Can my pet get head lice?

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Can your pet get head lice?

When you find out that your children or yourself have lice it can be an overwhelming experience with so many questions. The laundry along with cleaning the rest of the house, the brushes, the hair ties…. You may wonder if you will have to treat your pet with something as well. Luckily, pets cannot get lice. Cats, Dogs even birds are not susceptible to catching human head lice. Human head lice is a different species and can’t be transmitted to animals so if your child has lice and the family dog or cat jumps on them don’t worry, they cannot get lice.

Lice is however a very contagious issue and even though its not life threatening and doesn’t carry and illnesses or diseases it can be very uncomfortable if left untreated. Lice can cause extreme itchiness and if you scratch at your head or neck it can cause your skin to become very irritated and red. There can also be bumps and bite marks on the nape of your neck. When your scratch a lot you can cause those bites to bleed or become open wounds which can get infected.

Its important that when you are aware that you or a family member has lice that you get it treated right away not only for your own health but lice is very contagious so it can easily be spread to other members of the family or friends.

LCA San Diego is here to help and will treat you and your family quickly and easily. We do an FDA cleared heated air treatment that is all natural and 99% effective. When lice enters your house hold LCA San Diego is here to remove it.

Why does lice have such a social stigma?

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We have all heard about head lice and we all crunch our faces when we hear about it.Bot how is the social stigma proliferating in such a common infestation and how can we stop it?
Dr. Sheryl Gordon, PhD has been studying the impact of head lice in children and the social stigma that it creates. The logic behind it according to Dr. Gordon is that we come up with a treatment plan, whether it’s doing it ourselves or getting help from an outsider, but if the solution doesn’t work we blame the process and not long after that, the victim. That has tangible reaction such as children not wanting their peers or even their families to know, families hiding from other family members and in extreme cases, child abuse.
In a real case a mother explained, “I have tried everything and no matter what I do lice keep coming back.Sophie was not invited to a party because she always has lice.” Dr. Gordon differentiates between primary stigma,you get it when you have an undesirable characteristic (if people know about it), courtesy stigma,when someone close to you has such undesirable characteristic. 
As parents, it is understandable that the first reaction against lice is disgust but how we transmit this to our children is entirely up to us. Understanding how lice transmit and how completely remove them in an efficient manner are the only solutions to the stigma. Once you know your “enemy” it’s easier to treat it and deal with it.
At LCA San Diego we ask you what you have been dealing with lice so we can get a better understanding on your child’s case and tailor the best treatment. We also make sure we understand the contact tracing: who do you typically see? It’s a possible source of re infestation. We encourage regular head screenings and we help parents and our community be educated on Head Lice so that we all minimize the stigma that it creates.

Delouse your house

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Killing head lice is not only taking care of the head. Your house, car and other belongings might have some lice and may cause you or those around you to be infested or even re-infested! Taking care of your house is very important to complement your head lice removal treatment.

Heat is one of the most effective ways of taking care of lice: Wash all the clothes, hats, jackets and linens and place them in the dryer in high heat for 30minutes. You can also place stuffed animals, pillows and other fabric items in the dryer to kill the lice. In addition, boil all the combs, head bands, clips and hair accessories.

All the other items that cannot go in the dryer or boiled should be placed in a plastic bag and left air tight for over 48h. Lice cannot survive for more than 48h off a human head. Vacuum all carpets and couches and clean your house to take out any louse that may have been left behind. Remember to vacuum your car seats.  Also you can use a sticky roller to take care of leather seats, and a wipe to clean your plastic child´s car seats or car raisers.

Make sure you take all this precautions after you have been treated so that no re-infestation is possible! Call us if you have questions and we’ll help you delouse your house.