Lice Advice please

Hello.

Domino, my femail french lop has lice

The vets first treated her with Xenex Ultra Spot On and she had a terrible reaction to it, (which I have since found out from these boards that it is common with rabbits even though my vet had not come across it before... but thats a whole different story). I washed the Spot On off and consulted with the vet the next day who said that the only other treatment she knew was an unlicenced injection (which they used to use before Xenex became the recommended treatment). The Spot On did seem to clear a lot of the lice even thouh it was washed off quite quickly. She then had 1 injection 5 days after the Spot On, and then another injection 12 days later. But this hasn't cleared it so she has had another injection today, about 2 weeks after the second injection. We have to take here back in 10 days for another injection.

Does anyone else have any experience in treating lice? I would have thought, as the vet said, that the 2 injections would have killed the cycle. Is it likely that repeating the injections will work? Are there any other treatments that I could try?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Adele

I've not come across lice, just mites and fleas, both very different, but not sure if either is the same thing as lice.

I'm glad you stopped doing the Xenex, it killed my bun, so I'm glad yours is ok.

Many rabbit treatments are not actually licensed for them, so try not to be put off by that. Hopefully it will work though, sorry I don't have much more to add than that.

I'm glad you stopped with the spot on quickly! As far as the injections go, don't let the licensing of it worry you. I have heard of a second course sometimes being necessary and there should not be any adverse effects from this. The two doses in theory should have cleared it, but sometimes things take a bit longer. She should be noticeably more comfortable with the original doses, even if it's not entirely cleared the problem. Hope she's better soon.

what about a small animal shampoo? i know some don't work too well but it's mild and so no reactions

Lice are damned hard to get rid of lol, our rats had lice and we used the small animal bob martin spot on. Would your bun have a reaction to this? I'd presume it'd have the same stuff as the other spot on had.
If it does contain the same stuff then i certainly won't chance using on my bun :shock:

Thanks for your replies. I’ve thought about using a shampoo, but a little bit reluctant because she hates the bath and where it’s got colder and our poor house heating it will take her ages to dry off, but maybe I will after the second set of injections. Its amazing because she doesn’t seem in the slightest bit bothered about having lice, unlike me!.

The Xenex episode was very stressful, Doms totally freaked out when we got here home and was running into the furniture clearly distressed, with a horrible type of burn developing where it had been applied. I was shocked that something could have such a bad reaction on some buns and not on others. I was a little disappointed with the vet for not pointing out that there could be a problem, I’ve used them for years, they have a brilliant reputation and I have.. up until this episode, been really pleased with their bunny knowledge.

Thanks again for your advice
Adele

The shampoos are a lot milder than the injection so I would assume it wouldn't work. Usually the shampoos are used as a prevention of lice and other crawlies rather than a cure! I'd persist with the injections for now and then if that sorts it consider shampoos as a possible preventative in the future.

Also I'd use an animal safe insecticide in the hutch or cage to insure that you don't get a repeat infestation once the treatments stopped.

Lu x :wave: