How do you know when Ringworm is gone?

Hello everyone! Long time, no see! I wish I were coming here for better news but I'm needing some help.

My lovely little Tiki (our Himmie) managed to get Ringworm. My husband's family owns a Pet Grooming business & that is how we discovered it. Most likely she caught it there as well since they had a customer who's cat had ringworm but they failed to let them know about it until a month after the cat had been groomed. Just my luck, I had brought Tiki in within the same time frame as that cat.

Anyway, our vet gave us a topical gel to use for 14 days at the beginning. She had 5 small to medium sized patches on her body & they did not appear to be getting better since they were still reddish and itchy. So, he gave us the oral tablets called Fulvicin & we were to give her that for 21 days. What joy it is to pill a cat for 3 weeks! Tonight was the last dose & we're not completely convinced that she's healed from this. 3 of the 5 spots are not scaley anymore & all the spots have hair growing back. The strange part of it is that those 3 spots have turned the fur a dark charcoal grey color compared to a very light grey/white color. The largest spot on her head is still slightly scaley & dry looking. However, none of them itch her.

So...how does one know if she is healed from this? I hate to take her back to the Vet & pay another $50 office visit unless I am sure she's not getting better. I was shocked at how much it cost just to take her in & get the medications ($130+).

Any insight on what ringworm spots look like when they are healing?
Many thanks!

*Usually* you can tell ringworm is healing because their is hair growing back in on all the spots.

Having just dealt with it, the only sure way to know it is gone is by a repeat fungal culture

I didn't think Kizzy's was gone because although the fur is growing back, there was still a sore....but we did the fungacide test again and it is gone.

Also for the record, Kizzy's never itched. His RW was only on his tail, and he didn't chew on it or anything to show it was itchy.

Thank you for your replies!

There is still a sore on each spot but they don't look like they did originally. My Mother in Law (our Groomer) told me that I'll need to have her checked out by a black light. Apparently active ringworm will be fluorescent in black light.

And as for her itching, I only noticed her itching one spot & it was the last one that showed up. The others never bothered her at all.

Thanks again for your help! I really appreciate it!

Not all ringworm glows under a blacklight, in fact something like only 40-70% will fluoresce under a blacklight.

I didn't realize that! Well, looks like we'll be making a trip to the vet after all. Hopefully she's over this nasty stuff! I hope to never have to deal with it AGAIN!

Thanks for your help!

I vaguely remember reading something on another forum that the hair might grow back in a different color for awhile. It should eventually return, if I remember correctly. Don't quote me on any of that.

Originally Posted by Shell

Thank you for your replies!

There is still a sore on each spot but they don't look like they did originally. My Mother in Law (our Groomer) told me that I'll need to have her checked out by a black light. Apparently active ringworm will be fluorescent in black light.

And as for her itching, I only noticed her itching one spot & it was the last one that showed up. The others never bothered her at all.

Thanks again for your help! I really appreciate it!

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Kizzy's did fluorescent under black light, but as my vet said, dry skin can too.... so when I was thinking that he still had it, he didn't (that's why we redid the fungal culture).

RW can be caused by several fungus, black light will glow green on 50% of them.

Kizzy's tail still glows green, but he is negative for ringworm now.... he's just got some dry skin from the topical treatments.

Now that you mention it.... his fur in the affected area is a different colour, I think.