First of all, lice don’t jump. They run. However, thanks to their six legs, they can travel pretty quickly. The wingless insects, up to three millimeters in size, are skin-colored, a bit greyish, if they have a lot of fresh blood from their host in them, they can also be red-brown. Head lice are most commonly found on children’s heads. The lice are transmitted because the little ones stick their heads together and the animals have a free path from one head to the other. But since children also like to cuddle with their pets, many parents wonder whether lice can also be transmitted to them. Or the other way around: whether the lice transmission even occurs from animals to humans?
Strictly speaking, a human louse is also an animal louse
There is quite different types of lice, head lice, pubic lice or even clothes lice can attack us humans alone. If you take it biologically very precisely, then they too belong to the order of the animal louse – after all, humans are part of the mammals genus. The life cycle of a louse is around 20 days and consists of the three stages of nit, larva and adult louse.
Lice transmit disease, but not in our part of the world. However, the itching that occurs when sucking blood and the subsequent scratching can inflame the skin. Such infections cannot be ruled out in dogs and cats either.
No transfer of lice from humans to animals
Our common pets very rarely have lice, even if there are hundreds of different types of animal lice in Central Europe alone. They are between one and eight millimeters in size, are parasites like head lice and can infect any type of animal – there are even saltwater-tolerant lice that make themselves comfortable on seals. When it comes to dogs or cats, veterinarians speak of hair lice, fur or animal lice. They live on skin components containing keratin or on blood. Lice are so-called host-specific animals. That means that their survival is only assured on the right host. Head lice, for example, which are geared towards humans as hosts, need human blood, otherwise they will dry up within a few days. So if an animal louse really gets lost on a person, on the one hand it is not dangerous and on the other hand it will not survive there for long anyway. Lice cannot be transmitted from one animal to another. It is different with mites, such as those found in dogs, cats or rabbits. Many species of mites are host-unspecific. Through very close contact with the animal, as is often the case with children, it is possible to become infected. Usually skin reactions then occur. The best protection against such zoonoses is to keep pets from infections, to observe them carefully and to treat them quickly if they are infected.
Head lice have nothing to do with poor hygiene
Often those who have not had lice assume that they cannot get them at all. Quite simply because they wash themselves, their hair and their clothes regularly. But that has nothing to do with it. If you wash yourself very often, you only have very clean lice in the event of an infestation. The treatment of head lasers is quick and easy nowadays, children can go back to daycare or school the next day. The remedies are like shampoos, many work overnight. Then you just have to rinse the hair again, remove the nits with a suitable comb or, best of all, cut out immediately and wash the bedding, nightwear and laundry from the day before with hot water. You can freeze woolen hats or cuddly toys so that they are quickly available again. Since head lice are not transmitted from humans to animals, you do not have to treat the “real” animals.