6 Things I Learned from Our Ringworm Plague (book length....)

Oh, no. I REALLY hope you are mistaken about that breeder. Maybe she has just taken the kitten off her website while she's being treated... can you stand to call her and ask? That would be too terrible.. I can't stand it.

Oral antifungal drugs work systemically, making your cat a "bad" host for the fungus. That's not to say that your cat has fungus internally, I meant to say that spores can live anywhere on your cat, and so it's better to have another broad weapon besides the dips. To me, putting topical medication on the spots is a pretty useless thing to do, while giving an oral medication will turning the whole cat into an unfriendly environment for ringworm. But oral meds do have risks, and you have a fragile kitten.

And let's keep in mind that the dips are said to be highly effective, too — and you've done SEVEN of them. I think you should get some kind of medal from the ringworm community (but we're all still waiting to get ours).

But if you are still getting new spots, you do have a problem. The old spots may no longer be contagious but I believe that is most likely to be true when you are also giving oral meds, because of how they work.  And at 9 months, she's probably big enough to be able to handle Sporanox if your vet thinks it's a good idea.

When you do the dips you should saturate the cat, making sure her skin is wet with the stuff, and then let her air dry. Is that how you're doing it? It doesn't have to take a long time, but be thorough enough to literally soak her to the skin, everywhere but her face and ears, which you can then bathe carefully with the same solution. 

Have you been getting her cultured? That's how you know whether your treatment plan is working.  You need to keep doing everything until you start getting negative cultures. With one negative culture, you can relax a bit. When you have three negatives, you've got a cured cat.

I'm worried about your carpet and futon, too. Have you had them steam-cleaned? A high temperature and steam should reduce or kill off the spores. What you're doing by covering the futon is right. Hmm, I wonder if they make a dust-mite-type zippered cover for a futon. I'm not sure if ringworm spores are bigger or smaller than dust mites, but you might do some Googling, and see if that's a solution so you can stop worrying about THAT at least.

Hang in there, and please keep us posted!  I'm still sick over that other kitten....

Bunnelina said:

Forgot to say hi to Catmom110!  See, I told you it would all seem like a bad dream someday!

Click to expand...

Oh my! Yes! Seems like 1000 years ago! Didn't last forever- but what an experience! I'll have these kittens a year in August and I love every minute of them! It was a bad dream! Thanks for mentioning me! Xo

I do have carpet in our family room where the three cats mostly hung out.  After the dx I put Koby the kitten and Eli, our 5 yr old kitty in our daughters bedroom with everything OUT of the room but a dresser.  (no place to put it!)  The wood floors were easy to Swiffer and bleach lightly.   As far as the carpet, I was worried about the family room!  So I called a carpet cleaning company with no mention of ringworm (I know...bad) and they came out and steamed the carpet and cloth furniture.  All vents cleaned, and yes I even bought a new vacuum because I was so afraid that my older vac wasn't getting it all.

You imagine this beast is everywhere!  Talk about head trips!  Every room - cleaned!  As far as the futon...?   I would just keep at cleaning like a fool.  Do you have a hot steamer?  If not, vacuum daily and change the sheets.

It's a miracle that my hot water heater, dryer, and my hands survived it all.  Our daughter did get it on her upper chest area.  She has been on oral meds and prescription cream for 3 mts.  The other day she thought she seen it coming back.  Talk about a resistant FUNGUS!   She is paranoid as well - so we will see. 

The breeder would be stupid to just get rid of a kitten that has it.  That makes no sense at all.  It would be in her cattery - everywhere by now.  I read about catteries getting it and talk about a total nightmare!  Wow!   I have friends that kept saying that ringworm is no big deal - I had it as a kid.  We sprayed the barn and the calves with it and we were good.  It's different when it is in your HOUSE and on your cats.

I am so thankful that our 16 yr old kitty did not get it.  How that happened I'll never know.  We just found out 2 wks ago that she is in renal failure.  I would of felt horrible if I had given her those drugs, and it hurt her kidneys.  Lacey is on borrowed time now.  All due to old age and not ringworm.

You will get there skaticat.  A few months of hell - and your kitty will be just fine.  And you will too!   Any mention of oral meds from your vet?

$250!!! Sporanox is $250!!! Good grief!!!!!

Thank you, everyone, for your support.

And, Bunnelina, the spots I saw in her tail fur showed up early--in the second week of dipping. No new areas now, so I'm hoping you're right about repeating, same-area but not contagious spots.

The original toe and forehead lesions never came back. There's one speck on the back of her right ear again that I'm treating topically, but it's her whole nose again that is really bad. This I've been scraping with a flea comb twice daily onto a paper towel (It's so thick!!!) before applying Miconazole on a cotton ball. Shakti's fine with the scraping, but we have a rousing game of Chase the Cat Round the Room to medicate. If I have the damp cotton ball ready, she gets a whiff of it and scoots under or behind the futon, and when I catch her, she squirms so much, there's no way I can do the delicate scraping. Nobody on the thread has mentioned exercise and weight loss, but it's certainly a perk. I think I'm defining my biceps, too. Thank God the fungus hasn't come back on the huge patch across her shoulders! I've been totally saturating that area each time I dip.

And I must confess, after the topical only treatment on her original lesions and around her right ear worked so beautifully, and all the fur had grown back, and I had not seen anything for three or four weeks, when I woke up that Saturday and saw her white hair all over the carpet and that patch of raw skin on her back, I wasn't daunted. I gave in and went for the sulphur and lime dips! BUT after starting the dips and seeing the ringworm spread into a bigger patch across her shoulders and then return on her nose and start on her tail, I felt utterly defeated. I thought my cat had some resistant form of ringworm-- and I still didn't want to risk convulsions or liver or renal failure with the oral meds--so I just sat and wept. But I kept on dipping and cleaning, though. . . Thanks for the medal! 

We're going back to the vet on the 30th for our first post-start-of-treatment culture. Wish me luck! Meanwhile, it's dippity-do-dah twice a week and daily room cleaning! 

If the culture is positive, I'll be getting the Sporanox and continuing the twice weekly dips.

If it's negative, I'll keep dipping and cleaning her room for two more weeks while I scrub down the rest of the apartment with bleach or alcohol. I'll steam-clean my mattress and the rugs in the rest of the apartment, as well.

At the two-week marker, we'll go back to the vet for a second culture. If that's negative, too, Shakti gets sprung free, except for the living room where she's been quarantined, while I steam-clean that futon and rug. (Thank God I live in an old house with doors to every room. What do people in lofts or with rooms with arches, or doorways without doors, do???)

So, I think we've got a plan! What do you think?

Head butts and big hugs!

Whoa, that's crazy. Maybe for a huge supply? We certainly did not pay that much to dose two kittens. We got ours from a CVS at a hospital and used our AAA discount. I'm on the road. More later. But that's crazy!

shakticat said:

$250!!! Sporanox is $250!!! Good grief!!!!!

Click to expand...

,

Our kitten was given terbinifine.  Walmart's $4.00 script.  Koby did not have any issues and he was on it for 6 wks.  Eli our 5 yr old male seemed to have a voracious appetite during his treatment, but after it was all done he returned to normal.  I was worried as well, but tried to listen to our vet and it eventually away! 

Yes we all have earned medals or this dang fungi!

eliandkoby said:

 
Our kitten was given terbinifine.  Walmart's $4.00 script.  Koby did not have any issues and he was on it for 6 wks.  Eli our 5 yr old male seemed to have a voracious appetite during his treatment, but after it was all done he returned to normal.  I was worried as well, but tried to listen to our vet and it eventually away! 

Yes we all have earned medals or this dang fungi!

Click to expand...

Terbinafine is inexpensive and easier to give than liquid Sporanox but one poster on this thread lost a cat to it as you'll see if you read through here. I'm not clear on all the details, but let's take it as a warning: please be careful if you decide to use it. I used it on two smallish, elderly Persians with no issues, but we gave it in very tiny amounts, and we took one- or two-week breaks from giving the pills as well. (I can't remember if it was two weeks on and two weeks off... it was something like that.) It is very effective [i.e., powerful] but it may not be the right drug for smaller cats, fragile cats, etc. — so discuss all this with your vet, and if you decide to use it, I would double-check the dosage he or she recommends with another vet or two just to be sure. I do know that our vet refused to give it to our kittens because they were simply too small to handle even the tiniest dose.

shakticat said:

 
Thank you, everyone, for your support.

And, Bunnelina, the spots I saw in her tail fur showed up early--in the second week of dipping. No new areas now, so I'm hoping you're right about repeating, same-area but not contagious spots.

The original toe and forehead lesions never came back. There's one speck on the back of her right ear again that I'm treating topically, but it's her whole nose again that is really bad. This I've been scraping with a flea comb twice daily onto a paper towel (It's so thick!!!) before applying Miconazole on a cotton ball. Shakti's fine with the scraping, but we have a rousing game of Chase the Cat Round the Room to medicate. If I have the damp cotton ball ready, she gets a whiff of it and scoots under or behind the futon, and when I catch her, she squirms so much, there's no way I can do the delicate scraping. Nobody on the thread has mentioned exercise and weight loss, but it's certainly a perk. I think I'm defining my biceps, too. Thank God the fungus hasn't come back on the huge patch across her shoulders! I've been totally saturating that area each time I dip.

And I must confess, after the topical only treatment on her original lesions and around her right ear worked so beautifully, and all the fur had grown back, and I had not seen anything for three or four weeks, when I woke up that Saturday and saw her white hair all over the carpet and that patch of raw skin on her back, I wasn't daunted. I gave in and went for the sulphur and lime dips! BUT after starting the dips and seeing the ringworm spread into a bigger patch across her shoulders and then return on her nose and start on her tail, I felt utterly defeated. I thought my cat had some resistant form of ringworm-- and I still didn't want to risk convulsions or liver or renal failure with the oral meds--so I just sat and wept. But I kept on dipping and cleaning, though. . . Thanks for the medal! 

We're going back to the vet on the 30th for our first post-start-of-treatment culture. Wish me luck! Meanwhile, it's dippity-do-dah twice a week and daily room cleaning! 

If the culture is positive, I'll be getting the Sporanox and continuing the twice weekly dips.

If it's negative, I'll keep dipping and cleaning her room for two more weeks while I scrub down the rest of the apartment with bleach or alcohol. I'll steam-clean my mattress and the rugs in the rest of the apartment, as well.

At the two-week marker, we'll go back to the vet for a second culture. If that's negative, too, Shakti gets sprung free, except for the living room where she's been quarantined, while I steam-clean that futon and rug. (Thank God I live in an old house with doors to every room. What do people in lofts or with rooms with arches, or doorways without doors, do???)

So, I think we've got a plan! What do you think?

Click to expand...

I'd say that medal should be switched for a trophy.  

Here's one thought about spot treatment... Why are you scraping her nose? Did your vet recommend that? And are you sure the miconazole isn't  what's irritating her skin? I can't remember what topical prescription I was using on Wendy's spots (it had to be refrigerated, I remember that), but whatever it was, it was nasty. It damaged her skin to the point where her formerly all-white ears still have odd black fur where the ringworm healed, five years later. I'm worried you are having a similar experience. So if you think the miconazole might irritating her skin, please consider talking to your vet about it, in case you need to stop using it. Topicals can be very harsh.  As an alternative, you could make up a little, 8-ounce jar of lime sulfur solution and apply that topically every day instead.  And we know that lime sulfur works, and it's actually supposed to be "soothing," believe it or not. I've read that, and I know it didn't bother my cats much, although they thought it was quite weird.

I think the hardest part of dealing with ringworm for me, (besides all the uncertainty and expense, and horror.... and lifting my huge sofa with one hand so I could vacuum the underside with the other) was all the awful stuff we had to put our cats through, and them not understanding at all. My four hated every bit of their treatment but they were such good-natured troupers about it. So when I saw Wendy's ear getting raw, and then saw her struggling so much about that particular treatment, I just couldn't bring myself to use that stupid cream anymore. I called my vet and then I threw that stuff out. She knew that stuff was problematic and suggested the little jar of lime-sulfur with a Q-tip instead. Anyway, that was my situation; only you can evaluate what's going on with your kitten.

When Possum got a giant splotch of ringworm on his little nose, I just put the lime-sulfur on it... along with the Sporanox and the weekly dips.  It looked increasingly awful for a few weeks and then slowly got better. I think it actually looked WORSE as it healed, which is discouraging, I know.  I hope Shakti gets over this fast! 

This sounds like a worst nightmare.  I thought fleas were bad.  Now I'm fearful of one of my pets picking it up somewhere.  

Hi, Bunnelina.

The Miconazole is a clear liquid that tingles but doesn't damage the skin--and Shakti's had it on her nose before, so I have a point of comparison.

As for the scraping, the vet scraped around her right ear when ringworm surrounded it. . . and I thought it was brilliant, because when it was on her forehead before that, I was scraping it off with my fingernails onto a damp paper towel. I think it's so much better when you see a crusty to just take it. Otherwise the brown specks would fall off into the carpet!

Anyway, back to the Miconazole. The first time her nose was covered with ringworm, Shakti was still an indoor only cat. I used the flea comb when her nose got crusty and applied Miconazole with a cotton ball. Lovely! 

But when I went to the vet last when Shakti had the raw patch across her shoulders, I asked whether to continue the Miconazole and he asked if I had topical Lamasil. That was what my sister used on her chihuahua (yes, my kitten gave ringworm to Marie's 15 yr. old chihuahua downstairs--that was in March!!! Gratefully it was dime-sized and when it cleared up, it never came back!!!! Her vet took a culture after three weeks and the culture came back negative.)  So it was my vet who told me to use topical Lamasil for awhile on new spots wherever they appeared throughout the dipping process--and I was supposed to "do the whole cat" during the dips--and I do the dips in the backyard.

So THIS TIME she had ringworm on her nose, I used topical Lamasil on it. And after the dip, Shakti dried a bit in the sun. And her nose turned a darker shade of brown, almost black.

When I called the vet about it, he thought it might have been a reaction between the Lamasil and the sulphur dip.

I think I applied the dip to her nose too early and the sun baked the dip onto her nose, after all she was a white kitty. Now she's pale yellow. . . and I dab her little nose just before I bring her into the house.

So the vet said not to medicate the nose at all for a few days--just dab the dip, but yesterday, five days later, the ringworm with thick again all over her nose, so I scraped it clean and then applied good old Miconazole. The hair is starting to grow back, giving her nose a less solid, more speckled appearance.

Still, it was very scary to hear that Wendy still has black on her ears five years later!!!  My white Maine Coon looks like a Siamese with her dark brown nose!!!!

Anyway, the vet will see Shakti on the 30th.

Hugs!

So much for plans.

Despite the twice weekly (totally 10, so far) sulphur/lime baths, the increased vitality and playfulness I've seen in Shakti this week, and all my hope, I found yet another pink, dime-sized lesion in the middle of her shoulder area this morning.

We were headed back to the vet on Wednesday for her first post-treatment culture. Might as well cancel that.

Shakti's a pure-bred Maine Coon, so I didn't want to give her oral meds of any kind, especially since I had only had her two weeks and she wasn't even four months old when I found the first ringworm lesion. The pills the vet's been wanting me to give her since her first culture came back positive can cause convulsions, seizures, heart arrhythmia, and kidney/liver toxicity or failure . . . So it looks like I'm going to have to buy that Sporanox for $250. I'll have to discuss it with our vet on Wednesday, when he's in.

We have been at this since the middle of February.

I am devastated.

shakticat said:

 
So much for plans.

Despite the twice weekly (totally 10, so far) sulphur/lime baths, the increased vitality and playfulness I've seen in Shakti this week, and all my hope, I found yet another pink, dime-sized lesion in the middle of her shoulder area this morning.

We were headed back to the vet on Wednesday for her first post-treatment culture. Might as well cancel that.

Shakti's a pure-bred Maine Coon, so I didn't want to give her oral meds of any kind, especially since I had only had her two weeks and she wasn't even four months old when I found the first ringworm lesion. The pills the vet's been wanting me to give her since her first culture came back positive can cause convulsions, seizures, heart arrhythmia, and kidney/liver toxicity or failure . . . So it looks like I'm going to have to buy that Sporanox for $250. I'll have to discuss it with our vet on Wednesday, when he's in.

We have been at this since the middle of February.

I am devastated.

Click to expand...

Oh, no!  I'm  SO sorry to hear this. Anyone who has been through ringworm will know all too well what you mean by "Devastated."  It almost doesn't matter that ringworm itself isn't life-threatening... because some of the medications ARE, as you say.  

Please refresh my memory: Was your vet recommending griseofulvin? If so, you've got a vey who is out of date; there's a lot of literature now warning against it because it's so toxic? Or was it generic oral terbinafine? This seems to be the new medication of choice because it's cheap and effective, but if you aren't comfortable with it. DO NOT give it.  It also has risks; my vet wouldn't prescribe it for my kittens.

 The Sporanox is not entirely risk-free, either, but it's what's recommended for little ones and I haven't read of anyone having issues in the past few years that I've been on the sidelines of various ringworm wars. I hope there's a way to get it cheaper. First off, you should ask your vet to figure out your dosage and calculate how much you will need. I don't remember giving our kittens huge amounts in the syringe.... and then please ask another vet, maybe a shelter vet with ringworm experience, to just confirm the dose, based on Shakti's weight. I've suggested this before, mainly because my vet made a mistake calculating our dose and I found out when I happened to ask during an emergency visit to the local vet hospital... before I'd gotten the medicine. You don't want to overdose or underdose. It's not scary-hard to figure  it out, it's simple — it's just based on weight, and you multiply ml x pounds/ounces of kitten... but not everyone is perfect with moving decimal points in the right place, apparently. We were going to give 1/10th of the correct dose. You don't want to be giving 10x the correct dose for sure.

I checked my credit card statements from 2009 and it looks like I paid $90 a bottle at CVS and I think I needed two, for two cats. I just called them, and a 150ml bottle is $321.00 without insurance. Using a AAA card will lower it by 15% or 20%. So, wow, the price has gone up. But you might be able to get it somewhere else (Walgreen's Wal-Mart, Target, or BJ's) for a better price. I hope you can find a better deal. 

I'm really sorry you are having such a rough time. I hope you can take some comfort in the fact that Shakti is doing so much better in every other way under your care. I also hope you are taking care of yourself.  Please try to get out of the house and do something distracting and fun today. I'll bet you need a break and a little pampering right now. I can't drink; even a splash of wine in a sauce makes me sick nowadays, not that I ever liked it much beyond an occasional glass of  prosecco. But. BOY, did I wish i could have some kind of strong whiskey cocktail during our ringworm battles. I had quite a lot of chocolate instead. I hope you'll do whatever you need to do.... and please keep us posted!

What was the name of the oral meds that your vet wanted to prescribe Skat?   I spoke to three different vets on their protocol on ringworm, and two recommended the terbinifine and the one suggested itraconazole.   All meds have side effects.  I wasn't totally comfortable on any level giving the terbinifine to our two cats.  But I made the choice to give it because of our senior kitty, 16 yrs old that did not GET IT, and I didn't not want her too either. 

Our vet gave us malesab shampoo to bathe the cats (all of them) twice a week for 8 weeks.   The second vet that we spoke with, recommended the dip.  She said the shampoo was useless.  Well - who do you believe?  Actually the terbinifine and the malesab did EVENTUALLY get the virus cleared up, along with lots of bleaching and cleaning. 

eliandkoby said:

 
What was the name of the oral meds that your vet wanted to prescribe Skat?   I spoke to three different vets on their protocol on ringworm, and two recommended the terbinifine and the one suggested itraconazole.   All meds have side effects.  I wasn't totally comfortable on any level giving the terbinifine to our two cats.  But I made the choice to give it because of our senior kitty, 16 yrs old that did not GET IT, and I didn't not want her too either. 

Our vet gave us malesab shampoo to bathe the cats (all of them) twice a week for 8 weeks.   The second vet that we spoke with, recommended the dip.  She said the shampoo was useless.  Well - who do you believe?  Actually the terbinifine and the malesab did EVENTUALLY get the virus cleared up, along with lots of bleaching and cleaning.

Click to expand...

I meant FUNGUS, not virus. 

I used intraconazol that the vet had made at a compounding pharmacy and the dosage was based on the weight of my cat. I used miconazol on the spots. And she had baths with that antifungal shampoo you mentioned. My kittens were dipped and not given any oral med. They never showed any signs of rinworm but were dipped 2xs a week and kept in isolation for a month. The intraconazol that was used on my older cat was 7 days on, 7 days off, 7 days on, 7 days off, 7 days on for a total of 21 days to receive the oral meds. So one week on and then a break in between. It's a year now that I had this plague, but now it's just a memory! A bad one! Lol. The baths were good, not many people do dipping but my kittens were brought back to the no kill shelter that I adopted them from to be treated....and they dipped them. I left them there to be taken care of and made well. But my older cat did just fine and healed well and quickly with the malsab baths, intraconzol and the daily miconazol -

Just need to add - there was an outbreak of ringworm in the shelter and unfortunately for me my kittens had no signs whatsoever! My older cat who has not been out of our apartment in 7 years got the lesions above her eye and on her ear and I was covered with it myself! And so was my son and husband! We all took oral lamisil and finally after much cleaning and $$$ spent and crossed fingers and toes....was able to end the fungus and live like normal people again!

Thank you for replying. So helpful to hear of happy endings.

Well there is good news with the cats, but not the human here.   Our daughter has had ringworm off and on since FEBRUARY!  It is just this one or two spot area on her upper chest.  When she discovered it, off she went to our G.P. and he just wanted to give her this cream to put on it.  She insisted on oral meds also, so he gave her both.  She did this for 2-3 wks and it goes away.  Fast forward another month, and it is back.  More meds, more cream.  Back to the doctor in May and he gave her terbinifine plus another cream to use.  She does exactly what the instructions say, and yesterday....she notices spots AGAIN. 

She is livid!  Off she goes to a dermatologist tomorrow.  Now is this a resistant form of ringworm or WHAT?   The kid (in her 20's) cannot get rid of it.  No one else in the family got it.  But it still lives here!  It makes me wonder if it's in her mattress!  That is all I can think of.  But then why does it just show up in the same spot.  It cannot be gone totally I guess. 

I know there are people on here that didn't even see their doctors.  She's been to her doctor twice, now a dermatogist.  Ridiculous! 

So sorry, eliandkoby! Hope your daughter is free of it soon!