Flies and Fly Larvae

[kjc]

Most flies we see are House Flies and deer flies, which bite but normally don't pass on disease, at least not that I have seen. They may lay their eggs in an open wound, but actually benefit the animal as the maggots will eat the flesh, keeping the wound fairly clean and free of infection. Treatment involves removing the larvae/maggots, cleaning the wounds and antibiotics to ward off any secondary infection.

Fly strike is a problem mainly seen on dogs who spend alot of time outdoors, where the flys target the tips of the animals ears. Prevention is the solution in these cases.

Then there are Cuterebra. These are flys that look like House flies on steroids. Big house flies. They don't bite. Their normal MO is to frequent rabbit and rodent runs, where they lay their eggs which get picked up on the fur of the critter, or land on an unsuspecting critter, and lay there eggs there.

Then, the eggs, being warmed by the heat coming from the animal's body, hatch into larvae.

The larvae then crawl up the hair shaft to the skin, where they enter a wound or chew their way into the animal's skin, where they stay for a while, to feed and grow. They keep a hole open to the outside, because they breathe air, and if one watches, one can see the head pop out intermittently. Again, the wound will stay free of infection, as the growing larvae munches happily on surrounding tissue.

At some point, the larvae drop off to continue their life cycle in the dirt, and the injury will most likely heal up.

The major point of concern is that should the larvae be damaged while under the animal's skin, either by the animal scratching or during attempted removal, it will result in acute anaphylactic shock and death.

My story:
My Yorkie and Shepherd used to lay behind a shed, in the shade. One day I walked past, and noticed my Yorkie was literally covered by flies! Big, black flies. He lay there asleep, not bothered by them at all! That's weird. I woke him up and brought him in the house.

I looked him over, but all I could see was a ton of really tiny oblong white specs, all over him. I thought it was danduff, or something from his skin, so I began brushing and combing him, and gave him a bath.

Weeks later, we were all in bed, my precious Yorkie on my chest as I was falling asleep. I reached up to scratch him behind his ear and felt something wet? In the dark, I tried to look at my hand and saw something dark, and thought OMG! Blood! Well, you all know how fast Yorky Mamas can fly out of bed, deep sleep or no, to check on our little ones, I am no different.

Into the kitchen, baby in my arms, flipping all the lights on, blinking frantically trying to get my eyes to focus... I put him on the kitchen table to investigate. Tooth abcess, skin abcess... found the source of bleeding, bright red blood... not making sense... sniff the area: it doesn't stink, hardly smells at all! (Abcesses smell badly). Oh no! A wound! My baby was bitten by something! Or snagged on something sharp! Okay, okay. Calm down. Look again, not spurting blood, more draining. So I go grab stuff to clean him up... I see what looks like a large (dime sized) pimple with a hole in the center. So I squeeze it ever so gently to see if anything comes out.. nothing. Dog does not seem to feel any pain. Hmmm.

So I'm looking to see if it's going to start draining again, and I see the lump moving? Blinking eyes again.. wake up! Look some more, something light colored in the center and disappears! OMG! A maggot! Ew!

And, in hindsight, I never should have done this, but I did remove this larvae from my dog's neck, in one piece, and went back to bed.

In the morning, I called the vet, and off we went, my baby and this nasty worm thing in hand. She said what is was, told me to look it up online: Cuterebra. He was fine, no antibiotics (huh?), and back home. The wound healed up in 2-3 days. Gone! No trace what so ever!

And the next Spring he had another one! But this one we caught early, so it didn't get quite so messy. And we went right to the vets.

I never ignore my dog's scratching anymore. I always investigate. Put rabbit guard fencing up around the yard. Those were two years that it seemed we had a ton of rabbits in the neighborhood. Pretty much outside the city, but not country either. Not as many rabbits this year, Thank God. And I'm always on the look out for those flies... and white specks on my dog...


http://www.petplace.com/dogs/cutereb...ogs/page1.aspx

[Ringo1]

Oh my lands. I am going to be inspecting Lucy from head to toe. Thank you for sharing?

No really - thanks for sharing. I never knew this could happen until today when I read a post about a little dog that had died from this.

[red98vett]

I thought after all these years here I knew alot but this is totally new to me - YUK

thankfully you posted it for others to see and know what to look for. I think I'd freak out if I saw that in person but never have but now I WILL know to be more careful especially since I walk my girls in an apartment that never does 'bug' control

[jadabug]

We live in the county on a farm. We have seen this on rabbits and squirrels. It is pretty common around here. It is totally gross. DH had a wild rabbit that stayed around the barn and he fed it to the point he was pretty tame. He got one of these places on his back and it got huge. My DIL who is a vet tech took forceps and pulled it out. OMG it was huge...looked like a big coccoon. It almost made me throw up.

[red98vett]

wow - I know some things are so gross to us and do happen to animals but I'd be in the same place - I would probably barf and race to the vet or race to the vet and then lose it

[mypreciouspups]

This is great information.. and I too will start to check my dogs much better if I see them scratching.. Like V this is the first I have heard of this.. and now this is twice in a couple days..
Hope living in the city helps but my furbutts generally outside to potty...again great information thread..

[kjc]

This did happen to my Yorkie, but it was about 2 years ago. I did post it here because of the poor pup that passed recently, as I felt knowing and understanding always helps owners to be better able to care for their pups.

And even I, a retired vet tech, who has seen a lot of the outsides of animals and too much of the insides of them, almost lost it when I found this thing on my Peek a Boo! Like the opening scene in "Alien". I was gagging, and had to step away for a second, before I could do anything else. Finally, I got my wits about me and was able to help him. If it hadn't been 2 AM, I would have went right to the vet, or if he was in distress, for sure. The only thing he did would be to intermittantly scratch behind his ear. Thank God he didn't hurt the larvae!

Also, after I got home from the vets, I was still freaking out. It wasn't till then that I recalled seeing 40-50 hugh flies all over him, and he's just laying there asleep! I thought he was dead for a minute, bc one always sees flies on dead things. I saw him breathe, and woke him up. I must have called the vet 10 times over the next few days. It's a wonder he had any hair left I was combing him so much!

I don't think these fly larvae get quite that big. The one I found was 1/2 inch or so, and skinny. Maybe 2-3 times the size of a normal house fly maggot. Exactly like the one they had on TV in a human. I have seen larger ones on a wild mouse in my front yard. And yes, they are all totally gross. I think the larger ones are a different species, of what, I don't know. If I figure it out, I'll update this post.

[kjc]

Photos of fly eggs in dog hair. Very sticky.


100_2844-1.JPG 100_2845-1.JPG

[Maximo]

Very informative...but I'm going to have to fine you for reminding me of this when I had nearly forgotten.

[kjc]

Guess what???? It's THAT time of year again! EWWWWW!

[Princess10]

I think this is one of the scariest threads I've come across as far as things I have never heard of.
Thanks for the info, I hope none of us need more than general knowledge of it!

[mypreciouspups]

Originally Posted by kjc

Photos of fly eggs in dog hair. Very sticky.


Attachment 321436 Attachment 321437

Probably a dumb queston, but bathing a dog once a week would not stop this from happening.. Like I said I am in the city but my dogs love running around our back yard.. which is not large like the country would be, but just the same a worry...

[107barney]

YIKES! Can you call an exterminator to bomb the bastards? My dogs spend most of their time inside and it seems from your earlier post this affects dogs kept outside....I didn't think many yorkie owners kept their dogs outside, I would never allow a yorkie to be outside unattended and this is another good reason...who needs maggots in bed! I'm going to puke thinking about it!!

[kjc]

Originally Posted by mypreciouspups

Probably a dumb queston, but bathing a dog once a week would not stop this from happening.. Like I said I am in the city but my dogs love running around our back yard.. which is not large like the country would be, but just the same a worry...

Never any dumb questions! Actually I can't answer this... it all depends on when the flies lay their eggs, and if they all come off in the bath (it only takes one), and how long it takes from the time the eggs are laid till the larvae reach the dog's skin.

BTW: I live right beyond the city limits, maybe 5 or 10 minutes out.

[megansmomma]

I just cannot imagine this happening! How long was your Peek A Boo sleeping outside that she was covering in flies? Fleas lay eggs, eggs hatch and turn into maggots! Ewww~I'm totally grossed out!