Ales mites -update

[MrA]

The vet wants me to treat Ale for lice again and has suggested clipping him.

He is really hairy and I think I'm struggling to get the deosect to cover all of him.

I've never clipped at this time of year so just wondering how careful I'd have to be re rugging. It's such odd temperatures being 1 degree when I leave for work and then 20 in the middle of the day.

The alternative I guess is that I treat with deosect every 2 weeks until his summer coat is through.

Or I could bath him with an insecticide instead perhaps that would be more effective!

 

[carthorse]

Do you only visit once a day? If you visit twice then just put a warmer rug on at night, if he's a little bit chilly for an hour or two in the morning it won't do him any harm as he'll soon warm up in the sun. If he has much coat I think you won't get on top of the lice until he's clipped, and I don't think insecticidal shampoos bought over the counter are strong enough to work if you have a lice problem.

Maybe clip him with coarse blades which leave a little bit of coat on, more like a short summer coat.

 

[Jessey]

I’ve clipped Hank this time of year to treat him, but as you say it’s hard to manage rugs when you suddenly take fluff off. I went for a half clip

Ugly but effective, front end off and crotched like a sheep round the back end (between legs, up hamstrings to tail), allowed me to treat the areas the lice hang out most (mane, chest and tail) and it seemed to work without taking his entire coat off. 500ml of deosect is virtually a bath anyway and far more effective than any shampoo you can buy.
But when it then suddenly went really cold I had to get inventive

(Elastic surcingle with big neck cover)

 

[MrA]

I'm there morning and night. Will he need a rug at all in the day time? I've got a rain sheet I could use but I think he would cook in that if the sun came out

 

[carthorse]

Only you know how warm he gets @Ale. If I fully clipped Luka now I'd probably put a rainsheet on in the day (no neck) but he doesn't do chilly and becomes quite grumpy, others would be far happier without and no rug would probably be better at moving the lice on.

 

[MrA]

Ales problem areas this time seem to be his face and his side's just next to his hip. Seems very odd, before it was like Hank in those areas. I'm not convinced but I think the vet wants to rule things out before we look at anything more sinister. His bath in antifungal shampoo hasn't seemed to make any difference. He's covered in dandruff.

The main thing I have noticed is little black flecks and I wonder if that is lice faeces. I haven't seen any at all though. I'm going to treat him again tomorrow with the deosect and hope for some sort of improvement. I'm not able to get him clipped straight away but hopefully later in the week or early next week.

It's definitely not looking like rain scald or anything like that though, there are barely any scabs and the hair isnt coming off in paintbrush formations, the skin looks healthy really. Don't worry this is all being relayed to the vet, I'm just feeling very stressed about it all as he looks like an RSPCA case now and although he doesn't seem in pain or even that itchy I do worry alot.

 

[Mary Poppins]

I wouldn't hesitate to fully clip and just pop a rain sheet on if it looked like rain. I kept Ben like this for years when he was in full work and eating properly (before his teeth deteriorated) and I never once thought he was cold. He certainly didn't lose as much weight as I wanted him to anyway.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

I bib clipped Sid a couple of weeks ago and haven't rugged him at all. The temperature has been down to -3 a few nights recently and although he's glad to see his hay in the morning, he has never been cold.

 

[MrA]

Here's a picture of one of the patches by the way. This is the one close to his hip, the one the other side is alot smaller, about the size of a 50p but this evening there was 2 other patches near by that the hair has started coming out of, one had a small scab. The patches on his face are very similar but bigger

 

[MrA]

And here he is with his cream on, you can see where the patches are and he has slightly bigger the other side. Otherwise his coat looks okay really although you can see on his side where he had itched which I think it why vet wants to rule out lice.

 

[chunky monkey]

Yes id clip. Probably just medium blade so you leave a bit on there for skin protection. ie incase of sunburn. Clip half face so you remove all the long hair under the chin.
As your there twice a day. Id pop a rain sheet on overnight and in the day if it looks like rain.

I clipped chunky over christmas and he still has a very short coat, probably equivalent length to a medium blade clip so this week hes being rugged overnight and nothing in the day.

 

[MrA]

I spent an hour this morning applying and rubbing in the deosect as he had clearly itched again last night. Hopefully if he gets less itchy then it suggests it is lice. I might be able to get him clipped Thurs, will be very odd!

 

[carthorse]

The trouble is while he has a thick coat the chances are no matter how carefully you apply the deosect you'll miss areas that the lice will then use to hide and breed. The sooner you can get his coat right off the better, and in the daytime he'll probably be a lot happier for it too.

 

[MrA]

The trouble is while he has a thick coat the chances are no matter how carefully you apply the deosect you'll miss areas that the lice will then use to hide and breed. The sooner you can get his coat right off the better, and in the daytime he'll probably be a lot happier for it too.

Unfortunately I sold my clippers last year thinking I won't need these again

 

[Doodle92]

Yes I also think you need to
Clip out fully (legs and face too) Then you can treat the problem area rather than tha hair. You can then have a thicker rug on at night and a thinner in the day.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

I can lend you clippers @Ale if you need them, I'm not that far away

 

[MrA]

Thank you so much, I'm borrowing a pair Thursday now but thank you for the offer, so much!

 

[MrA]

He looks so handsome and slim. Can't take any credit for the clip yard owner ended up doing him as I was so useless

 

[chunky monkey]

That looks good to me. Should help no end.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

What a smart boy!