How to Tell if Your Dog Has Maggots?

Summary

To tell if your dog has maggots, look for small, white, rice-grain-like larvae moving on their skin, especially near wounds or moist areas like ears, under the tail, and toe joints. Signs include excessive licking, discomfort, itching, and a foul, rotten smell from the affected area. Maggots are fly larvae that hatch from eggs laid on open wounds or unhealthy skin. Regularly check your dog’s coat, especially if they have injuries or skin issues. Prompt veterinary care is crucial for treatment, which involves physically removing the maggots and addressing any underlying infections. Prevention includes good hygiene, wound care, and keeping your dog away from fly-infested areas.

Understanding Maggots

Here, we will let you know what larvae are in an absolute sense. You must see whether your dog suffered any injury or wound in that case. If so, flies tend to deposit eggs, particularly in that area.

The hatched eggs are called the larvae. These larvae feed on healthy skin tissue. Remember that these maggots always remain in the wounded area, which does not allow the skin to heal.

Gradually, it spreads to the rest of the body. Monitoring should be done regularly so that it fails to proceed further. Otherwise, it will eat away all other vital organs.

What are the Types of Maggots?

The larvae differ, but the following two are primarily found in dogs.

Cutaneous Maggot

Cutaneous maggots are the skin ion found on dogs’ wounds or injuries.

Cavitary Maggot

On the other hand, cavity larvae are commonly found in areas like ears, nostrils, or mouth in the form of natural cavities.

What are the Reasons Behind Having Maggots?

In this section, we will only highlight the causes of having maggots.

Firstly, you need to see whether your dog has any pre-existing skin issues or soreness; that area is susceptible to maggots. Initially, they are small and can increase with scratching or mating with any other animal or may be due to licking.

Secondly, skin rashes remain long on the dog’s skin. Other allergies in the canines, as well as unhealthy hygiene, are responsible for causing maggots.

Remember that larvae occur in the unreachable parts of the dogs where their tongue can’t reach. Dog’s tongues are the best healer when treating wounds because their saliva consists of healthy tissue. The tongue removes all types of hatched eggs from an infected area.

When the environment is hot and humid during summer, most dogs x will get the larvae. It is because this is the time when the flies lay eggs.

Dogs more exposed to gathering or grass-laden areas are more likely to get maggots.

But yes, dogs who are mostly indoors can also have this maggot as the larvae get transferred from the fur of the infected dog.

Some Common Symptoms of Maggots

As discussed earlier, there are various larvae, but the symptoms differ. But whenever your dog gets maggots,

please treat it as soon as it is recognized; otherwise, it can lead to acute health problems. The significant symptoms incorporated in the list are:

1. Diarrhea
2. Fever
3. Too much licking
4. Discomfort
5. Depression
6. Edema
7. Itching
8. Twitching
9. Pain
10. Fatigue

How do you tell if your dog has maggots?

This section is curated to warn you about the possible signs of larvae in the dog’s body.

• Remember that these are found on the wound, coat, or skin. A female fly who can lay about 75 to 150 eggs simultaneously can cause maggots. These are mostly seen moving around slowly.
• Coming to the size of the larvae, they range from 1 by fourth to 1 inch. You

You may also find the same sticky, white, just like a rice grain on the dog’s hair. Remember, those are the larvae.

• The critical part is when you see that your dog is fidgeting, feeling uneasy, constantly changing places, grooming, or scratching; these are the clear signs of having maggots.
• It would help if you looked for areas like the head, beneath the ears, and the middle portion of the back. In addition to that, look into moist areas because these are the areas where maggots begin to breed.
• You also need to check the area from where the urine passes out, underneath the tail, and the joint area in the toe.

Also, dogs with undiagnosed maggots will produce a rotten smell because maggots produce an enzyme called necrotize. It kills all the healthy tissue.

• Besides all these, there are some situations where dogs also catch a type of infection called Cuterebra. It occurs when the botflies lay their eggs near the burrows of rodents or rabbits, and then the larvae from the hatched eggs accidentally enter the dog’s body through the wound, mouth, or nose.

How to Diagnose Maggots?

Well, as the diagnosis process goes, the maggot attack from a blowfly is easier to understand than treating the same. So, for grub larvae, you need to look at the wounds your dog suffered from.

If such a thing happens, try to shave the place so your vet can closely examine the tissues affected.

In acute conditions, the injury can go deeper, and the necrotized secretion from the larvae can increase further.

The culture of the tissues affected will tell whether any fungal or bacterial infection affected the wound.

One more thing: while looking at the skin, you will find a lump because botflies do create such things as they tend to grow. As said, you must clear off the fur to make the wounded area visible.

But in other cases, if the problem is too severe, the grub’s breathing tube will peep out automatically.

Now, if the grub travels to the other parts of the body like the brain or lungs, then no doubt it becomes way more challenging, and the diagnosis becomes difficult.

Apart from that, imaging procedures like CT scans or magnetic resonance are also helpful in identifying the tracks of the migratory larva.

What is the Treatment Process for Curing Maggots in Dogs?

The primary part of the treatment process is removing the maggots physically. The veterinary surgeon completes the process by following a fragile procedure.

If the larvae are from a blowfly, the number of larvae will be more significant, so it needs immediate removal. Most of the time, the damaged skin due to larvae has to be shredded to get rid of the dying tissue, and finally, it will heal with time.

Remember that the treatment process is too delicate. That is why The treatment is conducted through natural anesthesia. But maggots caused by Cuterebra lead to removing the maggots surgically.

Steps in the Treatment Process

1. The initial step to remove the maggots in dogs is by wiping and disinfecting the same area with an antiseptic medicine.
2. But again, this depends on the vet because many like to extract the area and clear off the wounds after the surgical process.
3. As the vet completes the process, they will clear off the fur from that area to check whether any trace of eggs or bacteria is still there.
4. After that, they will apply an antiseptic lotion that is too topically.
5. Finally, they will cover up the wounded area so that it remains clean and let it heal smoothly.
6. After the procedure, the vet will ask you to give your dog antibiotics for several weeks. Additionally, we continue fluid-based therapy or provide anti-fungal so your dog stays.

How to Prevent Maggot Infestation?

Though maggot infestation is more prevalent in rural areas, dogs can also catch it in large cities.

Therefore, you must always stay alert, and you can start the prevention measures by deworming your dog. Also, maintain their vaccination schedule diligently.

In addition, always give time to understand the coat and fur of your dog daily. Also, make sure that your dog does not have any wounds on the body. In case of wounds, clean them and apply antiseptic-based solutions.

Remember to take care of your dog’s hygiene level. Make sure that you brush or clean the fur so that you can check whether any underlying skin issue is there or not.

Remember, aged dogs with less mobility are more prone to developing maggot infestation. So it would help if you kept them indoors most of the time.

The above elaborated guides you on how to tell if your dog has maggots. Just follow the points and look after the conditions. In case of acute conditions, always take assistance from the vet.