We just heard from a reader who thinks she might have discovered maggots. Since she described the situation so well, we will include it with some minor edits. “The dog peed in the house and my husband used a towel to clean it up. It was thrown outside and got rained on. After a few days, I thought it was dry and picked it up to wash. Out fell a ton of black worms, they kind of looked like black maggots. Were they from flies?”

Since we don’t have a photo to gather clues from (the photo in this post is just an old image of maggots), we cannot say for sure whether these are maggots or not. Based on the situation, we think it is very likely these are maggots. Maggots are fly larvae, so if there were flies hovering around the towel, it is quite probable they laid eggs in the towel and maggots are the final result. Urine and gland odor from animals attract flies, and they are quick to feed and lay eggs in these environments.

Because our reader found these creatures on an old dirty towel and not crawling around her home, we recommend she cut her losses and throw the towel out. Next time her dog has an indoor accident, if she choses to use a towel again, she should wash it immediately so that flies don’t come across it and lay eggs.

In conclusion, a reader used a towel to clean up her dog’s urine. The towel was left out in the rain and our reader found small black worms in it. We agree that these are probably maggots.

• 
•