Someone presented me with a kitten (a gift that I couldn't afford) that was born and lived outdoors for 6 weeks.
One week after I got her she developed a lump that turned out to be a grub (we used to call them screw worms). The vet removed that one and that hole is healing nicely. However, she popped another hole with a grub on her side last week. The vet removed that one too, but the wound is not healing. The vet said that sometimes that happens because the grub excretes a toxin to keep the hole open and it causes tissues to die near the hole...and it doesn't heal.
I have already had this kitten into the vets 4 times in one and 1/2 weeks.(she developed a respiratory infection between the two grub removals. She is taking an antibiotic.

Any advice on the grub hole beside taking her BACK to the vet and having the tissues cut back and sutured?

Zmyst

hepar sul 30 one dose.

Hi,
I have had experience with what we call "blow flies". They usually affect cows. If I remember correctly, they lay an egg on the surface that borrows into the skin as it matures, making a rather deep hole. They grow and eat their way out. Very hard to do but I learned to leave the entire process alone and everything would be fine. If tampered with, the larvae (or whatever the horrid thing is inside, eating away) dies and then the problems occur because it will not exit the host when dead and infection results. I think the adults feed on dead carcasses. Lovely, huh? I wonder if that is the same kind of situation your kitty had?

gpm
Sounds sort of similar, but I think those grubs are HUGE. My father used to pop these huge grubs out of the cow's backs when I was young. I watched the process just once. That was enough for me!! (one thing we are missing on this bb is a "yucky face")

If the grubs that hit kittens are left in they often kill the kitten eventually. These grubs are underneath the skin, often on the neck or cheek. The purposfully open a hole in the skin and pop their heads out once in a while, retreating if anyone tries to grab them. They live that way for some time. They pick on very young kittens because of their very thin and soft skin and while they're too young to protest the burrowing. Also the vet said that it is from a bug that lives near rat holes. So I don't think it is blow-flys which yes, love dead meat and manure too!!
(I grew up on a farm....can ya tell??)

Thanks

Zymst

Well, I thought I heard everything, and now, grubs popping their heads in and out of cows! Yuk! At the moment I am trying to settle myself after hearing about the Nile River Virus that appeared in Central Park yesterday. Seems there are mosquitoes everywhere, and now my husband has the perfect excuse to smoke stinky cigars non stop. Another Yuk! Says the smell keeps the bugs away. As far as I'm concerned the only thing it keeps away is me from him, or maybe its him from me? Anyway, the past seven or eight summers we worried about ticks and Lyme disease. Which brings me to the point of this reply, I wonder if you poured oil onto the grub site, if the beastly thing would come up, and out for air. That's one of the ways to get rid of ticks. Just a thought. Best wishes, Mselle

Zmyst,
These two bugs sound very similar! Might be called different names in different parts of the country? The two times I've seen this was, as you said, near the head and on the neck. But they weren't kittens. That would make a difference, I guess, because the parasite had more room to do it's thing without the damage that would be done to a small kitten. I treated the first cat with the problem not knowing what it was and killed the "thing" inside the hole. Like your kitty, she ended up with surgery, stitches and because the stitches didn't hold well, a huge gapping hole. The next cat with the "worm" (or what ever it is called), I didn't do anything (except cringe!) and "it" ate it's way out and left a clean hole that really didn't need treatment. However, I felt I needed treatment while I waited for the "thing" to stop gnawing in my kitty's neck! I swore I could hear the crunching.

Hi Mselle....
(Still burning my candles....have a huge stock of brown ones on hand!)
My big fear about the Nile River Virus is what the humans are going to do about it! However bad something in nature may be, you can bet the "cure" the humans fight it with will be the real killer. We had a "Sleeping Sickness" scare a number of years ago and they did their airplane spraying right over our farm....right on top of the horses. One mare died from the spray and there was no way to judge the damage to every other living thing they drenched. So, you may want to join your hubby and light up a cigar! His approach is probably a lot better than the pesticides they will be dumping from the sky! (And....you won't notice his cigar smell!) Good luck to you......hope your family isn't bitten by the bugs!

Icky, icky, yuck, yuck, yuck!

gpm...does sounds the same. So that means the grubs my dad popped out of the cows were different. They were VERY large....like the size of a big cashew nut but white and squirmy!
The ones in my kitten, were maybe the size of a 1 centimeter peice of a round toothpick and grey/white. I thought she would die with the first one. The side of her face and neck swelled up, she developed a fever, and became VERY lethargic.
She doesn't seem to mind the (4 mm) hole in her side right now. She's playing and bouncing around like crazy. I gave her the Hep Sul yesterday, and there is a film-like substance over the hole today. Hope this is a good sign.

Zmyst

Hi! Just can't seem to picture myself walking about with an old stogy clutched at the side of my mouth, however, I might entertain the thought of sucking on a corn cob pipe, might lend me an air of authority, like that of the cranky old pioneer women. Do you know of any safe, legitimate herbs that I could walk about with, not necessarily inhaling, but puffing up a few smoke rings bearing a little something which would keep bugs away. Do you think it's ok to smoke lavender? We grow our own. Best wishes, Mselle

GM,
Kitten's former grub hole looks like it is infected. It has a light yellow film over it. Is this part of process....like an aggro? Can I put anything on it....like hydrogen peroxide? She had the hep sulph about 36 hours ago.

Zmyst

Mselle, the image of the cranky old woman with a corncob pipe made me laugh. But puts me more in mind of a hillbilly. Awwww tarnation! Where's the bug juice???

THe hole IS infected, now more of a light brown color of ooze and has gotten bigger.

Doesn't seem to bother her much...very energetic. She does lick at it.
Is it time to have some dead tissues cut away then?

Zmyst