Can You Get Lice from Your Pets and Vice Versa

Dealing with lice infestations is a pain, whether it’s you or your child going through it. After your kid arrives home from a long day at school and you witness them scratching their hair and head incessantly, it’s usually a sure sign that they’ve gotten infected with lice.

Part of preventing lice from spreading and affecting the rest of your family is controlling the problem while it’s still early. Managing head lice is a serious matter that requires special products or a visit to a lice removal center near you for immediate treatment.

Handling lice issues is similar to keeping your pets free from fleas. The most fundamental thing to do is prevent infestation and unwanted transmissions—whether it’s a human or a pet involved.

Keep reading below to find out more about the negative impact of lice on people and pets.

Understanding How Human Lice Affects Your Pets

Once you find out that your child has contracted head lice, while you worry about their situation, you can’t help thinking about your pet dog or cat because they have a lot of fur.

Fortunately, it’s safe to say that you can prevent human lice from affecting your pets because these parasites will only continue latching on to their preferred species. The lice that attach themselves to your child’s hair will not infect your pets. Human lice will only stick to humans and dog lice will remain attached to dogs!

If your child acquires head lice from school, there’s no need to keep your pets away from them. However, you do have to be extra careful about accidentally becoming infected by the head lice that your child now has.

A Closer Look at the Lice on Your Pets

Even though human lice cannot attach themselves to your pets, your pets will still have to deal with different species of lice that feed on their blood. Animals tend to acquire lice from dirty environments, usually occurring in unsanitary animal shelters, for example.

Stray dogs or cats living on the streets or in shelters have greater chances of experiencing a lice infestation as compared to household pets that receive regular care, cleaning, and attention. Due to the inadequate disinfection solutions occurring in some animal shelters, grooming salons, and pet stores, transmission can happen easily. To prevent lice from spreading, you need to be proactive in ensuring that your pet is not exposed to such environments.

How to Know If Your Pet Has Lice

When you witness your dog or cat constantly itching, scratching, and chewing on their fur to relieve the irritation they’re facing, it will be best to take them to the vet right away. Even though their lice has no way of affecting you or your family, it’s important to soothe the discomfort your pet is feeling through diagnosis and treatment.

Reach Out to an Expert

You’ll be much better off dealing with parasites, whether it’s human or animal, when you strive to focus on preventing lice rather than developing ways to treat them. As much as possible, you should limit your child from interacting too much with other kids suspected of having head lice. Meanwhile, when it comes to your pets, before bringing them to pet salons, you should ask the management regarding their facilities and how often they clean their equipment to ensure they won’t be the source of an infestation!

Prevent Lice in Jacksonville, FL

Are you looking for a lice treatment clinic in Jacksonville, FL, Orlando, FL or Savannah, GA for your child? Fresh Heads Lice Removal offers all-natural and chemical-free lice removal solutions for people in need. Get in touch with us today to find out how our product works!

Schools Without Lice

At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, our mission is to get rid of lice in schools across the United States. We’ve partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program. Through this program, we provide school nurses and teachers with free screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!