My dog ate a dead animal with maggots on it
Whether it’s a squirrel or something larger, maggots will happily feast on a dead animal as a food source, and your dog will come along and gobble it all up. The maggots themselves are going to be irrelevant, as strange as it sounds.
The issue with this is going to be in the fact that a dead animal is most often starting to rot. The rotting flesh/meat is what can harbor bacteria and create an infection in your dog. Anything that rots is dangerous for dogs (or humans, for that matter).
The main risk potentially from roadkill is the disease that it could carry. Since roadkill isn’t vaccinated, they could be carrying any number of diseases and parasites that can, through the maggots, infect your dog.
My dog ate garbage with maggots in it
If your dog’s chowing down on some tasty leftovers with larvae on them, the risk is minimal. Again, it would come more from the bacteria and anything around the garbage, rather than the maggots themselves.
Dogs are impressively strong digestive systems that often earn them the title of “vacuums”. They can digest spoiled food easier than humans can and this means that garbage with a few maggots won’t cause much of a problem, unlike if a lot of humans were to eat it.
How Can Maggots Give My Dog Myiasis?
Warning: Things are about to get a bit queasy.
If your dog ate maggots, there is also a chance that it could contract a disease called myiasis. This it what it looks like:
Your dog has a higher chance finding and eating larvae if they are attracted to him or her in the first place. However, eating maggots is the least of your problems when compared to myiasis.
While eating maggots on rotten flesh or feces could cause health problems in your dog, infestation (myiasis) is an even worse scenario.
Dogs play around in grassy areas, where rodents and rabbits live. These other animals may carry maggots, which can then get transferred to your dog especially if it has any cuts or open wounds.
Myiasis occurs when flies lay eggs in an open cut on the dog. The eggs hatch and turn into maggots, which then eat the dog’s skin tissue. They maggots eat and eat, growing bigger as they dig further into the wound. They will also eat healthy tissue, which causes further damage.
The maggots live inside the wound, preventing it from recovering. They will then spread progressively throughout the body and cause serious health issues for the dog.
As the maggots bury more and become rooted in the skin and body, they will start chewing away at the essential organs. As the maggots live inside your dog, they release toxins through excrement which will begin to make the dog sick with symptoms such as fever, lethargy, and shock.
There are two primary types of myiasis:
● Cavitary myiasis – A less common situation where the maggots spread inside typical body cavities like nostrils, mouth, and ears.
● Cutaneous myiasis – An infestation of the maggots within a wound or on the dog’s skin.
My Dog Ate Maggots What Do I Do?
With time, the maggots can start releasing toxins that can make your pet sick very quickly, leading to fever, lethargy and shock.” If you find maggots on your pet, get them to a vet immediately, where they will be able to clip and clean the underlying cause and remove the maggots.