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post botfly removal/breathing problems- Vetrx?

1096 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  toth boer goats
Well, this hasn't gone right. Our barn kitty, Ginger, is about 10 weeks and 2.5lbs. The botfly breathing hole was closing up and looked more scabbed this morning, but kitty was enjoying a ground squirrel and acting just fine. Three hours later we came home from the fair to her laying behind a planter with a slight raspy inhale. I called a vet and decided to take her in. The botfly breathing hole had closed up and the larva was dead. Kitty's breathing got really bad while at the vet; she'd go through bouts of really labored inhales. She's had sedative, antibiotic, steriod and benadryl (I think) and we left her in the oxygen cage at the vet for a few more hours. She'll come home wether she's improved or not; we're all thinking the oxygen isn't benefitting her at this point.

The labored breathing is from swelling, per the vet, swelling from botfly irritation on her trachea, or allergic reaction to toxins from the dead larvae. I wonder if some vetrx might help her? She's only mouth-breathing currently. Maybe some Eucalyptus EO in her overnight crate? I don't want to wake up to her dead. :( Poor little Ginger.
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Sorry your having so much trouble. If the problem is inflammation or allergic reaction, Eucalyptus won't do much. But will help if it is respiratory.
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Thanks. We'll cross fingers. Our other barn cat is really sick with an URI right now but Ginger doesn't seem congested at all. I guess I've done all I can do for now.
So sorry. I have heard of animals having a reaction to toxins released when the larvae is ripped or torn instead of being removed whole, but never experienced it. Did the vet remove the remaining larvae?
Yeah, I think the toxins got her but the vet did remove it, I think in one piece (assumed as much). We never got any of it out. I have been looking to buy the really pointy surgical tweezers for months (can't find them in pharmacies) and maybe could have done it with those. Apparently Kitten is stronger than Husband though- he could NOT hold her still. When I was trying to whack a mole that stupid thing in the tiny hole, I did not realize it was many, many times bigger than the hole. I'm not sure I could have been successful without that info. Then I watched some horrifying youtube videos.

We may have done the smothering thing so effectively that it actually killed the larvae. Just realized that...
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Yes, the pointy tweezers are nice! And they youtube videos about botfly removal give me nightmares! It's amazing how big those things get.
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Wow. Ginger just got home and is back to herself! I can hardly believe she made such a recovery. At 9pm she was no better than near respiratory failure and only 60 minutes later she is breathing and acting normally. The vet wrote up that she thinks we smothered it in our attempts at removal. Next time, we'll work fast and if we don't succeed we'll get a vet's help.
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You might try here for good tweezers, I’ve used this site for years for quality supplies. Glad Gingers doing better! Yay 🙂

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(y)
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