feline myiasis

Question
Dear Teresa:

After working with two vets, neither of whom cured our cat Tenerife of feline Myiasis despite one surgery, we need further advice.

Tenerife is an indoor pet, however, two years ago, he spent a few weeks with a relative cavalier about keeping the cat inside. That would have been the only time, we think, our little friend would have contacted parasites.

Two months ago, Tenerife developed a large growth on his back. The vet removed it, saying it was a cluster of maggots, quite large. He shaved around the removal site and prescribed 20 Amox 100 antibiotic tablets and Vetro-Biiotic topical first aid antibiotic for cats and dogs, which we administered according to instructions. As per vet advice, we bathed him in mild antiseptic soap solution, which caused the maggots to retreat momentarily.

The cat appeared healing during the medication period, but the maggots are back, in smaller form, but eating the poor guy's flesh and producing a putrid odor. Tenerife is lethargic, can't eat and drinks little water.

A long-haired gray tabby, he is six years old and weighs 34 pounds, which one vet assured us was mostly muscle and not to be concerned. His diet is exclusively dry cat food -- his choice.

Local veterinarians (one in Ontario; one in Niagara Falls, NY) tell us they really don't know what to do. Through you, we hope to find some solution. Should we shave his entire body, as one vet recommended. (Vets in this area neither bath nor shave cats, except in the surgical zone.)

Help!

Thank you,
Sharon DeMarko-Gordon, Bill Gordon and Tenerife.


Answer
Hi Sharon, SHAVE THAT CAT !! I am surprised the vet's didn't do that immediately. I can only assume they were not expecting to see an outbreak again. Since you are in Canada I can only assume these are maggots of common houseflies. Does your cat have any exotic history? Has he been anywhere tropical? or just lived in Canada all his life? Have any of the vets identified the maggot/fly species?
Normal maggot infections do not become a chronic thing in our climate so I would expect this could be controlled and I am assuming that is what the vets were thinking which is why they were not more aggressive with his treatment!
I am an 'old school" girl and I believe in shaving large areas when treating animals. Nowadays many physicians and veterinarians are taking a more conservative approach to health care. Look at how we have babies these days ! No shaving and no hospital in many cases.
But your poor cat is in a bad way and needs some aggressive treatment. So, take him today and shave him !! If you don't have a shaver or access to one then I would recommend you buy one. It will be worth the investment and you can always sell it later if you don't need it. A proper Oster clipper from a pet store will run you about $150-$200 but I don't see any way around that investment. You will need a #15 blade  at least to get the hair short enough. You can even go for a #40 blade and he will be perfectly bald but that is probably not necessary .   Then bath him with a mild shampoo that is made for dandruff treatment. Do you feel you would be able to get those maggots off of him? It is a terrible job as I have done it myself when working with vets and it is not an easy thing to do .. but they need to be gone ! they are eating your cat alive ! You use tweezers to pull them out.
Veterinary care would be the best as he should be cleaned and the wounds need to be cleaned out at the edges where the flesh is rotting (that is the smell you notice) and also he should really be on a course of antibiotics again.
SO, that is what I would recommend for treatment asap. Today is sunday so you could do the bath and shave today and then get him into your vet for antibiotics tomorrow and debriding tomorrow. I would recommend you shave him rather than scissor him as you need that hair as close to the skin as possible. some people like to leave the tail and that would be ok as long as you clean the hair away from the rectum and base of his tail area and as long as your check the tail regularly for problems.
NOW>>> the bigger question. what is causing this ?? Flies will lay their eggs in dirty, smelly areas to hatch. that is why you see flies in garbage etc. So, something is attracting them to lay their eggs on your cat. when I have dealt with maggot infestations it has been because the dogs or cats have had skin conditions that have caused a slight smell to attract the flies . The flies lay their eggs on the open irritated skin so that the maggots can hatch and have something to feed off of. This is all so horrible but I am trying to lay it out for you as factual as I can so you can really understand what is going on as this needs to be stopped !
As you mentioned your cat was 34 pounds I am concerned that the weight is causing him some skin problems. this would not be  unusual and I am once again surprised your vet is not treating his weight problem. If he is a domestic cat he is waaaayyyyy too heavy to be considered "muscle". This is not the time to diet him, as he sounds very ill, but it certainly is something that needs to be addressed if you want to stop the problem from continuing. I would recommend a non commercial diet for a while for him.. once he is feeling better. You can even start a gradual change for him at this point. try giving him some boiled chicken... just a small amount and take away his food bowl for a couple of hours every day. This will be a gradual change to a better lifestyle.  And we can discuss that in another email as it is too long to go into at this point. I also feel that the diet he is on may be leading to some of his skin problems as he may have an allergy to some of the ingredients in the dry food causing small skin lesions.
-Has he had blood work done recently? I would like to see him checked for thyroid problems especially. There is something causing this weight gain and something in his body that is "off balance" . I know vet fees can be enormous so I am not going to recommend things that I don't think will be valuable to you and to his treatment.
- Does he clean himself?? Do you see him licking himself daily keeping himself clean?
-How much food does he eat in a day. Has this changed in the last couple of days??
I would really like you to get back to me as I want to follow through with you on this and once you have shaved him down I would like to see pictures if possible from you.. or at least I would like to know what you see under that hair. Are there skin lesions all over him?? what does  his skin look like? does  he have rolls of fat where there is smelly wet skin hidden ?? Once we can see what is under there.. then we can investigate some treatment options. Perhaps he just needs a cortisone injection?? perhaps he needs some dip to kill parasites?? Perhaps a regular bath and staying shaved is all he will need !!
So, please get back to me... with any more relevant information you can think of.
we can beat this... Teresa