Help for kitten wound with maggots!?

Question

Oh what a time I have had with a newborn kitten. Poor little thing. He was born with a malformed leg. The bottom portion never formed, and the was dangling at birth. The mama chewed the bottom portion off. We have not expected it to pull through, but its a real little trooper. The mama is caring for it, it is nursing well, and otherwise seems ok. It is 8 days old now. Our vet said not to bring it in, there wasnt much to do for a newborn kitten, but to clean the wound, and put neosporin on it. The wound is looking alot better, but today I noticed there is maggots in the wound!! I cleaned it w/ peroxide this time, irrigated it w/ saline and put more neosporin on it but its not possible to get the maggots out of the wound. I cant get ahold of the vet till monday morning. Does anyone with experience know what to do to kill the maggots? I do know that to a certain degree, they are actually beneficial, but they can also start infesting into the animal and kill it.

Thanks for all the great replies. I have tried getting them out w/ tweezers, as soon as I get near them, they burrow back into the wound where I cant get them-its like they know what Im doing! This kitten is 8 days old, only a few ounces- I dont think its big enough for any type of oral antibiotic is it? The vets office didnt think so. No, there is no emergency clinic here, I have to wait until Monday. Gauze and tape wont stay, Im dealing with just a stub, comes right off. My BF is a nurse, she came over tonight and helped get him cleaned up, but she didnt know what to do about the maggots either. By the way, this kitty was born to a stray who conveniently had them under my porch! I hope it pulls through, I think I will keep it and find homes for the rest.

Answer 1

I think that the folks that suggested manually removing the maggots while cleaning the wound and changing bandages and keeping it clean are right on the money as opposed to those that give you the empty answer of *take it to the vet* The only thing that I wanted to add was to say after cleaning the wound with peroxide but before applying neosporin, that you reclean the wound with betadine. it is the number one antiseptic used by hospitals and I don't think that the maggots would like it.

Answer 2

Honestly with my past experience working at a veterinary clinic maggots are a hard thing to get rid of unless the area is continually cleaned and the cat is placed in a disinfected clean area which would most likely be a veterinary clinic. I would probably take the cat in for a check up so they can see the velocity of the problem and then evaluate the best treatment options for you and your cat. In my experience when people call in to explain a situation to the vet tech or the receptionist there can be a lot of variance in opinions. So my opinion would be to spend the $30 bucks or so for an office visit and get an expert opinion on how to resolve this problem. Prescription antibiotics are a must in my opinion because these types of situations have to be healed from the inside out rather than topically treating the outside. Cats generally clean themselves constantly so they will lick whatever topical medication you apply on the outside which is a loosing battle. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Maggot Leg

Answer 4

Maggots just eat the dead flesh not living flesh. But still best to get rid of them. By now they probably have had most the dead skin all eaten up so go wash the kitty get him cleaned up and put medicine on the leg and wrap it in a bandage as if you were wrapping your wrist or whatever. And try going to another vet and see if you can get a second opinion because this vet seems not all that great if he said nothing can be done. What about amputation and getting the leg healed so stuff like this will not happen? Just put medicine on the leg and leave the kitty alone?! Try another vet and see what they have to say because I am sure, no, I know, something can be done about this leg because it sounds like it needs taken off since it is hanging and is nothing but dead flesh and maggots are already eating from the leg.

Answer 5

Can you call another vet? Even an emergency vet might tell you how dangerous the maggots would be and if the kitten needs to get treatment immediately.

It is leeches that can be beneficial in medical treatment as they eat necrotic tissue. Maggot will consume anything and might get into healthy tissue, even though it seems the kitten will have to have the leg removed eventually.

Answer 6

Bleach is good at killing maggots but maggots that are on the wound of a kitten is probably out of the question. You could try to contact a 24 hour emergency animal hospital and see what kind of sound advice they can give you. Is it possible that you could pull them out with a pair of tweezers?
You could try that, it may prove helpful. Your kitty probably needs antibiotics too. I had a grown cat once that had a hole in his hind leg it was rather deep so I took him to the vet, the doctor said that a fly laid eggs on him there and the maggots bored a hole into his leg. he had to take antibiotics. I so wish the best for your kitty. If there are veterinarians reading this Please give this person some advice on what needs to be done to help this kitty.

Answer 7

Did you try using tweezers and pulling them off manually? I know it sounds gross, but you might try it. Also it could be a problem with reinfestation. I would clean it off and cover it with a bit of gauze or something. You can wrap the gauze over the wound and then use the tape over the gauze so that it doesn't stick to the poor kitten's fur. I'd redo the bandaging a few times a day checking for new maggots each time.

Good luck to your little kitten!

Answer 8

Pick and flush out as many as you can,then smother the rest with mineral oil.They can excrete a toxin that will kill the little kitten very quickly.If you have any antibiotics on hand,give the kitten a very small dose ( amoxicillin is very safe.)Look him over for any more fly eggs.Comb them out if you see any.Isn't there an emergency vet around?

Answer 9

as long as your in the usa these probly arent the maggots that will kill it. keepin it clean and sanitary is good. if you have any more worries dont hesitate to get it to a vetranary hospital look it up in the yellow pages or somethin.they have many 24 hour ones. it never hurts to get a second opinion.

Answer 10

you should try getting ahold of another vet. flush it out w/ peroxide and then wrap it in gauze and tape it so it wont come loose. check it every couple of hours and continue to clean it out. and bring it to the vet, too. hope your kitty gets better soon!