Maggots in cats

Re: Maggots in cats

Louise6732 — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:01:29 GMT

[quote user="CatherineThomas"] tried to quickly shut the mouth and carry on with pts as fast as possible but as I was injecting the euthatal the maggots started falling out of the mouth[/quote]

Oh my goodness, this is so unbelievable I laughed out loud!
I really struggle not to vomit with maggots, these stories on this thread are awful!

Such glamour being a vet

Re: Maggots in cats

CatherineThomas — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:19:45 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Henry"]

Went to intubate a cat once, opened its mouth from which seethed a veritable froth of maggots, nearly puked, still have the shudders just thinking about it.

[/quote]

I had one like that not long ago. It was a cat in renal failure that had been brought in for pts because it had suddenly deteriorated. I opened the mouth and just saw a mass of maggots. The owners were already distraught so i tried to quickly shut the mouth and carry on with pts as fast as possible but as I was injecting the euthatal the maggots started falling out of the mouth. The owners then became hysterical, it was not nice.

Re: Maggots in cats

Jo Cobbett — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:54:09 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Henry"]

Went to intubate a cat once, opened its mouth from which seethed a veritable froth of maggots, nearly puked, still have the shudders just thinking about it.

[/quote]

What was it being anaesthetised for? Presumably something to do with its mouth?

Re: Maggots in cats

Julie Innes — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:10:01 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Henry"]

Went to intubate a cat once, opened its mouth from which seethed a veritable froth of maggots, nearly puked, still have the shudders just thinking about it.

[/quote]

- you do realise I am going to have nightmares tonight now??!

Re: Maggots in cats

Gerry Henry — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:56:32 GMT

Went to intubate a cat once, opened its mouth from which seethed a veritable froth of maggots, nearly puked, still have the shudders just thinking about it.

Re: Maggots in cats

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:07:42 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]As an aside, I believe Capstar tablets kill maggots big time. used it on a rabbit this weekend for the first time, though mainly to make sure that any I might have missed would be taken care of. Rabbit is doing fine. and no more maggots. she was a 3 kg bunny, gave her an 11mg tablet crushed and mixed with water and syringed orally.[/quote] Useful tip thanks Stephen.

Re: Maggots in cats

Stephen Courtney — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:33:25 GMT

I had a house visit one - really old bloke with cataracts you could win prizes with, said his cat had tapeworms. Actually it had maggots. dying of chronic renal failure, hadn't moved off its cushion for days. He was a nice old bloke, was really upset he hadn't noticed. not his fault, he wasn't really fit to be living alone. i think we will see more and more old folk in this situation.

As an aside, I believe Capstar tablets kill maggots big time. used it on a rabbit this weekend for the first time, though mainly to make sure that any I might have missed would be taken care of. Rabbit is doing fine. and no more maggots. she was a 3 kg bunny, gave her an 11mg tablet crushed and mixed with water and syringed orally.

Re: Maggots in cats

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:54:14 GMT

I've seen incontinent cats with miasis as well and and a neglected OESD which was so bad all the skin peeled off its back leaving raw flesh seething with maggots as well as vicious Rotty that no-one could get near with half its body alive with maggots after we'd finally dealt with it (euthanased) the whole of the consulting room floor was crawling with the little blighters. Fun times eh?

Re: Maggots in cats

Julie Innes — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:46:06 GMT

<boak>- hate maggots with a passion!

I've never used any repellents on these guys, tbh. Just cleaned them out and picked the horrors off

I did once do a house visit to an old incontinent cat with a "wound". Dottery old lady showed me in to where he was lying on the couch. I almost sat down next to him till I realised there were hundreds of writhing maggots dropping lemming like from the cat onto the carpet below. . Wound was so deep and so full of them, I had no option but to PTS the poor thing. In that case it was no doubt neglect, but the old lady seemed doolally, so said nothing and left her to her maggoty house.

Re: Maggots in cats

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:29:37 GMT

[quote user="Alet Engelbrecht"]I disagree with the neglect part - could be but not necessarily.[/quote] It was the matts that were the give-away, if they can't do it themselves they can always pay for the vet to do it for them.

Re: Maggots in cats

CatherineThomas — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:10:06 GMT

I did look in the mouth to check the teeth and I didn't see any wounds on the tongue.

The owner does say that his fur has always got matted to some degree but sometimes it's worse than others. I did consider that he may be stiff and arthritic. He did get very grumpy when we were handling his back legs, I'm not sure if that is just due to the maggots or because of an underlying problem. The owner seems to think that his joints are fine as he is usually very active.

Re: Maggots in cats

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:54:01 GMT

Have you checked the tongue? I had a cat with maggots that I treated (clipped, cleaned and a bit of Frontline spray for good measure) and the next day (embarrassingly) found a cut on the tongue that was presumably why not grooming.

Re: Maggots in cats

CatherineThomas — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:41:51 GMT

The Urea was only mildly raised despite dehydration and creatinine was normal so I don't think it is in renal failure. The area around the wound on the ventral neck was quite bruised and sore, so I suspect he was feeling really sorry for himself due to that.

Re: Maggots in cats

Bob Russell — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:23:28 GMT

Old debilitated cat, renal failure?

I have only seen maggots in poorly cats!

I suspect from the history this may be a very ancient cat!

Re: Maggots in cats

CatherineThomas — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:20:30 GMT

The cat was basically a stray cat that they started feeding 6 years ago. It stays outside most of the time and it is a long haired cat. The owner said that she has tried to groom him and she can groom along the top but he won't let her do underneath. It does sound like she has tried. At least she is taking responsibility for the cat and paying for it's treatment, unlike some people who bring in a cat saying "it's a stray we're not going to pay for it, oh but we have been feeding it for the past 10 years".

I think the maggot problem is due to the combination of the matted fur and the fact that he was hiding up after being in a cat fight.

Re: Maggots in cats

Alet Engelbrecht — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:07:04 GMT

I disagree with the neglect part - could be but not necessarily. I have seen a few elderly long haired cats with renal disease or diarrhoea get maggots, very similar to the OP - often after being missing.

IME - bad news often because of the underlying cause. I clipped the hair and cleaned the wounds, covered with antibiotics, rehydrated and that was about it.

PS - My cousin (respiratory physiotherapist) treated a NHS in-patient that was transferred from another trust once - the nurse thought the guy had lice but apparently it was maggots - THAT's neglect.

Re: Maggots in cats

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:59:03 GMT

Sounds like a case of total neglect, the best measure for prevention of recurrence is for the owners to act responsibly or re-home the cat to someone who will look after it - I hope you gave the owners a piece of your mind! Unlike rabbits which get usually in this state because the can't clean their caecotrophs (also due to neglect it has to be said because of their diet) cats given the opportunity to groom themselves will not get in this state. On a more positive note I've found Filtabac cream to be a good barrier, antiseptic and soothing for sore skin in these circumstances.

Re: Maggots in cats

CatherineThomas — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:36:40 GMT

He's also had metacam and convenia and was on iv fluids all day yesterday, biochemistry results were all fine apart from BUN being slightly raised but he was dehydrated.