her own hair.



Please, deer people, what can be causing this?



Her pellets are great, she is eating well, and is not thin at all. Seems OK otherwise.



Any ideas or input of any kind, no matter how trivial it may seem, is welcome.



Thank you,

lana
 
Lana - Mine are loosin 'some' hair as well. I'm gonna look at them closer to see if it favors their neck area.

Is Rosa showing brown where the hair loss is...or is it down to the pink?
 
Mark

I have one that has lost a quite a bit of hair on his back and neck.

It is brown were the hair is gone. What would that men vs pink.
 
Rosa can't stick her head out of the fence anywhere b/c there is shade cloth everywhere.

Her neck is basically pinkish, but the top of her back (near her rear end)- is black skin. I attribute the black color to having a really good suntan.



One other thing I forgot to mention, there are NO TREES in my Rosa's permanent pen...



Could overexposure to sunlight be doing this to her?



Her neck is almost bare all the way around. It makes me very sad. I wish that I could find a better place for her.
 
By the way, the genius farmers who own the pens have baby raccoons in the pen adjacent to my Rosa.
 
Scott, you've taken a load off of my worrying. Thank you so much for responding to my question- I really appreciate it. Big big big hug to all who've tried to help me. I will post pic's next wkd. when I see my doe again.
 
Majestic Whitetails said:
Mark

I have one that has lost a quite a bit of hair on his back and neck.

It is brown were the hair is gone. What would that men vs pink.



Sorry for the late responce Joe.



Pink would indicate a recent or on-going event of hair loss.



Brown is the color the area of hair loss turns afterward(after trauma,etc).



When the hair loss happens after the summer hair(red) has been established, they don't seem to ever grow the red stuff back. Instead, a very very short brown hair replaces it. I believe it's the start of their winter hair, but it remains very short and dormant until it's time for it to grow into its normal length.



Like Scott says, a certain amount of hair loss can be normal...some lose none, some lose a little, and some lose alot.

Barguette, my 15 year old buck, has got all kinds of bare spots on him all summer long, and has had for years now. I don't know, but I suspect his age might have something to do with his loss being so much. Come winter though, that fat ole toad sports a great winter coat.



We need to know now to, even as of a couple weeks ago, hair loss has begun for the winter hair to come in. I have some that are 60% or better in the start of their winter hair.