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  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

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    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Urgent help please! Fly eggs

E

ElsasMummy

Warren Scout
Please help. Have found fly eggs on Elsa (no maggots) I'm combing through to remove all and using fly guard spray. Shall I wash her after? Do I have to go to vets? :( money situation is awful and it's a Sunday (emergency fee and less good vet) please help
 
Rang emergency vet who said keep combing through, apply more rear guard and check every few hours. Said they'd do exactly the same
 
The eggs were mainly on the back third of her back and the top of her tail, not by the skin. She's a white lion head so hard to see. Fairly confident I've removed all and I have covered her in rear guard. Will check again in a few hours. Bloody flies :( xx
Just to add (perhaps as a warning) her bum was almost perfectly clean but she's an old girl (10) and had a small amount of urine staining.
 
Last edited:
Oh gosh what a horrible shock!!!

Fingers crossed that Elsa is going to be fine.:thumb:

Well done for noticing and acting so fast.
 
Thank you. I've just combed her thoroughly again and removed a few more eggs, I found one very tiny (<1mm) maggot :( It was near the top of the fur in the middle of her back- there are no eggs on her underside.

It's so difficult to be sure I've removed evrything as she has thick white fur, I'll keep checking every few hours.

I've seen lots of flies around her recently and I don't know why- she's keeping herself clean but does have slight urine staining on the insides of her legs and around her tail. What can I do to repel the flies? She free ranges in the garden so I can't use nets- I'm thinking I might call the vet about trimming her underside very short? (or can I do this myself?) Also going to clean her scent glands out next time I pick her up this evening. She is clean but a bit smelly- possibly due to her diet which isnt ideal as she is a dental bunny and can't eat hay.

Argh!
 
Hope she's ok. Can I check that you're using rearguard not fly guard, they're not the same product and fly guard won't stop eggs hatching like rear guard does. You said fly guard to begin with. I just wanted to check you vet knows which product you've got as the advice might be different.
 
I would always take bunny to vet for an injection in case any eggs landed near the anus/genital orifices and went insde (sorry but it is horrible and they will do that).
 
ElsasMummy said:
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/fly-guard-spray-75ml-by-beaphar-15806

Fly guard! I believed it did the same? Will she be protected from the eggs hatching with this? I thought the ivermectin in it did that? She did have a proper rear guard application by the vet at the end of July

I see that Rear Guard contains Cyromazine but both are described as insect growth regulators? :O
Click to expand...

Fly guard is usually Ivermectin which doesn't stop the eggs hatching so you will still get maggots, rear guard does stop the eggs hatching so you don't get maggots. They work in very different ways. I would call the vet back again and check what their advice is. Ivermectin kills on contact but doesn't stop the maggots doing some damage in the mean time.
 
:( oh no really? I thought as it was supposed to provide 3 months protection it did the same thing. I'll call now thanks
 
Emergency vet is happy that the ivermectin should do the same job of preventing maggots. I'm going to keep a very close eye on her all night just in case I left any eggs earlier. Really hope she'll be ok
 
ElsasMummy said:
Emergency vet is happy that the ivermectin should do the same job of preventing maggots. I'm going to keep a very close eye on her all night just in case I left any eggs earlier. Really hope she'll be ok
Click to expand...

That's good news :thumb: didn't mean to scare you but it was worth checking as they are very different in the way they work. Hope she's ok.
 
Thank you I really appreciate you taking the time to answer. I do hope the emergency vet is right- they didn't even hesitate to say the ivermectin should do the job so I hope thats accurate. Yesterday I was dreading the frost coming as I didn't want her to be chilly but now I'm willing it on to kill all the flies!!
 
Has Elsa ever had ec? Virtually every bunny I've known which has had flies lay eggs on them randomly (I.e. not because of a large mass of faeces etc) has been an ec bunny - I don't know if it makes the urine particularly attractive or something...it's an unsubstantiated theory of mine. As she has some urinary problems I would discuss it as a possibility with your vet in any case, as incontinence can be a symptom of ec.

Good luck, hope your little one is ok x x
 
Thank you all. I do try my best with Elsa but I've had her since I was 11 so have made all the usual young owner mistakes, she's taught me a lot. I'll always keep rabbits but I can never imagine another as sweet and docile as Elsa!
 
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