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Found maggots in my piggies cage!

Dilly's Piggies

Dilly's Piggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I currently have 3 piggies, a singleton and a pair, all girls, they all live indoors upstairs, they have their own bedroom, in a 6x2 C&C on fleece and were fully cleaned out 5 days ago (they're done fully every Sunday with blanket/pad change every few days), I check them multiple times a day and did not notice anything until now, I just went in to change the blankets and I found about 5 live maggots burrowed into the thick fluffy vetbed in the fleece which were very small, looked to have just hatched, and about 5 brownish red 'cocoons' (not sure of proper term?) of maggots about to hatch living in the back corner of my singletons wooden hide in her poop. I feel like the worst owner in the world right now and I'm ashamed to even be writing this for everyone to see, but I need help.

They were only in that area, I couldn't find any others and I didn't see any white eggs but there could have been more I didn't see, I didn't spend much time looking tbh I saw those and immediately took my pig out, threw all the fleece and bedding out in a quick panic. I've had piggies for over 10 years and never had this before, I am so freaked out and I want to throw up, I feel like a horrible pigmum for not noticing this sooner, my poor Dolly. I was really surprised to find them only in her cage and not the pairs cage also, since the pair produce more poop, I guess the fly preferred Dolly's for some reason, the cages are stacked and she's on top. I haven't seen any flies in there either, we have a mosquito net covering their window and all upstairs windows so I don't know how it got in or what fly it was, I've checked the whole house and can't find any flies, I've checked all the nets and put up loads of fly strips. I have anxiety because I know flies lay many more eggs than just the 10 I found, so I'm obsessing over where the rest are and whether I got them or not... I'm checking inside their poop constantly too and haven't seen anything.

I have already completely emptied both cages, all fleece and bedding has been discarded into the trash, I'm not even going to bother washing the fleece as I don't trust it, just threw it out and I'll buy new. Both cages have been completely washed with boiling hot water, soap and disinfected with F10SC, I even sprayed the whole room with it, not with pigs in there obviously.

I've throughly examined all 3 piggies, very closely all over their bottoms especially, including inside their private area as far in as I could with a light and magnifying glass and I cannot see anything abnormal, I also squeezed a little to see if anything came out and nothing did so I am hoping these maggots didn't do anything to my pigs and they aren't the super bad ones that cause flystrike. Regardless they've all been fully bathed with lice and easy shampoo 3 times each to hopefully get rid of anything if they had eggs on them, which I couldn't see or feel any but just incase. They are all fine, don't have symptoms, but I'm keeping a close eye as you can imagine.

I'll be rewashing all their fleece from now on in a 60*C wash, cleaning twice daily and disinfecting daily for now to be sure but I am horrified and worried about flystrike. Does anyone know the symptoms for that and how I would know if they have it? I've already spent £700 at the vet this month alone for other issues (one has ovarian cysts and I lost another due to cancer earlier this month) so I simply haven't got the money to take them again right now, I don't get paid until the 1st and my vet does not take payment plans, I've asked multiple times so I don't know what to do with that, I feel completely stuck right now, I want to take them so badly to be checked, I'll have to ask around and see if anyone can help me.

I do have some leftover prescription topical ivermectin drops I got from the vet 2 months ago (they were treated recently, didn't have symptoms of lice or mites but vet prescribed it as a preventative because I asked for it) and I don't know if this would do anything for this situation, is it worth giving it to the pigs again? Does it kill fly eggs/maggots internally or externally?

I've had just about the worst month possible so this is just the icing on the cake honestly, everything seems to go wrong at once. I feel so icky and horrible. 😔 Any advice, what to look out for, anything further I should do would be greatly appreciated.
 
Please try not to worry.
The bad flies lay eggs directly into the animals flesh, the maggots hatch, burrow and eat into the flesh - this is flystrike.
What you are describing does not seem to be it.
You have done everything we would have suggested in the cleaning and disinfecting. Make sure you check their bottoms twice daily in summer and spot clean the cage frequently in the day. Obviously keep an eye on them, but it doesn’t sound like the right type of flies for real problems.

Dont treat with the ivermectin

Fly Strike
 
regular fly eggs can hatch in as little as 8 hours... its gonna happen. best you can do is remove all outside attractions for flies such as garbage. close windows ect. when it comes to finding any kind of filth, nothing beats flies. their always first on the scene.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Please try not to worry.
The bad flies lay eggs directly into the animals flesh, the maggots hatch, burrow and eat into the flesh - this is flystrike.
What you are describing does not seem to be it.
You have done everything we would have suggested in the cleaning and disinfecting. Make sure you check their bottoms twice daily in summer and spot clean the cage frequently in the day. Obviously keep an eye on them, but it doesn’t sound like the right type of flies for real problems.

Dont treat with the ivermectin

Fly Strike
Click to expand...
Are they always laid on the piggie or is it possible for some to be in the bedding? I'd expect to see them all over the place rather than one area though, they didn't seem to care about Dolly at all and just wanted the poop, yuck.

Also because I saw some brown/red cocoons containing unhatched maggots buried in the poop/fleece, would flystrike larvae develop that way or is that not possible for that type of fly and they can only survive if inside the animal? Don't know if the bad type even has a 'cocoon' stage. Absolutely vile regardless...

Thank you for the quick response, it really helps, increasingly hopeful these aren't harmful and I can stop it getting worse or happening again
 
Blow fly eggs need to be laid into flesh as it is what the maggots eat so it’s not going to be in bedding. I don’t think you are dealing with the right type of fly to need to worry about or being a serious issue.

They are just after the poop in this case. A good clean should take care of it
 
check their fur. you'll see where they came out of the skin. other wise its just regular house flies laying eggs on their poop. a few probably crawled on her when she was eating or just laying in their poops as so many of them seem to like to do... again if that is the case little you can do other then get a fly zapper and close the windows ect. flies will inherit the earth once all the roaches are gone....
 
Ah Dilly’s Piggies what a shock - try not to worry - you’ve done the right things. Your piggies are safe and just keep a check on them ….as you do anyway.
Perfect advice from Piggies& buns. Blow flies are quite big flies ( they’re called bottle flies too, the green/ blue buzzing type) so you’d notice them whereas household flies are smaller. I think blow flies can be more of a problem for outside piggies and bunnies.
I don’t like to kill any insect but if you’re worried you can get the fly zapper plug ins that would zap the flies but with the summer coming to an end I’m sure it won’t be a problem.
Just make sure your outside has no rubbish etc that could attract flies … no food for them and they’ll go elsewhere.
I’m glad you did post ….we’re here to help and support you and there are always piggy slaves who have experience of any problem. Take care 🥰
 
What a horrible shock for you, that would freak me out too! You have done the right thing with all the cleaning and using F10. I wouldn't throw the fleece out, give it a good brush outside and wash at 60, use some in wash disinfectant if it makes you feel less anxious. You've had enough expense with vets without replacing all the fleece.
 
Update: Thankfully my Mum helped me out and gave me some money to take Dolly to the vet as I was super worried plus I noticed her pee was coming out a dull reddish brown colour, which got me even more concerned.

The good news is the vet didn't see any issues relating to flystrike or the maggots, she said it doesn't sound like the bad flies like you guys said here and that I've done the right things. But she noticed Dolly has some mild urine scald on her back feet and belly, they're slightly red and crusty/flaky so she thinks a UTI, which could have attracted the flies alongside some soft poops she has been having lately for reasons we still aren't sure about, limiting/stopping veggies hasn't really helped so I don't know why that's happening, unless the UTI caused it.

The vet has given her antibiotics, fibreplex and meloxidyl to hopefully help with these issues, she goes back next week for a recheck. I asked if I should put anything on her sore skin and she said I could use sudocrem, but I'm not sure as the area on her belly is quite large, she might ingest a lot of that. I was thinking coconut oil might be a better option, does this sound okay or does anyone have suggestions to help with redness, soreness and dry skin flaking? Thanks
 
Sudocrem can sometimes dry the skin out so you have to be careful with it. I wouldn’t be inclined to put anything anything it can be licked off.
Keeping the bedding dry by using smaller fleece per pads (or small squares of vet bed) which can be changed a few times a day will help
 
Sending Dolly healing vibes. I wouldn't put anything on the skin just keep it clean and dry. I think you said you use vet bed, that is the best thing to use where she lies to keep the urine away from the skin.
 
piggieminder said:
Sending Dolly healing vibes. I wouldn't put anything on the skin just keep it clean and dry. I think you said you use vet bed, that is the best thing to use where she lies to keep the urine away from the skin.
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Yeah sadly I threw my vetbed away, as well as a quite expensive cage liner I had made which is pretty sad for me lol, I might try and salvage the liner as its a really nice one, plus the vetbed wasn't cheap either lol, but it's so thick and deep I worry about the 60 wash not killing everything haha. I might go and check it and see if I can save it as they're still outside, I have another piece somewhere I can maybe cut up into smaller pieces and use as bed pads
 
Piggies&buns said:
Sudocrem can sometimes dry the skin out so you have to be careful with it. I wouldn’t be inclined to put anything anything it can be licked off.
Keeping the bedding dry by using smaller fleece per pads (or small squares of vet bed) which can be changed a few times a day will help
Click to expand...
Thank you so much I'll do this instead!
 
I also just wanted to add my support.
I think if you can salvage the liners they would be fine after a hot wash, and it sounds like you have done a great job of protecting your piggies.
Please try not to blame yourself - these things happen and your piggies clearly receive five star treatment.
 
Dilly's Piggies said:
Yeah sadly I threw my vetbed away, as well as a quite expensive cage liner I had made which is pretty sad for me lol, I might try and salvage the liner as its a really nice one, plus the vetbed wasn't cheap either lol, but it's so thick and deep I worry about the 60 wash not killing everything haha. I might go and check it and see if I can save it as they're still outside, I have another piece somewhere I can maybe cut up into smaller pieces and use as bed pads
Click to expand...
It’s very expensive - I’d brush the liners and vet bed vigorously and I think a 60degree wash with anti bac rinse/ distilled vinegar should do the trick ! I use smaller pee pads that I remove regularly and it works very well - Glad you had Dolly checked and hopefully she be back normal asap 🥰
 
something similar happened to me last summer when I went away and the person taking care of my piggies didn't properly spot clean. when I came back, my hutch was infested, plus my piggies were outdoor pigs at the time which can cause infestation even faster. so, I know the feeling! I also had a heart stopping moment and immediately had to throw out the fleece liner in that area. It's scary, but my infestation was much worse than yours and my piggies weren't affected at all! plus you brought one to the vet, so your pigs definitely sound safe and healthy. for months afterwards I freaked out every time the wind rustled the hay, convinced that a maggot was underneath moving it. anything that looked remotely like a maggot terrified me out, but they never came back.
you clearly are an amazing pet parent, you take such good care of your piggies, and I'm sure it won't happen again, so try to be easy on yourself!
sending healing vibes to Dolly:luv:
 
Merab's Slave said:
How are you feeling today after the shock and having to deal with such a horrible thing?
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I'm still stressed lol but thanks for asking, I didn't get to sleep last night because I'm on such high alert haha.

There hasn't been any more in either cage which is great so I think I got them all, but I have anxiety every time I go to check the pigs or clean out. Dolly is doing well on her meds but she is still having super soft poops that sticks all over her booty, despite fibreplex and limited veggies, she only gets a small amount of red bell pepper atm so I still don't know what's causing her digestive issues. I've already had to give her a bum/belly bath today and I'll have to again tonight.

Got another piggie with her own issues that I'm worried about too, nothing related to this situation but everything happens at once quite a lot and its hard to deal with it all. It's like the piggies decide on a month to fall apart and they do it together at the same time lol 😂😣
 
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