Lice in horses feathers?

[joanne1920]

my cob has had/got lice. i first noticed when he started rubbing his mane and tail, approx 6 weeks ago. i bought coopers and treated and again after 2 wekks as per instructions. after about 3 weeks after the second dose i noticed him scratching his feathers with his mouth, then caught him rubbing the back of his back legs on the water trough, upon close examination and getting nearly trampled on ( he's only 3!) i saw a 'thing' crawling, pale brown in colour just lice the lice i had found dead after treating with coopers.
So can lice live in horses feathers? have they avoided the coopers by crawling down there? what is the best thing to treat with? i really dont want to clip his feathers off, got his first show next month! any ideas? vets coming tomorrow for annual injections, so i can ask him but open to any ideas.
Someone has mentioned a liquid that comes the vets that gets poured on from poll to tail and lasts 3 months, supposed to treat lice, mites, repel flies etc?????????????

 

[Emma27]

i think you mean Frontline, i have never used it myself so i can`t comment on how useful it is, but whats wrong with good old fashioned louse powder? its a lot cheaper than most other treatments and i have never had any probs as long as you treat everything that could carry the lice ie other horses, rugs, stables, numnahs ect

 

[joanne1920]

no i used frontline when i bought him as he had suspected mites, i had to sedate him with acp clip all his feathers off and then spray with frontline, then again after 2 weeks. my poor boy now hates spray bottles, the stuff apparently comes in a bottle that you pour on, the vet works it out by how much the horse weighs??? i dunno, just going on what she told me!

 

[Theresa_F]

Rub the feather well with louse powder to get rid of them.

If you want to keep them free of grease and mites etc, treat them with pig oil and sulphur - good old fashioned remedy that really works on horses with feather.

Also keeps the hair in great condition and white.

 

[conker]

Hi im new on here!
Give your cob a double dose of ivermectin and a louse bath,
i used dermoline insecticidal and got rid of the little pests. And i used louse powder as well, also wash your rugs as the little pests can crawl anywhere.Thats what my vet told me to do.

 

[henryhorn]

The trouble with good old fashioned louse powder is you can't buy it anymore!
The rubbish they sell now didn't clear some of my horses despite four applications..
Spraying with frontline is incredibly effective and just the job for feathers.
Worming at the same time with invermectic may also help.(though my vet rubbished that theory!)

 

[Emma27]

i wasn`t talking about the stuff you can`t buy anymore i meant the stuff that is available now, i have treated lots of horses with it and IME if you treat all horses, stables(inc bedding), rugs ect then i have to say i have never had a problem, mind you i look remarkably like a polar bear when finished treating because i use so much of the stuff LOL

 

[cynic]

A good thing to get rid of mites in feathers is Selsun shampoo you can buy it from the chemist and you have to scrub it in with small brush and leave it for 5 mins then rinse works well.. and cheaper ....