Very dry skin around pigs hooves

Question
I have a 3 mo old spotted mini pot belly pig that has had itchy skin since I got her. She has constantly itched her body on anything she could get to. She has somewhat of a brown dandruff that powders on the floor from itching so much. Now that she is a little bit older around her hooves is so dry it has a white tinge to it and it's beginning to crack. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated I want to ease my pigby's itching!

Answer
Pigs have naturally dry skin. You can use any lotion made for human skin on your pig, but watch out for strongly scented lotions. The smell from scented personal care products, like lotion or hair spray, has a strange effect on some pigs. They whine, jerk, collapse and roll. It looks almost like a seizure! Corn Huskers lotion is an inexpensive, non-greasy option.

Symptoms such as thick peeling skin or orangey patches that keep appearing behind the elbows or between the legs are signs of mange. Your vet can take a skin scraping and look for the tiny mites. These mites are species specific, and can not live long unless they are on a pig. The eggs take two weeks to hatch. So the treatment is two separate does of Ivometctrin or a similar medicine two weeks apart. The first treatment kills any living mites, the second kills any mites that hatched after the first treatment.

Also watch for any signs of hoof damage at the top of the hoof. Splitting, cracking and peeling are all warning signs, and piggy will need to see a vet. There's a list of veterinarians who treat pot-bellied pigs at www.farec.org