Lice

Close Up Photo of Lice

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What is Lice?
Answer: Lice are insects. You can see them on your pet. They don’t have wings and are flat. They are not like flea’s (who will jump from host to host). Lice like to stay their entire life on the specific pet. There are several kinds of lice. Two common ones would be:  Anoplura: live by sucking your pets blood. Mallophaga: live by chewing on the skin and do Not suck blood.

What Are The Symptoms of Lice?
Answer: You can usually see lice if you look at their skin, especially on short haired dog. The dogs hair becomes scruffy, dry and even hairloss can occur.

What is the Treatment for Lice?
Answer: Thankfully lice is usually really easy to treat and is not a threat to people. The vet will usually prescribe a specialized shampoo (pyrethrin shampoo’s are not the only shampoo’s that work but they are the most popular for effectively killling lice). Then once the pet is completely DRY then the vet will also prescribe you a pyrethrin powder or spray that you need to apply. Depending on how bad the lice is, will depend on how long you continue this. Usually it’s every 2 weeks, but the vet is going to have to tell you for sure. I have heard frontline has also been approved for control of lice. So you can talk to your vet about putting your pet on that after you have killed all the current active lice.

Disclaimer: We Are NOT Licensed Vets.  DO NOT try to diagnose or treat animals based off this or any other information you find on the internet.  This page is just BASIC INFORMATION  to help bring awarness to the different health issues that are common in animals.  If your pet is having any kind of medical issue, please seek PROPER professional treatment from a licensed vet who is trained and set up to handle such matters..