Emergency! fly strike!

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Jana15

Jana15

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My buck has been haveing a dirty bottom for a while now , and that I have bepening trying to treat. A while ago I flipped him over and noticed his penis was inflamed looking and didn't look normal. I took a closer look at one the scent glands, maggots. There was maggots. And the other gland was, worse. I got all the visible maggots out and rinsed the area throughyl with water. I'm freaking out here, what more can I do? Please, HELP.
 
Dose him with ivermectin if you have it--andgive him a good bathing. There is a fly strike spray available at a lot fo farm supply stores that yu can spray into the opening-- you will need to be careful aboutgetting it in the rabbits face-- and perhaps use an elizabethan collar, and clean the openings a couple times a day...
 
Ewww! You must have freaked out! (Heh- just reread op and saw that you said you were freaking out! LOL...)

I would use a large syringe and fill it with betadine and warm water, and squirt it up in there to flush out any more of the little buggers that may have been missed. If you have diatomaceous earth, powder his rump area with it and around his glands- even if the flies lay more eggs, it should dry the eggs up and prevent another hatch. There are fly repellant ointments, but I would be hesitant to use them because he may lick it off- you would have to check the ingredients thoroughly. MaggieJ uses catnip as a fly repellant, so if you have any, get some leaves and roll them in your hands to crush them, and then rub the leaves on his nether regions. It may help and it can't hurt.

I would hang some sticky traps near his cage too.

Good luck! Let us know how he does.
 
I also find that if you are caging outdoors and the droppings are collecting under the cages, wetting them down each day and topping the pile with hay, grass clippings, etc will keep the flies down somewhat, as the smell of poop is probably what is drawing the flies.

Also, you don't mention the breed, but if he has poopy butt, clip his hair ... get it out of the way so it doesn't 'collect' the poops. It will grow back, but it is much easier to clean very short hair/skin :)
 
Thanks for all the advice! I ended up breaking down and taking him to the vet. This is one of our much loved "pet" rabbits of the rabbit crew( same rabbit in my picture) and we couldn't bear to loose him to his. The vet clipped the fur and cleaned the area good, luckily we caught the maggots in time and they didn't do much damage. The vet also gave us some antibiotics that he has to have once a day and wipes to clean the area until it is completely healed. Such a relief to all of our minds that everything is going to be ok!!
 

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