Adopting a dog is like having a second child, so you must ensure you can take good care of the furry companion.
How to Get Rid of a Botfly in a Dog?- You have often seen that your dog loves to scratch his head or any part of the skin. That time, if you look deeply, you will discover botflies in and around if you understand how to get rid of a botfly in a dog.
Dealing with Botfly Infestations in Dogs
Botflies are unpleasant parasites that can cause discomfort and irritation for your dog. Here’s what you need to know about identifying and safely removing botflies:
What are Botflies?
- Botflies are the larvae of certain fly species.
- They burrow under a host animal’s skin, causing bumps or lumps.
- This is common in dogs who spend time outdoors, especially near rodent or rabbit burrows.
Signs of Botfly Infestation
- Lump or bump on the skin, often on the face or neck.
- There is a small hole in the center of the lump.
- Swelling, abscess, or discharge at the site.
- Excessive licking or scratching of the affected area.
How to Remove Botflies
- Home Remedies (Use with Caution):
- Petroleum Jelly: Can suffocate the botfly, causing it to emerge.
- Bacon Grease: Works similarly to petroleum jelly.
- Duct Tape: Covers the hole, suffocating the botfly.
- Tweezers are for direct extraction but require care to avoid rupturing the larva.
- Veterinary Care: Safest and most reliable option. Your vet will:
- Surgically remove the botfly, ensuring complete extraction.
- Clean and treat the wound.
- Possibly prescribe antibiotics to prevent infection.
Important Considerations
- Ruptured Larvae: Squeezing or improper removal can leave parts of the botfly under the skin, leading to infection or allergic reactions.
- Prevention: Limit your dog’s exposure to rodents and rabbit burrows.
Key Takeaways
- Botfly infestations require careful treatment to avoid complications.
- While some home remedies exist, they can be risky and should be used cautiously.
- Consulting a veterinarian is always the safest option to ensure proper botfly removal and prevent secondary infections.
What Do You Mean By Botflies?
Botflies are a type of larvae that occurs on the tissue of the host animals. Once hatched, the larva makes its way to the animal’s body through an opening like the ear, nose, mouth, or wound.
After entering, it settles down on the tissue and accomplishes the life span. The botflies are called warbles during the larvae phase.
Botflies are common in rabbits, so if you have a dog, make sure it does not chase the rabbit; otherwise, there is a huge chance of the larva getting into the dog’s body.
Now, if by chance it enters, it will breed on the tissue of the dog and will complete the whole life cycle stages there.
Signs Indicating Botflies in Dogs
Suppose your dog has got some botfly; you need to make sure that you examine the same on his body, but before doing so, you need to look for certain signs.
- Bump or lump on the skin
- Licking or scratching any particular area multiple times
- A minute hole in the center portion of the lump.
- Abscess found on the skin.
- Swelling of the skin
- If you see the symptoms mentioned above, look for the larva deeply before it successfully hits the tissue.
Types of Botflies Found in Dogs
Talking about the different kinds of botflies, the Cuterebra is one of its kind and is quite common. Apart from that, other kinds of pests that can infect the pooch easily are as follows:
- The rabbit flies belong to the species group of Cuterebra.
- Warble flies belong to the specific category of hypoderma.
Why are Dogs More Prone to Botflies?
Cuterebra is mostly seen in North America, and it attracts rodents, rabbits, and Mammals found outdoors. Therefore, some important causes are enumerated below.
- Staying outdoors in the months of summer.
- Hovering in and around the burrows of rabbits.
- Chasing rabbit.
- Staying in touch with rodents.
Things to Look for on a Dog to Detect Botfly Attack
This portion will shed light on what you need to consider to understand the presence.
Check out the Swelling Underneath the Skin of the Dog
To check whether any botfly is breeding on the dog’s skin, pet them. While petting checks out, is there any lump found or not? Now, these bumps are easily visible, and you can only feel them with a bare hand.
You will find this lump mainly in the facial area or the neck. Now, you might wonder why botflies generally only get through the nose. But yes, they might enter through the mouse as well.
Therefore, remember that the larva enters the body and will grow inside only. Some other signs you may probably see are that your dog will have an abscess on the skin, the area with botfly might bleed, or any pus discharge may also occur.
Besides these, please pay attention to the behavior, like whether they scratch the skin, lose appetite, or feel lethargic.
Presence of Any Tiny Hole
The botfly always goes through the skin to breathe well and get the refined air to live properly. To do so, they make a hole, and with time, the hole gets bigger. Remember, it indicates that the botfly is getting bigger as well. If you check deeply, you will see the larva sneaking out of the skin.
Look for Cysts on the Skin
Well, whenever a botfly takes shelter on your dog’s body, it is likely to leave a cyst behind. Remember, this hollow cyst is more problematic than the area infested with live larvae.
So you need to look for this because it could lead to an abscess if left untreated. The cysts with possible infection get irritated or start to itch often. You need to ensure your dog will only lick on it occasionally.
Otherwise, that could cause the bacteria to breed in that particular area, which would also disturb the orientation of the tissue.
If the cysts get infected by any chance, they can spread the infection to the rest of the dog’s organs or body parts.
How to Get Rid of a Botfly in a Dog?
Here, we will discuss some of the important ways you can follow to treat the botflies in a dog.
Use Vaseline
If you want to kill the botfly on the dog’s body, it is better to use Vaseline. Once you rub the place with petroleum jelly, then it will prevent the entry of fresh air. Thus, such a suffocating atmosphere tends to kill the flies.
As you know, that botfly makes holes, and now, if you put the Vaseline in that hole, it will conceal the burrow and prevent a blockage of the oxygen.
Rely on Bacon Grease
Removing botflies from the dog’s skin is quite difficult, but bacon grease can help ease your task to some extent.
Now, the concept is quite the same as Vaseline, which means you must apply an adequate portion of the bacon grease in the botfly hollow and obstruct the air’s path. Now, a reduction in the air will suffocate the botflies. As a result, they will start dying.
Use Duct Tape
Duct tape is one of the most feasible solutions for removing botflies.
The only thing you need to do is cover up the body of the dog infested with warbles with duct tape. Leave the tape on the dog’s skin for 5 to 6 days.
Now that you reach the duration, just discard the tape with the botflies sticking. Once done, shave that particular swelled area so the pain gets reduced.
Once again, the duct tape acts in the same way. It cuts off the fresh air supply, which is the reason behind the death of the parasites.
Apply Glue to the Area
This is one of the finest tricks that you can apply to remove the botfly from the dog’s body. Just use particular glue found in the office over the infected area.
Now, allow the glue to settle down on that particular area for a couple of hours, and then simply remove the glue with the help of the tweezers. Once you are done, make sure that you clean up the area with the help of isopropyl.
Tweeze the Botfly
Now, if you see that your dog is suffering too much due to the botfly attack, then without wasting any more days, just use the tweezers. This is one of the techniques that you should prioritize less.
For this, you need to be trained and smooth with your hands so that you can tear apart the warbles easily. Otherwise, it can hurt your dog a bit. Botflies come with blurbs, so ensure you do the work effectively and slowly.
And use the pointed and sharp tweezers to complete the work in one go only.
How to Use the Tweezer?
You might need clarification as to how to use the tweezer. Below is the detailed procedure.
- First of all, you need to sanitize the tweezers so that they get disinfected.
- Next, put your dog in a relaxed position to easily avail yourself of the infected area.
- Now remove the fur and start to pull out the warble.
- As the parasite comes out, clean that area deeply with peroxide and then wrap the area for some days.
- After a few days, open the wrapper and let the area heal.
Go to the Vet
Well, these are some remedies you can apply, but in the end, if you see the situation is out of control, go to the vet. They will help you get rid of the botfly. Indeed, a vet is always a safe option.
Like humans, dogs, too, go through different health issues, and skin-related problems are common in dogs. In that regard, you have often seen botflies attack dogs. It is a genuine problem for the pup.
Thus, the tips mentioned above are effective but remember that you shouldn’t let your dog hover in and around rabbits’ burrows. So you get the solution for how to get rid of a botfly in a dog.
