Dog Lice – How to Get Rid of Dog Lice

Even the cleanest dogs can have lice, even if they are well cared for and groomed every day. They can carry it as a host. So you must be aware of the symptoms and as soon as they appear, you should contact the vet.

But what is it? Can it affect the owner too? How can you get rid of it?

These are a few questions that we will try to answer in this article. Dog lice can happen to clean dogs too. It is very common in the country. Lice infestation has many symptoms that the owners should be aware of.

For example, the infestation with lice causes the dog to get some severe irritations and illness symptoms. The dog lice also can carry other diseases and can turn to complications like dog anemia.

Under the microscope the dog lice appear to be gray, flat and wingless. They are parasites that measure about 12 of an inch in length. They go very slowly and sometimes they don’t even go for many days. You should know that the dog lice can not survive outside the host’s body. Without a dog or a cat, the lice die.

Dog lice come in two different types. One of them is the dog lice that bites the skin and then feeds on the skin flakes. But the other type will attach to the skin and feed on the pet’s blood. These are the worst because by sucking the animal’s blood, they will cause serious irritation by penetrating the skin and feeding of it. The first signs that your dog is infested are the fact that he scratches hard, is heavy and has some irritations on the skin.

Most of the times the dog lice get in the ears, the anus, neck or shoulders. They are quite huge and they will lay eggs in the pet’s hair. The simplest eggs to see are the nits because they sit on the hair and they look like dust pieces.

The treatment for lice is simple. The lice do not have a resistance to the insecticides yet.

The vet will recommend you some insecticide in the form of bath or spray. That treatment will kill the lice for sure. You may also have to cut down some of the hair and then wash the dog one time a week with the prescribed insecticides. Repeat the procedure till all the lice die.