Possible Flystrike?

Hi,

I know that this would be considered an emergency and I'm going to try and bring my rabbit in to the vet tomorrow since today is sunday and theyre closed. Yesterday, I was getting some mats out of my rabbits fur. She's ten years old and has trouble reaching to clean herself due to her lingering bacterial infection/head tilt symptoms. While I was cleaning her I thought I saw something white moving through her fur.. it's hard to be completely sure because of the poor lighting and my eyesight is not perfect. I've checked her again today and I'm not seeing anything.

Since I'm not able to get her to the vet right away, basically my question is what signs should I watch for with her and I have this small vial of revolution for fur mites that somehow got overlooked. I'm wondering if that would be useful at all the put on her in case she does have something? She is housed indoors and I've not seen any flies around lately but I think I may have seen something and I guess I'm kind of anxious about it. Sorry for the wall of text.. I hope someone will be able to reply to me about this. Thanks.

Sorry, I cannot edit my post.

Forgot to mention that she's housed indoors. Also, she has a couple of bald spots by her tail but I'm not sure if that's because I've removed some matted fur from that area. She also shows some occasional hind leg paralysis sometimes but that may be due to her posture because of the head tilt. She doesn't have full blown head tilt anymore but she still has symptoms, like her eyes rapidly moving if she falls over, leaning to one side, and circling to the right.

If you suspect Flystrike there is no alternative than to get her to a Vet immediately. Your Vet will have Out-of-Hours emergency cover. If you call the usual number for your Vet there should be a recorded message giving details of what number to call in an emergency.

If she does have a maggot or more on her, tomorrow will be too late. She will either be dead or it will have progressed very far in 48 hours. The maggots burrow beneath the skin and eat the rabbit from the inside out, it is a horrific and extremely painful way to go.

Due to the nature of her disabilities, the signs you would normally look for are going to be very hard to spot. Rabbits are prey animals and so try to hide pain. Most rabbits with flystrike show NO symptoms until it is too late.

From what you describe, because of her disabilities she is likely at greater risk of flystrike, as she will likely have trouble grooming herself and aiming when she toilets.

All vets will have access to some form of out of hours vets. You must ring your vet and get her to an emergency vet. Do not delay, as it has already been many hours, if she has flystrike every hour counts.

They need to shave the area completely and check for signs of eggs, maggots and entry-wounds. These are often very hard to spot without shaving the animal. They may also apply Rearguard to the rest of the fur, to prevent any other eggs developing further.

Good luck, I hope you can get her to the vet in time.

Just to update, the vet checked her over and didn't see anything. (I hadn't actually seen any on her. I'm not sure what I thought I'd saw the other day.. but her fur is white so maybe I was just imagining things, I don't know.) So she's on meds again for the bacterial infection and the vet shaved the messy area around her tail which I'll be trying to keep clean.

She didn't know about rear gaurd. I'm from Canada, so maybe it's something that's more recognized in the states. I'll try to see if I can order some online.

Anyway, sorry if I worried anyone and sorry for not responding right away.. my internet went down. Thanks for your responses as well.

Glad she is okay and didn't have any maggots on her

Most of us on here are from the UK, so maybe Rearguard is a british product. It says on the bottle that it contains 6% cyromazine, maybe your vet will know it by that name? It is a liquid that you apply to the fur, and once dry it means that if any eggs hatch the maggots will not develop and so it protects the rabbit from flystrike. It is less effective after bathing so you may have to reapply it if you are having to do this, but it is well worth looking into, as it is really the only defence against flystrike. I use it as a preventative treatment once or twice in the summer, as one application lasts 6 weeks. There is also a product made by Beaphar called flyguard, this is not the same and is simply a fly-repellent and won't interfere with the maggots.

The other way to prevent it is simply to check their bums a lot for fly eggs, preferably 2-3 times a day. But if your eyesight isn't great this may not be enough, especially as she is white. Fly eggs are white and are very small.

How messy is she underneath and is it wee or poo? It sounds like she may have a diet or health problem that is causing the messy bottom and therefore putting her at risk.

If she has a messy bum a lot, it might be worth seeing if you can get her trimmed regularly?

I'm a little OTT where Flystrike is concerned (I am haunted by the times I've come across it) but it might be worth looking in to just to help keep her clean.

Greywings, I am so relieved to hear that your bunny didn't have flystrike. :thumb: Many years ago I came across a neglected guinea pig with flystrike........... sadly the little darling had to be put to sleep then and there.