Parasites Question about lice infested pigs with wooden accessories.

[kananaka]

So if you have a lice infestation and wooden accessories like hideys etc... do you have to get rid of them? I just treated my girls yesterday with Revolution and want to know the best way to disinfect their cage accessories. Can someone explain when or how to clean them or toss them?

Thanks so much!

 

[foggycreekcavy]

You can soak the wooden accessories in a bleach solution and then let dry out in the sun.

I really don't know that you'll need to, though--I believe that any lice in the environment will die when they come in contact with the treated pigs.

 

[kananaka]

I just want to be sure to get rid of them so I am going to take everything out next week and use the bleach solution, just to be sure lol. Taking no chances, just want this over and done with so they can be happy and I wont feel my skin crawl. (heebeejeebees!)

 

[Onetwo]

Louce or lice are species specific so altho guinea pig lice can crawl on you or others they cannot live and breed off of you. So once all guinea pigs in the home are treated with Revolution (was it topical, oral or injection?) several times there should be no more food for them. Just make sure you do at least 2-3 treatments to be sure they are gone. Lice are difficult to get rid of because they can live off host for some time and since they are not blood sucking (they digest the oils that pour out of the skin when they scrape it with their teeth) oral and injections tend to not work well, if at all. In my experience with lice the topical (skin drops) were the best for these critters. Oral and injections are good for blood sucking mites, ticks and fleas.

 

[kananaka]

Thank you . We are going to treat them 1 more time I think with Revolution (kinda like Advantage). We did the shots already and it didn't work. We plan on keeping the area around the cage cleaned really well and have removed even the gp storage from under there till they are lice free. Luckily bedding was never stored under there we just had hay (on to a new bag tomorrow till KMS comes next week), pellets (also new coming in with hay) and extra accessories. The only thing that concerns me is the cage is right near my kids bed and I worry about them hiding on/in it. Maybe I am over paranoid (I am not worried about my kid and gp lice, just the piggies getting re-infested). Sigh... wish there was a magic trick to make them disappear!

 

[foggycreekcavy]

Onetwo, did you mean Ivermectin? Revolution is only topical, and usually one treatment lasts a month and does the trick.

 

[Onetwo]

No foggy I ment Revolution (it works better on lice/louce then ivermectin) and the topical also works much better than oral/injections of either. You also are gonna want to do at least 2-3 treatments at 21 days apart.

I have many experiences with lice/louce because many of my rescues were from a local breeder/pet stop and all were infested with them. So I would get a new rescue and they were covered with them so this was the only way I could find that would work. It could be that the local lice were particularly resistant to the antiparasitics or hearty or what but I found that at 21 days there were still active adults and eggs in the slides that my local vet examined. So I highly recommend two doses as a precaution. Its not going to hurt them and if at 21 days you want to take your piggies to a local vet and have them do an in house microscopic exam of a few hair/skin samples for lice and eggs you can but doing a second round is cheaper and less stressful. Plus a second dose isn't going to harm them.

If they are long haired I highly recommend trimming their hair really short so you don't have to brush it because you could spread the lice/eggs around with brushing, washing, and the like.

 

[kananaka]

@(broken link removed) One is kind of long haired but not to the point she even gets tangles. I do plan on doing a second round just to be sure, we already have the appointment set. My vet was like "I cant believe the shots did not kill them, lets treat them 2x", and I agreed. I figure it wont hurt them and this way we will be 99% sure they are done!