Can any bunny help? : (

[Helpabunnyout]

So about two months ago I freaked out when I noticed worms in my new bun’s poo. I immediately took him to a vet and they gave me a dewormer. I’ve been giving it to him as they said for a whole month and nothing is working! Now these worms are turning into flies and it’s getting messy and there is a pungent odor. I took him for a blood test and the vet doesn’t even know what it is! She is definitely qualified as I did my research before taking my bun there and she’s taken care of my lop of 3 years just fine.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Do you know what it could be?
I don’t want to resort to giving up my bun to put my mind at ease, as selfish as that sounds.
I hope someone knows what’s going on…

[LBJ10]

If the “worms” are becoming flies, then a dewormer isn’t going to do anything. Those are fly larva, which means flies have laid eggs on the poop. Have you checked your bunny’s back side? You said there is a pungent odor, which worries me. Your bunny could have larva crawling around on his skin and actually burrowing in (fly strike). This can be a very serious condition. The larva have to be removed.

[Helpabunnyout]

If this ends up being the case how can they be removed? Surgery?

[Helpabunnyout]

I checked the bunny just now. There are no abnormalities on his skin and he’s healthy in the sense that he’s eating and nothing seems to be bothering him. I clean his cage rather thoroughly so I don’t know! I’ve never had a fly problem and I live in a very clean house.

[Helpabunnyout]

I’m not sure if my replies have to be pre approved, I apologize if that is the case and I’m spamming.
I checked my bun’s fur carefully and put a bit of air on certain areas to check for anything of the kind, but there’s nothing. He’s healthy on the outside from what I can tell though. He’s eating and drinking water just fine.

[LBJ10]

Your posts were probably pending. It looks like someone approved them.

Okay, so no visible lesions, sores, etc? If they are just eating poop in his litter box, then it isn’t a huge deal. You’ll want to try to get rid of them though because you don’t want them to move from his poop to his rear. Most of the time they are only attracted to a dirty bottom, but it’s still good to be safe.

Intestinal myiasis is very rare and happens when someone eats food contaminated with fly eggs/larva. I don’t know of any documented cases in rabbits. I did a search and all I could find were some experiments done in the 1930s where they (unsuccessfully) tried to cause intestinal myiasis in rabbits by feeding them fly larva. Yikes! Anyway, my point is that it is unlikely your bunny has them in his intestines. I imagine he would be exhibiting other gastrointestinal symptoms if he did.

Flies don’t care if a house is clean or dirty, so don’t beat yourself up. Are you in a warmer climate where flies would be active year round? Really, it only takes one fly to come in and find your bunny’s litter box. Hopefully you can figure out where the flies are coming from. In the meantime, you could hang fly tape from the ceiling to try to catch any little buggers flying around.

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