My cat ate maggots! Please help

[Catbuns4]

My cat sleeps outside in an enclosure and is free to roam outside during the day whenever she pleases. Today I did the same routine as always, brought in her bowel, cleaned it and put fresh food (whiskas wet food) I left the house and came back about 3 hours later and checked on her food. Her bowel was infested with maggots, I didn’t notice straight away but as I was watching her eat I saw them and I’m freaking out because from what it looked like she would’ve eaten HEAPS. She’s had her worming treatment for the month. Out of concern I would usually pick her up, check her fur and her booty to see if there’s anything suss, but I just recently found out I’m 7 weeks pregnant and was advised to not go near that area in case of infection. I don’t what to do please someone help me.

I leave her food on the second shelf in her enclosure. It was really hot today as well.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, I'd be concerned about the bacteria growth in that food as well.

It sounds to me as though the dish needs to be picked up right after she's done eating, or find a much much cooler location to put the dish.

About the maggots, you might want to call your vet and ask them what they think.

Definitely keep an eye on her. I don't think cats can digest maggots so hopefully they all come out. However, if she starts acting at all differently or you see skin lesions you'll want to get her to your vet right away.

 

[Catbuns4]

Hi, I'd be concerned about the bacteria growth in that food as well.

It sounds to me as though the dish needs to be picked up right after she's done eating, or find a much much cooler location to put the dish.

About the maggots, you might want to call your vet and ask them what they think.

Definitely keep an eye on her. I don't think cats can digest maggots so hopefully they all come out. However, if she starts acting at all differently or you see skin lesions you'll want to get her to your vet right away.

Thankyou for your response. My cat usually picks at her food rather than eat it in one sitting so it’s really unrealistic for me to wait there for her to finish to clean it up. I can’t think of any other options especially a cooler location. Maybe would you recommend switching her to dry food or would flies still lay their eggs? she’s also a messy eater and tends to bring bits of her food deeper into her enclosure. Otherwise worse case scenario would I be better off trying to train her to eat full meals instead of picking I don’t know if that’s even possible to do

 

[Furballsmom]

Try smaller quantities of food more frequently.

 

[Joxer]

I would at least speak with your vet on the phone about this. Maggots are fly larvae, not literal worms. Insects and worms have different biological processes, and I doubt that a deworming treatment for tapeworms and such would be very effective on maggots.

There are at least two risks here: that the maggots will introduce harmful bacteria into your cat's digestive system, and that the maggots themselves will survive inside your cat long enough to be harmful. My cats eat spiders on a regular basis without harm coming to them, but maggots are better adapted to survive in a liquid, oxygen-poor environment like the inside of a cat.

There might be things that you could do to lure flies away from your cat's food bowl, but I strongly advise against using insecticides anywhere in your cat's environment, as many common insecticides (pyrethroids, for example) are extremely toxic to cats.

I did a little reading and realized that there actually are fly species whose maggots can survive inside mammals. I do not know how common these are or where they live, but I do not want to give a false impression that eating maggots is harmless for cats. I honestly do not know one way or the other. Everything else I wrote is based on personal experience (my own cats eating spiders), or is verified fact (maggots not technically being worms, and many insecticides being very toxic to cats).

The best thing to do in an unusual and potentially dangerous situation like this is to seek veterinary advice.