My kitten has maggots in her head. What should I do?

You have to take her to the vet. Saying no is not an option.

I’d call the police on your parents for animal cruelty.

Why does you cat have maggots is the bigger question?

In her head or on her head? How do you know they are maggots? Maggots appear where there is dead flesh. Has the kitten had some injury?

???

Then sneak her to the vet, this is rediculous.

If someone cannot provide medical care to a pet they should not have one. Find a better home for the kitten.

Im not joking about any of this! and im not 16 how am i supposed to get her to a vet when we don’t live in town. And yes they are in her head, we don’t know how she got it because this is the first time it has happened to any of our cats. We take our dogs to the vet because they stay inside but the cats sleep outside so they don’t go to the vet.

Maybe she/he was simply dumpster diving and brought you home some presents. Summer is perfect for maggots in trash or road kill.

see how she is in to weeks if she gets sick or loses weight just call a vet to come over. if you cant i would just put her down so she doesn’t have to suffer. the cost to remove maggots from the head is 100$. as long as heir not in the brain. if they are it would be around 1500 – 2000$

First, shave the area where the skin is infected. Remove all the maggots you can find, as well as any eggs (the eggs will be smaller, white, and sticky). You can also use a watered-down, organic insecticide. Dilute it, apply it to the affected area, leave it for maybe half a minute, then completely rinse it off. Source

Once you get rid of the maggots, you have to take care of the wound that allowed the flies to lay eggs there in the first place. Clean the area and apply an antibiotic ointment, like Neosporin. You’ll probably have to devise a way to cover it so the kitten, or mother cat, doesn’t simply lick it off. Make sure the kitten is staying hydrated, clean and medicate the wound regularly, and cross your fingers. For something like this, the kitten really needs the attention of a vet. I’m sorry your parents won’t agree to that. Do you live on a farm? Somewhere out in the country in the midwest? I grew up in that kind of area, and farm cats were seen as tools to keep mice and rats under control. They were not cared for in the least, and a cat that was sick or injured was usually shot or drowned. :(

GA from @MissAusten – you could use a cone to stop her from accessing the wound with her paw as it is healing. lots of TLC too. Well done to you for being responsible in your role as an owner and I hope your kitty gets better.

How about calling animal control on yourselves so the kitten has a shot at a decent life? This behavior is disgusting, and your kitten deserves better. I know you’re trying to help, but it’s not good enough.

@Likeradar she’s doing what she can and she cares. The problem is her parents not her and she doesn’t deserve to be punished. She’s going to try to get her kitten better but if she can’t she’ll have to give her away, but for no reason should she call animal control on herself.

@ninahenry I understand that it’s her parents, and not her. This isn’t about punishing the OP, it’s about not punishing an innocent kitten because the adults in this situation don’t feel like taking care of it.
It’s wonderful that the OP is being more humane and responsible than her parents, but some things are too big for a kid to take care of.

@Likeradar like I said, she’s doing what she can and if she can’t support the kitten she’ll have to give her away. she seems responsible enough to do what’s best so there’s no need to say she’s not good enough or that her behaviour is disgusting.

@ninahenry What I said was this behavior is disgusting, not your behavior is disgusting, and that’s exactly what I meant. Adults who are leaving a child to deal with a kitten with maggots in its head because they don’t feel like or don’t see the point in taking the animal to a vet are, in my opinion, disgusting. Also, if you’ll reread my first post in this thread, I acknowledged that the OP is trying to help. To me, this situation sounds like a very sick animal who needs a trained professional, not a kid turning to strangers on the internet. I stand by my answer 100%.

@Soccer129: Do you have a friend (or a friend’s parents) or a teacher who can help you get this little guy to a vet? Maggots on a living animal sounds very peculiar. And many vets would help out pro bono in certain conditions.

Ignore the advice to put her down.

you seriously need to take your kitten to the vet. dont take no as a answer. if it doesnt get treated your kitten could be in a worse situation.

If there is dead flesh from a wound that isn’t healing, the maggots are helping your kitten. If her skin is not broken, I can’t think that maggots will live. As was said, maggots eat dead flesh. I would think even a wash with soap would help. Get a friend to help as your kitten is not going to cooperate with water!

What? Maggots in/on her head? I’m interested in knowing what happened to her after you (hopefully) take her to the vet.

I thought I would let everyone know what happened with her. She didn’t die but we still did not take her to the vet. We got the worm out, and put some medicine on it and the hole is closed up and the swelling is gone. She is back to her playful self.

Maggots have been used on humans, quite effectively, for taking care of dead tissue because they won’t eat live tissue. That maggot may have done you favour by clearing the wound out.

I hope your kitten recovers well.

Hopefully the wound won’t get infected.. I still would have taken it to the vet rather than just put ‘medicine’ on it.