Monday, January 9, 2012

Lavender for Goat Lice?

As tends to happen when you have indoor/outdoor animals, we got invaded by fleas...They were pretty persistent on the dog, and it took a double dose of Advantage (2 weeks apart) and then finally the flea pill from the vet...


But in the meantime, the couch being the only soft furnishing in the living room, got infected (what does this have to do with the goat lice?...I am getting to that)...Well since we have a 3 yr old, I did not want to use harsh chemicals on the piece of furniture she loves to sleep on, so I started researching how to use Lavender on household furnishings to get rid of fleas...Well in my search I also discovered a method used to remove them from your dog...

Simply mix a few drops of lavender oil in a bottle or bowl of water...dip or spray the brush and deep groom you pet...It also mentioned it gets rid of ticks and lice...*light bulb moment*

Due to the winter break from Headstart, I was not able to use the store brought chemicals on the goats because I had a constant companion of our 3yr old, and hubby kept "forgetting" (don't even get me started)

So today I brushed the goats with a brush wet down with Lavender Oil and water....Boots tolerated the brushing and his coat looks gorgeous this afternoon, Deenie was not quiet as co-operative, but I think I managed to brush most of her....I will brush them again tomorrow...and see how the lice look over the next few days...I really hope this is successful and I can take the nasty chemical treatment back to the store for a refund since it is still unopened.

Blessings Kelsie 


5 comments:

PAINTORDIG.blogspot.com said...

Where did you find your lavender oil, I can't seem to find any here. I do use pine-sol lavender scent to mop with and lavender dryer sheets-it helps too.And it also gets rid of doggie odors too.

www.FarmLifeLessons.blogspot.com said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
www.FarmLifeLessons.blogspot.com said...

Ok - I have a confession. My husband and I were foster parents for years and we were always sent the children who had the worst lice infestations because they knew we'd know how to get rid of them without "rid." And both our daughters had hair down to their hip. The truth is...you just have to use a ton of hair product, mostly oil. For any hair, lice must adhere to the hair folicle and they can't do that if there is oil present. You have to keep this up for a couple of weeks. With animals, I'd imagine some cheap type of healthy oil that would not damage their skin would be wonderful in helping the little lice boogers to keep sliding off. For kids, you oil the hair back nicely, pull it into a ponytail and spray the heck out of it with hairspray...that way the lice can't jump or move and they die in place...frozen in hair gump. It's beautiful. It always worked. Of course, we had to keep washing the bedding. No use the same brushes. All that jazz, but the oil being the secret to lice infestation was revealed after I was "selected" to have the 13th kid sent to me with lice and they admitted it was because they always came back free of lice. I shared my secret. Hair products. Lots of hair products. Make that hair so gunky that lice can't socialize and do their thing, espeically around the nape of the neck and behind the ears, don't forget to give those areas extra hairspay.

Ok --- I hope this also helps --- my horrible past with lice has been revealed. Augh.

I feel for you in this battle!!!!

Lana

Kelsie from Our Country Home and Studio Photography said...

Lana,
That is funny you got that reputation...It is also very good for the kids that you helped with your method...I used Tea Tree on my eldest when she caught them at school...Saturated her hair with a mix of veggie oil and tea tree oil, then wrapped her hair in plastic wrap for about an hour...and then combed with a fine tooth comb...washing the oil out was the challenge since she was one of those kids that hated having her hair washed anyway lol.

I did not want to use the Tea Tree on the goats because I though it might be seen as cruel to wrap them in plastic (jking btw)....I actually was worried about how they would react to the smell or if their were to ingest any off of their fur.

Thank you for sharing your method with us.

Blessings Kelsie

Dreaming said...

This is a most interesting post. We had one episode of head lice. Thanks for making my head crawl!!
Good luck!