possible case of flystrike, please help!

[skinnypig]

about two hours ago I found about 10 brown maggot-ish creatures crawling around the bum/right hind leg of ‘Annifrid’ my almost 10 year old Netherland dwarf female. They can’t have been there for very long as Annifrid is suffering from a prolonged bout of ‘Intermittent Soft Cecotropes’ which means I check (and wash if necessary) her rear end every morning; and this morning there was no sign of any maggots.
 
I removed the intruders and bathed Annifrid’s back end in warm water with a little disinfectant dried her off with a hair dryer. I then proceeded to blitz her hutch with the hosepipe and a ton of disinfectant. on inspecting the corner where she goes to the bathroom I found a large number of these creatures wriggling around below the top layer of poop.
 
to my untrained eye they don’t appear to be the traditional green bottle type maggots being a different shape and a darker brown color.  
 
I’m not sure what to do next, not so long ago I would have been off to the emergency vet in a hart beat. However, Annifrid is of a very old age and suffering from advanced arthritis and what I believe may be a chest infection; making strange noses when she breaths. I have stopped taking her to the vet for minor complaints as I strongly believe if the vet sees her on a bad day they will advocate putting her to sleep and I feel; judging from past experience with other bunnies, that we haven’t reached that point just yet.
 
I had kind of conceded that I would continue to look after her the best I could and that our next trip to the vets would most likely be the last, but the whole idea of her being attacked by these nasty little creatures just seems too horrible for words.   
 
any advice would be really appreciated.   
thanks in advance

[Bam]

This really is a vet emergency. Fly strike can develop in 6 hours on a hot day, according to Richard Saunders, British rabbit vet.All maggots must be removed. I quote forum leader LBJ 10 from a post she made earlier this week: “For flystrike, it is very important that ALL of the maggots are removed. There just isn’t any chemical you can put on them to kill the maggots that isn’t toxic to rabbits. You have to either bathe them several times to drown the maggots (one of the few emergency situations when a bath is recommended) and/or pick all of the maggots out by hand. This can be very difficult for even vets to do. The maggots will actually burrow down into the skin and they are difficult to remove.”

The butt bath is rather meant to make the maggots crawl out, than make them drown while still burrowed in the skin. (Note made by LBJ10).

You can use diluted povidone- iodine (betadine) to disinfect the area after removal.

I recommend a vet visit, but as you are saying Annifrid is old and a vet might suggest you put her down rather than treat, so you’ll need to be prepared for that and be firm. She will likely need an antibiotic and painkillers after the maggots have been removed.

I sincerely wish you and Annifred the best. ((((((Annifrid))))))

[vanessa]

Oh dear. It really is an emergency. Iv had this in 3 of my rabbits. I agree with bam. Vet for treatment or euthanasia, but she needs a vet. Butt bath “can” be used to convince the worms to come out, but it isn’t guaranteed. You do need a vet to check her for sub-cutaneous maggots. Disinfectant won’t do anything for the maggots in her, and you can’t see them under the skin. She will need antibiotics and pain meds if u choose to treat. Even dead maggots release toxins that could cause her to go into shock and die. U r correct that it is horrific. I’m sorry that she is experiencing this. The maggots will be eating her until u can get them all out. I treated 2 of mine, and had the third one euthanized. Tip: not all vet receptionists know that it is an emergency. So if your vet take a emergencies before appointments, b sure 2 explain to the receptionist that this is an emergency. If u just call it fly strike, they might make u wait a few days for an appointment… I learned the hard way…

[skinnypig]

thank you for the quick reply
Due to her rather severe arthritis she’s already taking 2.2mm of loxicom twice daily which I’m told is the absolute maximum dosage for a rabbit her size. This has previously prevented the vet from being able to proscribe any additional pain meds apart from calpol. I have some tramadol drops for when things get really bad; but would like to avoid using them due to the side effects.

I suspect antibiotics will finish her off (bad previous experience). I’m going to phone the vet immediately and try to explane the situation in detail before taking her in.

this may be wishful thinking but I think/hope the maggots may have crawled on to her rather then hatched on her, my reasoning is the ‘ground zero’ of the infestation was 100% berried deep inside the pile of poop in her hutch and the comparatively few maggots I found on her were very much on the outer surface of her fur (I suspect they were attracted by the smell of the quite bad Soft Cecotrope I cleaned off her in the morning)

[Bam]

I too so hope the maggots had just crawled on to her!

Richard Saunders says to check the butt of poopy-butt prone rabbits 3 times a day during the warmest periods of the year, if the bunny is at risk of being targeted by flies. And most bunnies are, it doesn’t take a swarm of flies.

[skinnypig]

quick update
we’re just back from the vet, the journey took a bit out of Annifrid but she quickly recovered. After the vet shaved around her bum and gave her an exam (inside and out) she said there was no sign of any maggots or puncher wounds.
she also said my hypothesis about the maggots crawling on to her from their eggs in the toilet corner seemed completely possible. However if we are wrong and she is in fact suffering from flystrike; we can expert to see dramatic symptoms with in 48hrs of the first sign of maggots. we are now over 24hrs in and there’s no sign of anything so fingers crossed.

we were proscribed baytril for a pre-existing chest condition, some baby cream for her bum (which is sour after yesterdays disinfectant bath), and told to come back in a weeks time.
The way I see it is that even if she has flystrike she is now receiving treatment for other conditions (pain meds and antibiotics) which should also cover this.
Also, her now shaved bum will really help with the soft cecotropes!

all in all I think everything is ‘so far so good’

[Bam]

It sounds great, the vet seems very thorough. Lots of good vibes for (((((Annifrid)))))

[skinnypig]

thanks!
fingers crossed

[sarahthegemini]

Fingers crossed she is a-okay!

[Roberta]

Check with your vet re usage and age but Revolution (selamectin) helps prevent fly strike. One of the first things many Australian vets do is apply selamectin or inject ivermactin as it kills the maggots, I discovered this when one of my elderly cats was spared fly strike because she had been treated with Revolution. You would need the puppy and kitten under 2.5kg. Revolution is the only topical product I know of which effectively manages flystrike.

[vanessa]

While revolution will kill maggots, dead maggots need to be removed promptly… Good to hear it might not be that bad.

[Q8bunny]

Oh my goodness! Poor ((((((Annifrid)))))). I am so rooting for her well being. Your vet sounds wonderful and I truly hope this was just an awful scare.

I had no idea Revolution (Stronghold) prevented flystrike! Thank the gods Chewie has been getting a dose every nice-weather month since adoption. Does it kill maggots once they hatch or does it prevent flies from implanting eggs or eggs hatching?

[skinnypig]

we are now over 48hrs from the start of this thing and there’s no sign of any flystrike related symptoms!
Looks like we hopefully dodged a particularly nasty bullet!

however, I’m becoming increasingly concerned about the baytril, I’ve cleaned soft poop off her bum twice today, she was already having problems with her gut and I’m scared the baytril will push her over the edge. We lost Annifrid’s daughter Gruntie whilst being treated for pneumonia with another antibiotic (I can’t remember the name of this med but I believe it was much stronger then baytril)

hopefully I’m just being paranoid; and I’m telling myself that any side effects wouldn’t manifest so quickly. With Gruntie it took two weeks for the antibiotic to kill all the bacteria in her gut.

Unfortunately the vet is closed for the weekend so I can’t phone for advice, so all I can do is keep a eye on it.
I’m thinking if it becomes obvious she is no longer producing any regular poop I should stop giving her the antibiotics; but I guess it’s probably too late by then to stop the damage.

[Q8bunny]

Do you have access to probiotics? If not, even a spoonful of plain yogurt or kefir at mealtime can help.

[skinnypig]

I don’t have any probiotics and should be able to get some yogurt tomorrow.
I think I’ll have a better handle on the situation later tonight, she’s allowed to run around the lounge in the evenings. I clear out the litter trey she uses in there every night; so it should become obvious if she’s still producing any normal poop.

[Bam]

I was just going to suggest sth like that, but my phone battery ran out =( Keep a close eye, if the sticky poop becomes runny, watery and/or mucos-y, it’s an emergency and could mean the killing off of good gut bacteria has enabled really bad bacteria to take over. If there’s round poop plus the sticky poop, I think it’s what you have to expect when a poopy-butt-prone bun gets put on antibiotics. Baytril is a bunny safe antibiotic and very widely used, but all systemic antibiotics will impact the gut in some way.

Q8 got the yoghurt/Kefir tip from a very good rabbit vet. Just make sure the yoghurt hasn’t been UHT-treated after the yoghurt culture was added. Ultra high temp treatment kills renders the yoghurt sterile. (It’s fine if the milk used to make the yoghurt was UHT of course).

Still keeping my fingers crossed for (((((Annifrid)))))

[Author]

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