Last week, I had one of those cases that never ceases to impress me. My patient was Missy, a petite, five-year-old female Persian. Missy had an infestation of maggots.
The term maggot is commonly used to describe the immature stage of various species of flies. While they are typically associated with death and decomposition, they are also an intrinsic part of the cycle of life since they aid in the decomposition of cadavers and carrion. But when maggots infest healthy living flesh and start to eat their host, it is an ugly thing to behold. And this is what happened to Missy.
Her owner told me Missy’s fur had become knotted at the hind quarters, which then got soiled with fecal matter. What with coping with a busy schedule, Missy’s owner had not noticed that the cat had soiled itself and Missy suddenly became a target for blow flies.
Blow flies or bottle flies are those flies with a metallic blue, green, bronze or black body that we start to see in the warmer weather. They love to feed upon anything that smells pungent, rotten or putrid.
Female blow flies typically lay their eggs on human food, compost, household garbage, animal faeces and even fresh or festering wounds. Depending on how warm the weather is, within eight to 12 hours the eggs will hatch into cream-coloured larvae that look like tiny worms.
The warmer the weather, the sooner they hatch. Larvae, or maggots, are flies that have not yet matured. They start to feed upon whatever they have hatched – be it food, rotting garbage or animal poo.
The bigger they get, the stronger they get and the deeper they burrow. Problems start when their host is actually alive. When blow flies attack a living host, it is referred to as myiasis or flystrike. In the veterinary world, this is a common occurrence in sheep, rabbits and calves and, to a lesser extent, in dogs and cats too.
Skin infections should be attended to before they start to attract flies
Animals having fur that is easily soiled with fecal matter or urine, such as sheep with their thick woolly coats, or rabbits confined to hutches that are not sufficiently cleaned, have a very higher risk of attracting flies. Household pets are also at risk if their fur is not cleaned of diarrhea or vomit, or if any wound or skin infection is left exposed or untreated. If the underlying skin is soft and moist, there is an even greater risk that the maggots will penetrate the living tissue and start to feed.
Flystrike starts as an irritation, but with small animals such as cats and dogs, it can become serious within hours. Puppies, kittens or old or sick pets will succumb quicker. Your pet will go into shock caused by the enzymes and toxins produced by the maggots. By this stage, your pet will need emergency veterinary care. Left untreated, it will be fatal.
If your pet is unlucky enough to be targeted by flies, your veterinary surgeon will need to clip the fur from the affected area and extract the maggots from the suppurating wound. He will then repeatedly flush and cleanse the wound, remove dead or dying tissue and administer antibiotics to fight infection and aid healing. Because flystrike is very painful, your pet might need to be sedated.
As a pet owner, there is much that you can do to prevent this happening. Bathing your pet regularly is always beneficial. If your cat or dog has long fur that matts easily, you will do it a kindness to have it regularly groomed. But while long-haired breeds are always more susceptible to flystrike, short-haired breeds might also have other causes for flystrike – such as infected anal glands.
Skin infections, sometimes even arising from matted fur, should be attended to before they start to attract flies. The same applies to open or infected wounds. Old pets that are having difficulty defecating without soiling themselves will need your help to keep themselves clean.
Likewise, old pets that have become incontinent, or those that have related problems leading to incontinence should be bathed regularly. Obese pets will have moist folds of skin that are a haven for flies to lay their eggs in a secure location. Speak to your vet about a weight loss programme for your pet. Rabbits too need to keep their hind quarters clean; your vet will provide the necessary wash to keep your pet clean.
Spring has started, so the incidence of blow flies is already greater. Flystrike really is an awful sight. If it goes unnoticed, the maggots are capable of eating their way to the spine. And by then it will be too late. Despite having worked with animals for so many years, witnessing maggots eating living tissue still disturbs me.
Luckily for Missy, as soon as her owner realised what had happened, she immediately administered first aid by thoroughly cleaning the affected area before bringing her to the clinic for medical care. Veterinarians now have at their disposal systemic insecticides capable of killing the maggots still feeding deep inside the body.
Missy has been scheduled for follow-up treatment and when the soft tissues heal sufficiently, she will undergo cosmetic surgery to repair the breach in her skin.
thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com
Dr Martin Debattista is a veterinary surgeon.