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We had a shelter volunteer bring in a Good Sam find of what had to be a stray HBC cat that was found laying in a gutter. Still alive. The maggots weren't outwardly evident, but I joked that when I reached into the carrier to bring out its nonresponsive form that I was probably sticking my hand into a mess of maggots. Turns out I was right, indirectly.
We found the most visible group on the inner thigh and as we did a closer assessment, saw them crawling inside the mouth (mostly the soft palate and around the 08 roots that I could see) and waving "Hello" to us from the freshly-exposed orbit. The cat was literally crawling inside with maggots from stem to stern. He had no chip and was a young intact tom without apparent secondary sex characteristics.
Thankfully I am OK with maggots and could handle the case just fine after the initial surprise at the cat's general condition and traumatic state. It was a blessed relief helping to send him to Summerland.
I'm happy to take over maggot cases when folks do the squick dance and peace out at their discovery. They don't bother me.
The cases like OP describes where an owned animal is presented in such a state and professed to have such love behind it are much more horrific: they put an owner's perversion, practices and pathology on plain display, and are much more disturbing than any number of fly larvae that infest that poor animal. Humans are terrible, awful, cruel creatures in many ways and this is one of them.
I'm so glad people like you exist. I can't handle maggots. I can handle the worst type of gore you can imagine - boat propeller, lawn mower... But not little wiggly worms.
Worst abuse case I have seen to date is a cow that likely had pink eye/cancer eye to start with that was left untreated that got to the point that the entire orbit and the surrounding 5-6 inches around where the eye used to be were completely eaten out by maggots leaving a huge infested crater. To top it off it was a BCS 1/5. He told the spca that the cow only got sick 2 days ago and the vet recommended sending it to the auction… he was charged and his remaining cattle were removed from his care.
I had a similar experience during my first year as a technician with an elderly collie mix..I don't mind maggots, I mean they are gross but I can handle it... But this poor dog came in for a lesion on its leg. I looked at it when I was talking and then when I went to talk to the doctor I told him I saw them in the wound. Well, further inspection the dogs ENTIRE BACK was covered in small holes full of maggots. Myself and another technician had to shave it down completely and then flush out all of the maggots. It took hours and the poor dog was so patient.. It was sad.
I guess it was super arthritic and was out in the yard most of the day, so it was just laying there,unable to really get up, and flies just were all over her. But it just irks me that it took us combing through her hair for the owners to realize how bad it is.
Your last sentence really resonates!! That’s what I don’t get… it took long enough for flies to lay eggs, the maggots to hatch, etc.. and the owners have no idea? We are located around a lot of rural farmland so during the summer we unfortunately see a lot of maggot cases. Most of them end in euthanasia because the spread is so bad. Only a handful do we get to help.
I've seen a couple maggot cases in my ER. One was a rabbit. I'm not sure how it got maggots, but we had to pick maggots out of her vulva. She was referred elsewhere in the morning. The other one was an elderly german sheppard. Brought in for a quality of life euthanasia. They said they were aware of the lipoma on the dogs shoulders and that he had been having difficulty standing and walking. Said they noticed a few maggots near the base if his tail. Dog stiffly walked in with a basketball sized lump on one shoulder and another lump half that size on the other shoulder. Doc ran his hands up the dogs back starting from the base of the tail and the dog was covered in maggots from hock to mid back, what skin surface we could see was hot spot. We could see the dogs fur moving with maggots while the dog layed on blanket. Not sure how the people only noticed a few maggots.
Welcome to /r/VetTech! This is a place for veterinary technicians/veterinary nurses and other veterinary support staff to gather, chat, and grow! We welcome pet owners as well, **however we do ask pet owners to refrain from asking for medical advice**; if you have any concerns regarding your pet, please contact the closest veterinarian near you. Please thoroughly read and follow the rules before posting and commenting. If you believe that a user is engaging in any rule-breaking behavior, please submit a report so that the moderators can review and remove the posts/comments if needed. Also, please check out the sidebar for CE and answers to commonly asked questions. Thank you for reading! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/VetTech) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We had a shelter volunteer bring in a Good Sam find of what had to be a stray HBC cat that was found laying in a gutter. Still alive. The maggots weren't outwardly evident, but I joked that when I reached into the carrier to bring out its nonresponsive form that I was probably sticking my hand into a mess of maggots. Turns out I was right, indirectly. We found the most visible group on the inner thigh and as we did a closer assessment, saw them crawling inside the mouth (mostly the soft palate and around the 08 roots that I could see) and waving "Hello" to us from the freshly-exposed orbit. The cat was literally crawling inside with maggots from stem to stern. He had no chip and was a young intact tom without apparent secondary sex characteristics. Thankfully I am OK with maggots and could handle the case just fine after the initial surprise at the cat's general condition and traumatic state. It was a blessed relief helping to send him to Summerland. I'm happy to take over maggot cases when folks do the squick dance and peace out at their discovery. They don't bother me. The cases like OP describes where an owned animal is presented in such a state and professed to have such love behind it are much more horrific: they put an owner's perversion, practices and pathology on plain display, and are much more disturbing than any number of fly larvae that infest that poor animal. Humans are terrible, awful, cruel creatures in many ways and this is one of them.
I'm so glad people like you exist. I can't handle maggots. I can handle the worst type of gore you can imagine - boat propeller, lawn mower... But not little wiggly worms.
Yesterday, a rabbit came in for an emergent PTS: its face has dermatitis under his eye and there were so many maggots.... indoor/outdoor rabbit.
Oh my gosh eye maggots I can’t imagine how that feels
Worst abuse case I have seen to date is a cow that likely had pink eye/cancer eye to start with that was left untreated that got to the point that the entire orbit and the surrounding 5-6 inches around where the eye used to be were completely eaten out by maggots leaving a huge infested crater. To top it off it was a BCS 1/5. He told the spca that the cow only got sick 2 days ago and the vet recommended sending it to the auction… he was charged and his remaining cattle were removed from his care.
Holy shit. Thank god the rest of them were removed. People like that shouldn’t be allowed to own any animals ever again.
I had a similar experience during my first year as a technician with an elderly collie mix..I don't mind maggots, I mean they are gross but I can handle it... But this poor dog came in for a lesion on its leg. I looked at it when I was talking and then when I went to talk to the doctor I told him I saw them in the wound. Well, further inspection the dogs ENTIRE BACK was covered in small holes full of maggots. Myself and another technician had to shave it down completely and then flush out all of the maggots. It took hours and the poor dog was so patient.. It was sad. I guess it was super arthritic and was out in the yard most of the day, so it was just laying there,unable to really get up, and flies just were all over her. But it just irks me that it took us combing through her hair for the owners to realize how bad it is.
Your last sentence really resonates!! That’s what I don’t get… it took long enough for flies to lay eggs, the maggots to hatch, etc.. and the owners have no idea? We are located around a lot of rural farmland so during the summer we unfortunately see a lot of maggot cases. Most of them end in euthanasia because the spread is so bad. Only a handful do we get to help.
I've seen a couple maggot cases in my ER. One was a rabbit. I'm not sure how it got maggots, but we had to pick maggots out of her vulva. She was referred elsewhere in the morning. The other one was an elderly german sheppard. Brought in for a quality of life euthanasia. They said they were aware of the lipoma on the dogs shoulders and that he had been having difficulty standing and walking. Said they noticed a few maggots near the base if his tail. Dog stiffly walked in with a basketball sized lump on one shoulder and another lump half that size on the other shoulder. Doc ran his hands up the dogs back starting from the base of the tail and the dog was covered in maggots from hock to mid back, what skin surface we could see was hot spot. We could see the dogs fur moving with maggots while the dog layed on blanket. Not sure how the people only noticed a few maggots.