Maggots

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I have a goat that injured her face and the flys got to her. I have repeatedly cleansed her mouth with hydrogen peroxide and hand picked as many as I can, but there just seems to be more and more. Shes in the basement now so no new flys can get to her, but is there anything you can do to get rid of the nasty maggots that are in her mouth?

-- Dianne (yankeeterrier@hotmail.com), July 28, 2000

Answers

Call your vet. I remember my dad using some purple stuff for that but I can't remember what it was. The vet will have something.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), July 28, 2000.

Dianne, An important thing to remember, maggots eat only dead or gangerous flesh. Medics in POW camps routinly used maggots to remove infection from wounds and prevent gangrene. With this in mind, you need to treat the animals infection with something more than peroxide, call your vet.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 28, 2000.

Diane,

I'd get her to the vet. What type of injury did she have? if i am understanding your post correctly she has maggots internally.. in her mouth? If they are in her mouth then peroxide isn't going to help much. You need the help of a vet. If the injury is around the mouth area you can use a spray called Blue Koat or Coat, Dr. Naylors is the best. This will kill any maggots and keep flies away. Good luck.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), July 28, 2000.


Dianne, Since my previous post to ypu, I have had the opportunity to speak with our local goat and sheep expert. He said if the maggot are on the outside of the body that kerosene applied to the wound will help, however for internal infestation, you need a vet. Another thought that may help you, post for or e-mail Ken Scharabok here on the forum, I recall that he raises goats.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 28, 2000.

Thanks guys, however, I am a certified vet tech and have spoken with a number of vets. Hand picking is the only advice they had. I have tried blue coat to no avail and she is also on injectable antibiotics. Contrary to the post above, they are eating healthy tissue. If I cannot get this under control soon they are going to eat her face.

-- Dianne (yankeeterrier@hotmail.com), July 28, 2000.


Seems like back in the old days of screw worm infestations in Texas, people used to put some form of petroleum on the wound to kill the worms. I think they used either motor oil or petroleum jelly, depending on the size of the wound and how cooperative the animial was. Maybe petroleum jelly would help your goat. The stuff was supposed to smother the worms, and then you still had to hand pick out the ones that you could see. Good luck.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), July 29, 2000.

3 sugestions,teatree oil [ make sure it says can be used as a mouthrinse] It is great stuff works great on infections smells yucky should kill any maggots ,you can get it at raleys or natural health store, 2 use desitin [for babys]on face as they hate it and wont go near it maybe put a horse fly mask on her as it should be large anough to protect mouth on goat 3give her injectable ivomec to kill any which are inside of skin were you cant reach . Hope any of these work, lost a rabbit doe to maggots 10 years ago, Hope you can save her.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), July 29, 2000.

This sure brings back some nasty memories of my first goat- she got attacked by dogs and the flies got into the wounds and just about ate her alive. We had to put her down , because the damage was so extensive. I have heard that a product called Cut and heal will protect wounds from flies, I don't know if it will kill the maggots, but it is worth a try. This stuff worked wonders on our little buck kid after he was dehorned surgically- it healed up very nicely after I started using it. There's a powder in a puffer bottle- eye and wound powder (?) , that I use when scurs break off, that seems to keep the flies at bay, but again, I don't know if it will kill the maggots once they are there. I do know that salt water doesn't seem to do a thing except hurt the goat.Best wishes,and if you find something that works, let us know.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), July 29, 2000.

I lost my 4-H ewe lamb to screw worms when I was a young'un. Her name was Alice, and she was so sweet. Screw worms are a horrible. They were in the wound from her docked tail, and we were just ignorant city folks learning about the country, so we didn't catch them until it was too late. Good luck, and tell us what works, please!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), July 29, 2000.

Actually, Jay, there are species of maggots that will attack healthy flesh. Had this problem with a lamb some years ago with what we called "wool maggots". Don't know what they were, but I killed the maggots by shearing very close, thereby cutting most of them and then applying Blue Coat. The lamb recovered, but it was a quite disgusting episode. I think you will have to be diligent in removing the maggots, and I believe everything will work out. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), July 31, 2000.


Yes, maggots will attack healthy tissue , although they might initially be attracted by a wound or manure stained wool or hair. It sounds like your goat got hit by blowflies, also called flystrike. I think you will need a vet. But putting her inside was a good idea. Be deligent picking them off. Not a pleasant job and if they have invaded too deep, I would put her down, which is a hard decision but its a horrible way to go. There seems to be more cases of flystrike here this year due to all the rain we have had.

-- Kate Henderson (sheeplady@catskill.net), August 01, 2000.

We had a bad case of maggotts this year on one of our sheep who got attacked by a dog. We sheared her down as close as possible and used bleach and water to kill most of the maggotts. We then applied an animal fly repellant to the area surrounding the wounds, and then used blue coat on her. So far it has been a success. Good luck

-- The Graupmans (graupman@catskill.net), August 04, 2000.

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