Abstract

This paper describes a two year study of a seborrhoeic dermatitis in pigmy goats. Clinical signs appear from 3–5 months of age and affect animals randomly. Disease is chronic with periods of resolution and relapse. It is restricted to the skin, most usually of the head and extremities, and consists of non-pruritic erythema, scaling and alopecia. No infective agents have been detected and there is no evidence of nutritional deficiency. Pathologically there is a orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis, focal parakeratosis, epidermal spongiform microabscesses formation and a perivascular dermatitis. Untrastructural examination revealed fewer tonofilaments in basal cells and acanthocytes and few keratohyaline granules. Epidermal cell kinetic studies using tritiated thymidine revealed a reduced epidermal cell renewal time, compared with similar sites in normal goats. Corticosteroid treatment effected temporary resolution but treatment with a vitamin E and selenium mixture and with zinc failed to produce any improvement. Pedigree studies failed to reveal any simple inheritance mechanism and the pathogenesis remains unclear.