# HELP! Maggots in an open wound



## cjmeatgoats (Mar 26, 2008)

I have a neighbor how had a yearling steer rip open his tail head a few days ago, it was cleaned out and bandaged then turned back out to pasture today when I went out to help him catch some of the weaned calves and the steer had tore the bandage off and the wound now had maggots in it!!!
Granted the animal should have been kept in the barn and had someone keep an eye on it, but it is to late for that. 

What can we use to clean the nasty maggots out and what can we treat him with? Should we give him an antibiotic? 

Thank you,

Julez


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Actually maggots are sterile when they hatch. They can be beneficial by eating away the dead tissue. Some hospitals use them on people lol.
Just rinse them out with water, the animal does not need antibiotics *because* of the maggots, but may need them for the wound if it's really bad.
I usually use Bag Balm for wounds like that. It has sulfur in it and seems to work to keep wounds from getting infected. It also has a vaseline type consistency and covers the wound to keep flies out.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

This is an invitation for fly strike, which can kill any animal. Hopefully no maggots have entered the anus yet. That's when things get ugly. 

most feed stores and vets sell screw worm spray. Any cattleman or shepherd should keep a can of screw worm spray on hand to spray any wound before bandaging. We spray banded calves and docked lambs with it to prevent this very thing.

I'd run out and get some and clean the wound again as well as you can. Use the screw worm spray directly on the wound to kill as many of the larvae as you can. Repeat the rinsing and spraying a couple of times for a couple of days. Then you can spray the screw worm spray on once a day for a few days until the wound has healed sufficiently. 

Good luck to you!


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## gwithrow (Feb 5, 2005)

we had a cow with a bad injury several years ago, she cut her leg tendon on some stacked up tin....to help the healing we put her in a small area...and while she was eating a bit of feed I would spray her leg off with a solution of diluted Betadine and epsom salts and warm water....she was very frightened and wouldn't let anyone very close so I put the solution in a clean garden sprayer,the kind you pump up.....and with the long wand and a good pump up, I could spray right onto the wounded area .....maggots do not like this solution....after I irrigated the wound, I would spray it with a product called 'Cut Heal" it has tea tree oil in it...anyway this was repeated twice a day, til it cleanly healed enough to turn her back in with the rest of the herd....the sprayer didn't have a loud aerosol sound and she grew quickly to like the little sweet feed and put up with the nearness of us....she was very nervous when I got where she couldn't see me, this was a hind foot....so this way I could stay in her peripheral vision and not risk a big kick....good luck....


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## Patty0315 (Feb 1, 2004)

Fly spray will also kill maggots. Get them all out ...Can we say gross ???? I hate the dang things .

they also make an ointment fly off I think which kills & keeps them off.


Patty


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## wwubben (Oct 13, 2004)

thequeensblessing said:


> This is an invitation for fly strike, which can kill any animal. Hopefully no maggots have entered the anus yet. That's when things get ugly.
> 
> most feed stores and vets sell screw worm spray. Any cattleman or shepherd should keep a can of screw worm spray on hand to spray any wound before bandaging. We spray banded calves and docked lambs with it to prevent this very thing.
> 
> ...


This advice is right on the money.Screw worm spray works.Fly strike can get ugly.


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## cjmeatgoats (Mar 26, 2008)

Thank you all for your replies! This is why i love this place! we got some screw worm spray, cleaned it out and have him in a pen to keep an eye on him. I really appriciate the advice from everyone.
Julez*


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