Facultative myiasis caused by rat-tailed maggots in a dog in Belgium

Abstract

A two-year-old cavalier King Charles spaniel was presented with accidentally observed larvae in fresh feces, which were identified as rat-tailed larvae of the common drone fly (Eristalis tenax). This common drone fly can cause facultative myiasis in both humans and animals. Although facultative myasis has already been described in humans, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first description of such a case in an animal in Belgium.