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Parasites String of health problems,ites, seizures...and now there's maggots in their cage?!

Mortiaryfaerie

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Until a few weeks ago I had 6 pigs: Caterina, erza, Misty, Beyonce, pixie, and nami. Around March Beyonce got mites, and we started all 6 on ivermectin. Then in April eeza got a pretty gnarly hay poke.

So then skip forward to the mid of May. One Sunday night we're sitting on the couch and erza just falls over and begins seizing. We take her to the vet the next day. He said there's two possibilities: brain problem or inner ear problem. He puts her on medicine and says to see if it goes away, if it does then great its inner ear. If not, well discuss the next step. She takes the medicine for 8 days and seems to be doing better, eating like a champ (with assistance), and less seizures. The night of the 8th day, a Tuesday, she fell over and began seizing, it lasted about 2 hours until she finally passed.

All 5 other pigs seemed fine.

That following Sunday my bf called me whole I was at work and said he was taking Beyonce to the vet she had had a seizure. About 3 hours later he called me and tolde she had died at the vet's office she too had a long lasting seizure and couldn't recover from it.

That day we SCRUBBED their cage. I'm talking bleach, then soap and water, then Lysol every day cleaner, then vinegar and baking soda, then straight vinegar, then soap and water, then and most of vinegar. And brand new beddings. All food bowls and houses went in the dish washer twice through on the sanitize setting. Toys,water bottles, and hay containers thrown out and replaced with new.

Wgen o went outside the next day to hose down and disinfect the old bedding to prepare them for the washer and there was a bunch of very tiny little worms or maggots on them, onthe fleece and uhaul pads. So I just threw it all out and bought new. I thought it was just because I left it out over night. Oops, my bad.

So, today rolls around (7 days since the cage was last deep cleaned). So we get ready to do a deep clean (we vacuum 2X a day between deep cleans and change the bedding if it looks nasty). And look and behold, under the fleece, on the uhaul pads is ONCD AGAIN MAGGOTS. So we trash the bedding, scrub and sanitize the cage, and go get all new bedding again (we grabbed 2 sets this time, for good measure). So now ots a waiting game I suppose.

As of this timel, none of the remaining 4 seem to be having any sort of issue.

Were currently on hold with the vet setting up an appointment to get them checked anyway.

Has anyone experienced something like this before? What kind of situation should I be preparing for
 

bpatters

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There's no need to throw fleece bedding away because critters are in it. Washing it in hot water with bleach and drying it in the dryer will take care of them.

Maggots set up in dead flesh. Have you thoroughly examined all the pigs to make sure there's no injury anywhere.
 

Soecara

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@bpatters that isn't true regarding maggots. It is much more common for fly maggots to set up in and eat decaying organic matter (such as animal feces, rotting leaf litter, rotting vegetables/fruit, etc.), only the maggots from a very few specific types of fly will and/or need to consume decaying or living flesh. Also fly maggots require a decent amount of moisture to survive.


I would check to make sure there is nowhere in the cage that poops or hay are falling into a gap/getting under the fleece. Make sure to remove all uneaten vegetables within a few hours. Try and address the moisture that is contributing to the issue, check your water bottle isn't leaking, check your fleece is wicking properly, make sure the absorbent layer (the uhaul) is thick enough to appropriately absorb all the moisture and if not either make it thicker or add another absorbent layer underneath.
 
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