Lice!!

[Bobthecob15]

Well that wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card!! Had the vet out to do my boys SIJ injections and I mentioned he’d been itchy the past week or so…he had a few hairless rubs on his face which I showed her…a quick examination in his mane and he had blooming lice! No wonder he’s been scratching!!!

I have no idea how he’s got that, he’s not been anywhere bar the vet hospital 2 weeks ago for his gastroscope, nor been with any new horses and no new horses on the yard. Nobody else is itching and no other lice. Treated him and my other horse with Deosect who he goes out with in the field. He’s noticeably less itchy after this…I’ll repeat the Deosect again in a fortnight as directed.

Could it be from the straw bedding? But then I’d expect others to have it as well all have the same bale? No shared rugs or grooming kits or tack etc. So odd! Unless he got it from the vet hospital…

 

[Sanversera]

Sounds like it's from the hospital or transporter

 

[Barklands]

Make sure you get yourself some de lousing powder and use it on any rugs, saddle pads, bandages boots etc that he uses. Also clear out current bedding, disinfect and de louse powder on floor.

We use de lousing powder on every newcomer to avoid this problem - what a nightmare, sorry your year is starting like this!

 

[nutjob]

I had a case of lice when one of mine had been up at a vet hospital. I noticed it first when my other horse a hw cob started really rubbing his heels on stuff. I had gone there with an emergency colic late at night and the box mine was put in had hay left over from the previous horse which had to be removed for mine so they hadn't disinfected in between. This was a few years ago now. I've noticed that my own vet puts a minimal amount of bedding in for day cases and removes everything and disinfects before the next horse arrives.

 

[maya2008]

Not every horse itches. Could be hospital or transporter, or could be a field mate who shows no signs. Switch or the spot on stuff is particularly good if reinfection in your environment is possible. Also means you don’t need to wash them in this freezing weather. I’ve never known louse powder to work. Deosect is your other option.

 

[SpotsandBays]

Deosect is the best, I also covered the horse and rugs in powder between the deosect treatments and it cleared them up

 

[Bobthecob15]

Thanks I’ll get some powder too then, the Deosect seems to have helped he’s much more comfortable! It’s tricky to do rugs as he’s in his turnout day and night and I can’t really reproof it as it’s his warmest rug…but have washed everything else and cleaned stable as best I can. I have washed the liner bit though.

I used the Deosect as a spray? I mixed it up to the correct concentration on the bottle, and used a sponge over his face etc. the vet said something about a spot on but she couldn’t get the prescription for some reason as i needed it for both of my horses.

I transported him myself in my own trailer! The stable he was in at the hospital looked immaculate with fresh bedding but who knows!

 

[maya2008]

Switch Lotion for Horses

Switch Lotion is a ready to use liquid solution to facilitate the maintenance of Sweet Itch in horses, ponies and donkeys. Easy to use thanks to a calibrated dispensing chamber found within the applicator bottle. Use Switch Lotion at the start of Sweet Itch season and repeated as and when...

www.vetscriptions.co.uk

Licensed for horses, no prescription needed. Permethrin.

Or there’s coopers spot on which is supposed to be for sheep. There’s a thread on here about it somewhere. Worked a treat for us!

 

[HollyWoozle]

I had a case of lice on my mare who hadn’t travelled or encountered any new coming horses in a long time and our others (who she lives out with 24/7) never caught them.
She had been a bit unwell beforehand and am not sure if that meant she was more susceptible. I assumed they came in off deer somehow as was all I could come up with! Deosect solved it.

 

[Bobthecob15]

I had a case of lice on my mare who hadn’t travelled or encountered any new coming horses in a long time and our others (who she lives out with 24/7) never caught them.
She had been a bit unwell beforehand and am not sure if that meant she was more susceptible. I assumed they came in off deer somehow as was all I could come up with! Deosect solved it.

Yes he’s recently had a course of treatment for ulcers…perhaps that made him more susceptible to?

Hopefully the Deosect has done the job!

 

[fredflop]

I’ve seen it where horses out in a large herd, one occasionally would get them, the rest didn’t. (Or at least didn’t appear to.)

Was always a horse that was slightly ill or underweight.

As above presumed they came from deer/wildlife as it didn’t appear to be shared amongst the horses

 

[IrishMilo]

When Miles had lice I used this: https://www.chelfordfarmsupplies.co...QGsrE0RaDK29w_-fEAdLnMgaAnOqEALw_wcB#size=804

From what I read it's pretty much the best thing out there, and you can just drizzle spots down the back which is so much easier than faffing about with a Deosect bath.

 

[marmalade76]

I had a case of lice on my mare who hadn’t travelled or encountered any new coming horses in a long time and our others (who she lives out with 24/7) never caught them.
She had been a bit unwell beforehand and am not sure if that meant she was more susceptible. I assumed they came in off deer somehow as was all I could come up with! Deosect solved it.

Same with an old cob I used to look after, lived with 4 others who never went anywhere, none were new, they couldn't even get to other passing horses as none of the boundaries were on a road or PROW. Could have been passed on by wild animals? Maybe had been dormant somewhere in the buildings? He was the only one of the five who got them. He also got flystrike a couple of years later which was awful, he was still hanging on to his considerable winter coat and we had a wet & warm spring.

 

[Jenko109]

Always used to use ant powder. A cheap alternative.

 

[SpotsandBays]

It was always our older lot that would get them. They wouldn’t go anywhere or have any contact with horses that did so never really got to the bottom of why!
I always used deosect as a spray (liberally coat them with it mixing as per instructions). Then when they’d dried up I would cover them in powder, and also powder the rug and pop it on

 

[Bobthecob15]

It was always our older lot that would get them. They wouldn’t go anywhere or have any contact with horses that did so never really got to the bottom of why!
I always used deosect as a spray (liberally coat them with it mixing as per instructions). Then when they’d dried up I would cover them in powder, and also powder the rug and pop it on

Thank you I’ll get some powder I think too for the rugs x

 

[Gloi]

Sounds like it's from the hospital or transporter

Transporter's lorries are awful for spreading lice.

 

[Bobthecob15]

Transporter's lorries are awful for spreading lice.

Used my own trailer, definitely haven’t had anything in it with lice

 

[honetpot]

I used to have a TB that would get them every year if not treated. To keep them at bay I used Indorex spray on the rugs.

Indorex Flea Spray for Home Defence | Pet Drugs Online

Did you know that only 5% of fleas live on your pet? Fleas have a complicated life-cycle, 95% of their life is spent in the form of eggs, larvae and pupae that are ac...

www.petdrugsonline.co.uk

 

[blitznbobs]

My vet said when my babies got them in a closed herd that it all horses have a few but if they get under the weather their immune system didn’t fight them off as well so the population explodes…. Hence babies and oldies get them more often …Easy treated with deosect though.