Lice

Hello, everyone. 

It's been a while and I've got a serious problem. As the thread implies, poor Leona has lice. And they're very hard to get rid of. A friend of mine and I gave her a bath with shampoo that is intended to kill various pests, such as fleas and ticks and lice, specially formulated for both dogs and cats. It's put out by Adams. 

I tried to bathe her thoroughly, but I don't think I've got them all. I was seeing fully formed lice, not the nymphs, within a day or two of bathing her.  I also applied some Zodiac flea and tick spray (also formulated for dogs and cats and is also supposed to treat lice). I didn't spray her with it. I put some in a cup and applied some to the affected areas (behind her ears, under her chin and neck) with a toothbrush. That seems to do the trick. The Zodiac seems to easier to apply than bathing her. She resisted the bath vigorously, but I can restrain her with minimal effort when applying the Zodiac. 

But I dread the thought of giving her another bath. She was so miserable during the first one. Plus she seems to have some on her face and I don't know how I'm going to get rid of those. I don't want those chemicals near her eyes. 

Can someone recommend something that will kill the lice? A friend of mine suggested putting garlic in her drinking water. I've been trying to find out about this online, but no one seems to be able to confirm that this will kill the lice. 

Does anyone have some natural, home remedy that will work? 

I've tried posting this on other forums, and I get some pretty uninformed replies. So, to prevent another rash of uninformed replies, I need to make the following comments.

1) Yes, cats can get lice. (Some people have tried to insist that cats can't get lice. Yes, they can.)

2) No, you cannot get lice from a cat, nor can a cat get lice from you. Lice are very species specific. They are designed to cling to a specific type of hair. And the lice that infests cats cannot cling to your hair shafts, nor can the lice that infests humans cling to cat hair. There is no danger of anyone getting lice from a cat. 

3) They are not fleas or ticks. I know what fleas and ticks look like and these are not it.

With this in mind, please confine your responses to lice on cats and how to get rid of them. 

I don't have any experience getting rid of lice on cats though I can well understand what a pain they are. I am really writing to let you know that garlic is toxic to cats and to urge you not to go the garlic water route.

Good luck! Hopefully someone with more experience will come by soon.

No garlic, please! It won't help and can do a great deal of harm. Our shelter had a litter of 6-week-old kittens with lice last summer. It took two baths with a prescription shampoo spaced 3 or 4 days apart to get rid of them. Everything the kittens were in contact with - bedding, rugs, towels, combs - had to be thoroughly disinfected to prevent a reinfestation. If it's any consolation, lice are a lot easier to deal with than fleas.