...fleas?!

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Chebobbin

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Hi,

I found a flea on my horse a few days ago.
I think he must have caught it off of a dog or something as he comes into regular contact with them.

Anyway, does anyone know of any safe treatments out there to get rid of them?

I have disinfected his stable,put a whole new bed down, after that I gave him two soapy dermaline anti-insect baths, disinfected his grooming brushes and cleaned all of his tack throughly!!

However, I don't know if this alone will get rid of fleas, apparently they survive baths.

What to do?!
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i was always under the inpression dog fleas will only survive on dogs and cat fleas will only survive on cats, although they can drink of each type of animal they wont survive unless its the specific animal now i may be wrong but this is what i think!
 
If I remember correctly, fleas don't survive long on horses, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As an aside, most fleas found on dogs are actually cat fleas, you only tend to get dog fleas in kennel situations such as bording kennels and hunt kennels - apparently anyway, a vet nurse told me that!
 
horses dont get fleas - they might jump on off a dog, but the skin is too thick for them to feed and they'll quickly go away again.

and yes, most fleas found on dogs and cats, and even rabbits are cat fleas. dog fleas are quite rare.
 
Bath every 2 weeks with an insecticidal shampoo until you see no eggs. Then a few more times to be sure! The eggs are found predominantly under where the jaw meets the gullet. If theres no sign of eggs then its probably not serious flea infestation.


Surprised someone says they cant have fleas. My old pony had terrible "fleas" when i got her and it took a LONG time to clear her! But it never spread to the others so maybe it wasnt fleas! Who Knows! But looked like fleas to me and she had little white eggs in her hair... It took 3 months of regular bathing and de-fleaing to clear! But it was bad!!!!
 
Star is a vet, so I think her information is the most reliable here............Horse don't get fleas.

dozziesmummy your old pony probably had lice or mites, if you could see eggs.
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Quite right, horses don't get fleas. White eggs means they were probably lice!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
dozziesmum....your horse sounds like it had LICE not fleas.

Fleas dont live on horses.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oops! Sorry! Didnt mean to offend anyone!
I did say maybe I was wrong! I honestly had never heard that horses didnt get fleas. Id never even thought about the fact that fleas and lice are different!
So Thankyou!!!!!
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Yes now you say this,it makes sense. I think thats what she had as they didnt fly or jump!!!!! It was about 20 years ago
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But every spring we waited for them to arrive!


Pain in the neck and tooks months of bathing to get rid as she had such a thick coat!!!! In the end I had to clip her out completely!!! And even that didnt get rid of all the eggs.


And I've learnt something today that I didnt know!
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Cheers!
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OP PLEASE IGNORE WHAT I SAID, MY PONY HAD LICE!
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Ps if anyone knows a good way of getting rid of LICE id love to hear about it for future reference!
 
Horses don't get fleas because the life cycle of the flea means they need a period OFF the animal they feed on and living in the animal's DEN. That's why they can live on cats, dogs, birds, people etc - coz they all have a DEN. What we need to remember today is that our horses often have DENS too! But, hopefully, our horses dens aren't centrally heated and carpeted in thick-pile carpet. I've been trying to get my (gorgeous) YO to instal CH in my boy's stable but no luck yet!!!! Good luck with the lice!!! x
 
One good way of getting lice out of brushes, rugs etc it is to put them in the freezer for a couple of days - better than cleaning them.

Don't try it with the pony
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At the risk of everyone yelling no more Pig oil & Sulphur - it is a good way of making conditions that mites, lices etc hate to live in and P&S is also a great conditioner for hair and skin. It won't kill lice but will help to prevent them so should be used with a good treatment.
 
Two good ways of getting rid of lice

1/ Use Deosect by Deosan - it is a VERY effective fly spray that also kills lice
2/ As advised by my vet, use Lincoln Louse powder, the one that says for Bedding only, it's actually harmless to horses but effective.
 
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