Dog Lice eradication

Dogs can suffer from several kinds of parasite infestation. Aside from fleas, mites and ticks, the pet can have another unwanted guest – LICE! The painstaking efforts of a dog owner to maintain the health and the cleanliness of the pet cannot prevent lice infestation as these parasites actually thrives on the body of clean dogs.

Lice are parasites that can infest both humans and dogs. Both dogs and humans can be infested with lice but a dog owner need not worry that the parasite that infests the dog can be transmitted to the human family or vice versa because the kind of lice that live on humans is different from the ones that live on dogs.

The lice that infest dogs are about 12th of an inch in size, wingless and can be gray, beige or tan in color. Lice unlike fleas that jumps, are slow moving parasites thus they can be easily removed by hand. The lice that infests the dog can be a biting kind or the kind that feeds on the dog’s blood. The dog can have the kind of lice that bites to feed on skin flakes or the lice can be the kind that thrive on the dog’s body by sucking blood. Both kinds of lice infestation has to be resolved as the biting kind will be an annoyance because the itching will make the dog scratch incessantly while the blood sucking kind can cause anemia especially if the infestation is severe.

Direct contact with an infested dog is the most common form of lice transmission as unlike fleas, lice cannot jump into the dog. An infestation can develop if the grooming tools of an infested pet is used on another dog. Lice population can grow rapidly as a female lice can lay up to 100 eggs thus if prompt administration of eradication measures are not administered, the dog would be greatly affected by its freeloaders.

A dog that has lice on its body would scratch and scratch. If the dog’s hair is examined, the parasites can be seen on the dog’s skin especially on the anus, ears, as well as on the shoulders and neck. The eggs called nits that are attached to hair follicles would appear like dust particles.

Lice infestation is easy to resolve with insecticides. Adult lice are eliminated by bathing the dog with insecticide shampoo. The nits, just like the eggs of other parasites are resistant to insecticides thus the treatment has to be repeated to break the life cycle. To totally eradicate the infestation, the beddings and the toys of the dog must be washed thoroughly to make sure that the parasites are killed.

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