Help- Rabbit has maggots? (RIP)

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mollie317

mollie317

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Indianapollis, ,
I have a rabbit who is inside and healthy so this is not about her but the other day I got a call about an abandoned rabbit and decided to take her in and find her a home. She was outside in a cage in filfth and basically abandoned in her cage.
I bathed her last night and found she had actual maggots in a sore spot underneath stuck feces and hair clumps. She's such a sweet rabbit my question is if this is curable or I should put her down. I saw on a website where it said to remove the worms from her skin I can't get near it she's in major pain. I want to do what's best for her without causing her more pain. Any suggestions? I can't believe someone would neglect anything the way they did her. It's really sad. I also have limited funds.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thx.


 
Flystrike is very common, especially in the hat, and doesn't take long for it to become a problem.

If caught early enough then a rabbit can recover (I know of a few), but really she needs to go to a vet ASAP.

If you don't have a vet around that is cheap enough, then maybe it is worth seeing if a rescue or someone around you could help? She would probably be PTS at some shelters so maybe do some quick research, or maybe explain the situation to the vet and see if they can come up with something that works for you both. If she can't get proper vets treatment then having her PTS is the kindest thing.

Welcome to the forum, by the way, I'm sorry it's not under better circumstances.
 
Thanks for answering so quickly. It's really sad I've only had her for 4 days but the kids love her and she's the sweetest thing. I think I will make an appt letting the vet know it could turn out to be a PTS situation. I would love to help her and her make it I just don't want to hurt her or put her through unnecessary pain. This gives me some hope on most websites it sounded like it was too late. Thanks for the help I'll go on and take her to the vet and go from there.

Thanks for the welcome. I'll come back and post I will still have my other rabbit Mollie either way and love to talk about her with other bunny owners !
 
If it does lead to her being PTS, at least you know that she has spent her last few days being loved.

To be honest, I'm inclined to think it might be too late because of the time frame, but by getting her to the vet then you are giving her the best shot.
 
Good luck. I'm glad you're taking her in to the vet. It can be very difficult to remove the maggots without destroying them, which can cause the toxins in the maggots to go into the body and kill the rabbit. I hope the vet can help her. If yes, then you've done a wonderful thing, saved this rabbit from a terrible situation, and given her a great home with a forever family to love her. If she has to be PTS, you have also done all of these things, with the addition of helping her to not suffer in her last days.

Kudos and good luck.
 
Can you put you location in your profile?

And do we know if this is a bot fly or flystrke? I believe they are different although I may have the terminology wrong. Please check for info in the Library.

This can very often be cured with the proper care. Hopefully the vet is rabbit savvy.


sas :expressionless:
 
You're right Pipp, bot fly and flystrike are different. Flystrike is when a common house fly or horse fly lays eggs in the poo stuck to a rabbit's bum, and the hatching maggots eat the tissue. Bot fly is cutebera (sp?) fly that also lays eggs in a wet, dirty bum, but the maggots go directly into the tissue and are a lot larger. They live in pockets inside the body. My statement about how removing the maggots can release toxins relates much more to bot flies than flystrike, I should have qualified that better. It isn't clear from the OP whether this is cutebra or flystrike, but both do require immediate vet care, especially if the bunny's in too much pain for the OP to remove the maggots herself.
 
Here's the link...

Flystrike

Bot Flies

And a bit of the Flystrike information...

What to do if you find maggots on your rabbit

First of all - try not to panic, but do act immediately, as this is an emergency. Gather up your rabbit, either in a pet carrier or wrapped in a towel, and take it to the vet's immediately. If possible, ring ahead, so that we can be prepared for your arrival and to treat your rabbit immediately. Flyblown rabbits are usually in pain and shock and need careful nursing if they are to survive. Generally we admit cases of flystrike, and hospitalise them for at least 24 hours to get them through the initial infection and toxic stages.

If for any reason, you can not get to a vet immediately, then pick off as many of the external maggots as you can, using a pair of tweezers.The maggots which have burrowed into the flesh, can be encouraged to the surface of the skin, by heat e.g. a warm, wet towel, or by the use of a hair dryer on a low setting. Ideally you should avoid wetting the rabbit's coat, as damp fur will clog the clippers which a vet will use to shave the infected areas.[
 
Flashy wrote:
I forgot about bot flies in the US because they aren't a problem for us, sorry.
Click to expand...

Ah, didn't realize that. (Even more of a reason to encourage profile locations). I know that people rarely distinguish between the two, maybe that's why.

I think it would only matter for the vet, it wouldn't make a difference to the client.

Hope she comes out of this okay. Poor bunny!


sas :cry1:
 
I think this article is included in the articles that Pipp posted but it is a printout and could be uselful. I believe that the rabbit could be successfully treated by a knowledeable vet if the maggot problem was not severe .

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Skin_diseases_main.htm
Scroll down to the videos which explains treatment; the faster you can get this rabbit to a knowledgeable vet the better asoff you are ; if not used to handling rabbits a lot I don't think it would be good idea to clip and bathe the rabbit yourself


http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/myiasis.PDF
Flystrike is cause by green back flies (garbage flies)

Bot flies are totally different in that the cuterebra fly lays an egg any place on the rabbit but usually on soft areas of the throat ot chin. We had an unneutered rabbit at our shelter who had a bot in his testicle. A rabbit can also pick up cuterebra eggs in the grass which somehow migrate to a good nesting area on a soft area of skin on the rabbit . bot fies if caught in time are far less dangerous to a rabbit than maggots. A bot can be removed by a vet with tweezers making sure not to break open the huge larvae which would release the toxins into the rabbit. if a rabbit had few bots removed then an antibiotic would be given to the rabbit as a preventitive

we get kittens into the shelter with so many bots that we have to PTS , however , I have never seen more than 2 on a rabbit myself although there is the potential for the rabbit to have many more which would be problematic.



I think that it would be possible to save your rabbit if the maggots ae localized and not too much tissue destruction has occurred . worth it to give it a shot but you do need a rabbit knoledeable vet asa regular vet may just want to PTS
 
:(Thats very sad that someone would just leave the poor thing out there like that..I hope that the vet can help him recover from this..I will be keeping my fingers crossed for him :pray:

This post brings up a question that I have ..well its more of an observance which leads to a question...Last week when I had shadow on his back I noticed that down by his private area he had a piece of poop stuck in his fur..there were no maggots or anything and this is the first time I've noticed anything like this with him..but I noticed that his fur down by his tailand on his stomach area is alot longer than Spirits is...was wondering if its harder for him to groom down there because his fur is longer? And if it would be a problem for me to maybe use clippers down by there to maybe "groom" him a little bit and make the fur not as long..as to maybe avoid this ever happening??
 
I have cut fur on a few of mine at times but it is risky business if you do not have the rabbit stabilized as one wrong move and you can cut him. I don't know what you mean by clippers.
If you have an angora or jersey wooly a person needs extensive exerience in attempting grooming as it is very very easy to get the skin and not know it.

I wouldn't tell you not to do it if you have the knowledge, help and confidence but you could also try to keep his litterbox and area extra extra clean. if he is not overweight a longer hair rabbit should still be able to groom himself.

I take it he is outside
Yeh I have a deathly fear of flystrike even in the house; I go after all green back flies with a vengeance like a madwoman as I am so afraid of this condition.
 
angieluv wrote:
I have cut fur on a few of mine at times but it is risky business if you do not have the rabbit stabilized as one wrong move and you can cut him. I don't know what you mean by clippers.
Click to expand...
Just regular household clippers that I use to cut my boy's hair..but now that you mention it I dont think it would be possible to do with out him making a sudden move... I'm not going to attempt that and risk cutting him..he is indoors at all times so I guess I have nothing to worry about because I rarely see flys in the house.. I will just check him regularly to make sure its not an issue.
 
The vet recommended we PTS. We went on and took her to an emergency vet in our area which is North Indianapolis since it was urgent we get her help. The problem was she was weak and in so much pain he didn't think it would do her any good to put off the inevitable. He also said she had been neglected for quite a while her teeth were a mess. He said she was probably an elder rabbit or a young rabbit that was neglected. He think she's too skinny and frail to put her through treatment.
My boyfriend is taking her to our regular vet at 5 to be PTS I'm not going it's already been a sad day.

Thanks for every ones help. I feel good for taking her and trying at least I was just hoping for a better outcome.
At least she's not in pain anymore.

My rabbit Mollie I've had for years was also a rescue but thank god she was in good health. Not sure I can foster again so sad.
 
Were they rabbit savvy? If you do want to make a stab at at least giving her a little more time to know what it's like to binky and be pain free, maybe we can find someone to help.

I hope they at least gave her pain meds. :(

Poor poor bunny.


sas

:cry1:
 
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