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possible case of flystrike, please help!

Skinnypig

New Kit
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
 
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

I am sorry that you have not received a response to your post dated 13th July. As that is 3 days ago I sincerely hope that your Rabbit has received Veterinary treatment as this is always 100% essential in cases of Flystrike

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/flystrike/

http://www.worldwidewounds.com/2006/february/Cousquer/Veterinary-Lop-Rabbit-Fly-Strike.html

Without wishing to sound blunt and to the point, sometimes the most humane thing a Vet can do for a Rabbit with several heath problems, is elderly and is suffering Flystrike is to suggest PTS.
 
I, too am extremely sorry that no-one responded to your post dated 13 July :( I really cannot imagine how this has happened, particularly as it was posted early evening when many people are often online on RU and it was asking for help in the title. I personally do not remember seeing it at all.

How is Annifrid?

Once again I'm truly sorry that you received no response.
 
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


Hi Skinnypig and welcome to the Forum

How is Annifrid how? I hope you managed to contain the injury to her and that it's settled down?

Flystrike is a horrid thing to happen to any rabbit, but does particularly strike at the elderly.

If it's not too late for you, there may be something helpful here:

https://www.medicanimal.com/The-sym...evention-of-fly-strike-in-rabbits/a/ART111555
 
I, too am extremely sorry that no-one responded to your post dated 13 July :( I really cannot imagine how this has happened, particularly as it was posted early evening when many people are often online on RU and it was asking for help in the title. I personally do not remember seeing it at all.

How is Annifrid?

Once again I'm truly sorry that you received no response.

I didn't see this either and I always have a good look through!

How is she doing? x
 
Hopefully Skinnypig will be back on RU update. Im happy to tell you that they did get Annifrid seen by their vet and there was a postive outcome. :)

ETA: I hope it is not bad manners of me to have given that update. :? They had posted elsewhere and I recognised the case and screen name.
 
Last edited:
Hopefully Skinnypig will be back on RU update. Im happy to tell you that they did get Annifrid seen by their vet and there was a postive outcome. :)

ETA: I hope it is not bad manners of me to have given that update. :? They had posted elsewhere and I recognised the case and screen name.

Thank goodness it's positive news x
 
Hopefully Skinnypig will be back on RU update. Im happy to tell you that they did get Annifrid seen by their vet and there was a postive outcome. :)

ETA: I hope it is not bad manners of me to have given that update. :? They had posted elsewhere and I recognised the case and screen name.


Thank you JG :)

We are a worried community if we don't know the outcome!
 
hi, thanks for all the replies
As of Monday morning Annifrid seems to be doing ok, the flystrike looks like it was thankfully a false alarm. The maggots seem have crawled on to her rather then hatched on her (ground zero seemed to be in the corner of her hutch where she goes to the bathroom)

I called the vet on Friday morning to try and explain the situation and we had an appointment later that day. After an examination (both inside and out) no signs of flystrike were found.

She's been proscribed baytril for a pre-existing chest condition and some cream for a sour bum. I'm a little concerned about the baytril as I've had a very bad past experience with antibiotics, I've heard some gurgling from her tummy and her appetite seems to be a tiny bit down. I'm also monitoring her poop, hopefully I'm just being paranoid!

Anyway, it looks like we dodged a bullet! We have a followup appointment on Friday and I'll report back when I have some updates!

thanks again!
 
she has a cup full of Burgess Excel (the one specifically for baby's and dwarf bunnies) for breakfast; which she'll continue to eat throughout the day (very rarely finishing the whole lot), this time of year she's eats quite a lot of carrot tops and dandelion leafs in the daytime plus some fancy Oxbow Orchard Grass hay, and for dinner she gets a bowl full of grated carrot. This has to go through the food processor as her lower jaw bone is worn out (she's on Loxicom for this).

her drinking water has to be completely administered from syringes (15 small ones throughout the day) as she stopped drinking from her bottle by herself about a year ago, I suspect this was down to the problem with her lower jaw. She will sometimes drink from a bowl but not nearly enough.

This time of year she'll spend the day ether in her run in the garden or on the floor in the lounge or my room (depending on the temperature), she normally sleeps in her hutch (which is indoors). The bedding in the hutch mostly consists of regular hay with a tiny bit of sawdust underneath where she goes to the bathroom.
 
hi, thanks for all the replies
As of Monday morning Annifrid seems to be doing ok, the flystrike looks like it was thankfully a false alarm. The maggots seem have crawled on to her rather then hatched on her (ground zero seemed to be in the corner of her hutch where she goes to the bathroom)

I called the vet on Friday morning to try and explain the situation and we had an appointment later that day. After an examination (both inside and out) no signs of flystrike were found.

She's been proscribed baytril for a pre-existing chest condition and some cream for a sour bum. I'm a little concerned about the baytril as I've had a very bad past experience with antibiotics, I've heard some gurgling from her tummy and her appetite seems to be a tiny bit down. I'm also monitoring her poop, hopefully I'm just being paranoid!

Anyway, it looks like we dodged a bullet! We have a followup appointment on Friday and I'll report back when I have some updates!

thanks again!


Thanks for coming back, and I hope all goes well at the vet x
 
unfortunately we were back at the vets today. Frid seems to have developed a number of small wounds/sores on her backside. The doctor says despite these being in the same area as last weeks maggots she can give 99% certainty that this isn't related.

As to what's actually causing this the vet seemed genuinely stumped. I'm worried it might be some kind of insect bite; I found what looks like a dead Parasitoid wasp near her living area. Annifrid's fully vaccinated so hopefully Myxomatosis won't be a problem.

we've been given some Isaderm cream and told to check back in a week. fingers crossed
 
unfortunately we were back at the vets today. Frid seems to have developed a number of small wounds/sores on her backside. The doctor says despite these being in the same area as last weeks maggots she can give 99% certainty that this isn't related.

As to what's actually causing this the vet seemed genuinely stumped. I'm worried it might be some kind of insect bite; I found what looks like a dead Parasitoid wasp near her living area. Annifrid's fully vaccinated so hopefully Myxomatosis won't be a problem.

we've been given some Isaderm cream and told to check back in a week. fingers crossed


Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear about this.

I hope she recovers quickly :)
 
As far as I know most Parasitoid Wasps do not have the ability to sting and so I would doubt that it has caused the sores. For that reason it also shouldn't be a risk regarding Myx.

I hope the sores clear up with no lasting effect.
 
she seems ok-ish, the skin problem doesn't seem to have gotten any worse. She didn't eat all of her dinner from last night but she'll hopefully continue to eat whats left throughout the day (she's munching away at her breakfast as I'm typing this).

with all her existing conditions, and old age, it's hard to really determine what's going on with regards to any new problems that show up
 
she seems ok-ish, the skin problem doesn't seem to have gotten any worse. She didn't eat all of her dinner from last night but she'll hopefully continue to eat whats left throughout the day (she's munching away at her breakfast as I'm typing this).

with all her existing conditions, and old age, it's hard to really determine what's going on with regards to any new problems that show up


I hope she continues her munching, and gets the most out of her life, despite old age :)
 
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