The Maggoty Cat

It is not often we get a maggoty cat it happens about 2 or 3 times a year, usually maggots are rabbit based. In this case the cat “Monty” had gone missing and been found about 4 days later when he dragged himself back and was found in the garden.

Monty had been hit by a car there was head injuries and as it was hot enough for flies they had gone straight to the wounds. Monty had a fractured lower jaw so was unable to groom himself and anyway did not feel up to it.

I am not up on how long different maggot species take to hatch but apart from the tiny yellow dots attached to Monty’s coat a lot had hatched and made their way into the wounds to start eating. It was all the more upsetting because cat’s are generally fastidious in how clean they keep themselves.

Monty needed a general anaesthetic so that we could x-ray him. It is never easy to get decent x-rays of an animal due to their shape unless it is a lateral (lying on their side) it requires troughs to support them on their backs, ties to straighten or hold their legs, foam pads to support under their legs and often tape to hold the legs in more difficult positions.

Under anaesthetic we were able to pick the maggots out of the wounds and clip off all the eggs. Maggots are pretty difficult to kill. If there are not many l tend to squash them, if lot’s l put them into a bowl with some Ivomec in.

Monty had a fractured femur, he got away quite lightly usually cats who have been hit by a car suffer from a fractured pelvis as well as other bones. The surgeon placed an external fixator on/into the leg. These are well tolerated by animals.

Monty had another common cat problem a fractured mandibular symphysis (join in his lower jaw) and this was wired post his x-rays. The lower jaw of cat is not one solid piece but 2 parts joined in the middle with a bit of cartilage. Trauma can break this bond. Wire is fed under the tongue and around the jaw. I found some photos on the net that explain the procedure.
Usually unless there is other facial trauma cats are back eating within a day or 2 of the procedure. In about 4 weeks the the cat is given another ga and the wire removed.
Monty was fairly good about eating but did need syringe feeding to supplement his own intake.





He was discharged after 4 days to attend outpatients for checks, dressing’s changes and a couple of admits for anaesthetics to have various bits of iron removed until he was back to normal. He was scared of going out of the garden but appeared otherwise happy with life.