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

Meowmom- Yes I got the health guard on Amazon. I am not sure what it did but I felt more peace of mind once I started using it. Rosie stayed on 2 more rounds of Sporanox once her culture came back negative. I highly the Sporanox. It is very expensive but if you have Costco it is about $38 . As I understand it it is the safest and best of choices.

My vet was really understanding but she gave me a shampoo that I used for weeks. I honestly do not think it did anything and think the lime/sulfur dip was terrific. I really think if we had not started using the dip the Ringworm would have been around much longer.

 I will private message you my vet info. Most of the info I got, to be very honest was from this site. I love my vets office but until I did reading I didn't know about the PCR culture ( any lab should be able to do it) I also didn't know that Sporanox should be given with a fatty meal. I mixed it into raw duck.it doesn't work as well without a fatty meal.If you don't go to my bet keep in mind that any vet can call an RX into any pharmacy. I used to have a vet that would not do it. Then I found out in CA it is the law that if they can prescribe you can use that RX at any pharmacy.My best advice came from Bunnelina and all she has posted here. Stop bleaching and think of it more like scooping up and throwing out.I will go and send you a private message with vet info. I will try to keep up but now have everyone here at home with the flu. Yuck.

Thank you so much for all the info on the thread as well as the PM. I saw the PM first before I saw the post so I replied there as well. I do have a Costco member ship thank you for that tip now I just need to find a vet that is willing to work with me, the one I had been taking them to since I rescued the mama cat and the litter  won't work with me. They want to see all the animals in the house = 1 dog, 4 Kitty's, and my 4 fur babies I had prior to the rescue. That's a huge bill just for the office visit, plus they charge $140.00 for the RW test and that is not including any medication. I would love nothing more then to be able to run and fill it at Costco I then think there would be light at the end of this long & dark tunnel but I can't make that happen. Thank you again for all the help very appreciated and I hope everyone starts to fell better soon. 

I was wondering if anyone has used a fogger along with all the other things that need to be used in cleaning the house hold envorment? I have been following all the suggestions and protocol (6 Things I learned), but I'm not sure what or how to defungal or contain the RW spores in a couple places. My 3 BIGGEST concerns or issues are I have a 13 yr old son who is autistic and his hole life is reading and Lego's, and I don't mean he has a couple 100 pieces of Legos, that would be no problem. All the small stuff or storage containers I ran put them washer and dryer but he has several LARGE items like "Star Wars Death Star" it HUGH and just its self has thousands of PCs and took him about 2 weeks to build. What is the best way to rid the spores on items like this? As well he has a wall to wall book self full of books? Any suggestions? Then there's my "PROBLEM CHILD" just before the RW was discovered I thought I would get a jump start on end of the year stuff (paper work) and taxes so I have TONs of papers and receipts????? Any suggestions on this. That's why I was wondering about the Fogger and if anyone had used it along side the other cleaning must does. I want to rid this for good and not have it return when I put the house back to gather.  I finally found the Lime Sulfur dip on Amazon it came the day before Thanksgiving. We have canceled the holidays so we ordered pizza and they had the 1st dip last Thursday. Gearing up for there next one as I type this. I just can't wait for the RW to be gone I miss the sounds of them running like crazy fury little ninjas from one end of the house to the other.  

Sorry for the brevity but my laptop died and I am on my phone. Stop trying to kill the spores. All you need to do is get rid of them by collecting them, like dust. Just vacuum with a filtering vac, wipe with damp microfiber cloths rinsed frequently, and dry dust what can only be dusted. We have thousands of books and I just dusted a couple of times. Did you have any luck finding a vet to prescribe for you? Hang in there!

So I have also been introduced to the invisible plague in my household.  

I took in a foster kitten on 12/6 who primary stayed either in my spare room or my bathroom.  He did stay in my bedroom one night but did not let me sleep so I had to move him elsewhere.  I then took in a "queen" who had just been parted from her kittens on 12/23.  She stayed in my bathroom her entire stay.  So except for the occasional escape, they were never out of the rooms and did not come into contact with my 3 resident adult cats (4 years, 7 years and 10 years) or my dog (7 years).  

Side note:   A week or so into the foster kittens stay, I found fleas and I began neurotically cleaning his spare room area and the entire house just in case.  

Well on 12/30 we made our way to the doctor since my daughter was showing signs of ringworm.  The doctor put her on meds and she is on the mend.  The next day I also found a spot on my side that I just confirmed yesterday is ringworm but have been using my daughters cream since 12/31.  

On 12/31 I took the kitten into the shelter to be spay/neutered and that is when they alerted me that he had RW.   AH HA!  That is where we got it.   I brought up my concerns about possibly contracting it to the mom I was fostering so they had me bring her in.  She too possibly has it.  They have not confirmed that to me yet.  

So the foster kitten was in my house 25 days and we would go visit him and then the foster mom (with us 8 days) and then wash our hands before handling our cats.  Unknowing that they had RW and that it can be spread on our clothes we did not change before letting our resident cats sit on our laps.  My daughter also snuggles her cat up to her chest and she had a lesion on her neck.  

So my question is this...if our cats never came into contact with them and they are not showing any signs of lesions (yet) and my daughter and I are being treated for our lesions...should I dip them just in case? 

I have vacuumed the house daily since the flea scare and have cleaned the house daily ever since they told me the foster kitten had RW.  I have bleached what I could, I have sprayed Lysol on every surface I cannot bleach, I have used 409 on counters and in the bathroom that the 'queen' was held in, I have washed almost everything numerous times in either hot water, hot with bleach or warm with the steam setting and I have run the Sterilize setting on my dryer for EVERY load.  I am vacuuming daily the entire house floor but honestly have not vacuumed the walls or ceiling (yet).

So am I possibly in the clear for the resident cats and dog?  Or do I dip them just to be safe? 

Hello Longhaired Mom,

No good deed — even fostering — goes unpunished, as we say too often here on this ringworm thread! I am sorry you have had to join our clan and that you seem to have a roaring case of the plague if four of you have it. But you should find a lot of support, advice and sympathy here.. and everyone eventually gets through it, and it all starts to seem like a long, bad dream in retrospect. You seem pretty calm, I must say. Often we — and that would start with ME — are writing in hysterically when ringworm is still just suspected. But you foster cats, and it's my firm belief that people who do that are among the best people in the world. So it seems you are handling this pretty sensibly already — I can tell.

The short answer to your question: dipping everyone is a huge, smelly pain, but it is also a great preventive as well as a treatment. So it's probably a very good idea given that your ringworm is spreading between species.... unless doing it will prove so stressful that you decide it's better to live with the risk of them getting ringworm from the environment.

Given that you are using Lysol and 409 (which don't kill ringworm spores... and I don't know about fleas) and possibly using a vacuum cleaner that lacks a HEPA filter (which will just blow the spores back into the air), I think it would be a good idea for you to read two articles here on The Cat Site. One is a clear, in-depth discussion of ringworm and how to deal with it and the other is about housecleaning. There is a lot of misinformation and scary stuff about ringworm on the intertubes, so don't go crazy on Google. Just read these articles and whatever you can find by Dr. Karen Moriello, America's expert vet on ringworm.

Here are the article links:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/ringworm-in-cats-how-to-win-the-fight

and

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/ringworm-infestation-in-cats-the-housecleaning-regime  

There's actually some good news concerning the ringworm plague, which you can read about in the first article. The way to diagnose ringworm, and to know if a cat is cured, is via culturing. Cultures used to have to grow for three weeks or more before a positive or negative result could be declared. That meant not only waiting, but cleaning, dipping, and continuing other treatments just in case. And it takes two negative cultures for a cat to be declared cured for sure. With the new PCR tests, you can get a result in a couple of days, so no more long weeks of extra dipping, cleaning, and suspense. And expense!

Best of luck to you! 

Bunnelina

I would honestly dip them all at least once just to put your mind as ease.

Bunnelina,

I was frantic...let me tell you.  But after a full month of cleaning starting with ridding the fleas, I have calmed down from how tired I am from cleaning cleaning cleaning.  

I have the king of vacuums (Kirby) so I am all over the HEPA filter.  And I did a good vacuuming of the kittens room after putting down the flea powder and that bag was disposed of in an outside container.  All my fur-babies are on Revolution or the dog version of flea control all year round.  So I was not concerned about killing the fleas, I am more concerned the fleas would have spread the RW by the fleas biting my resident animals if they made their way out of the spare room and found my resident animals.  Not sure how all that works.  Or if it is the bites that just open up my resident animals to the spores that are floating through my house. 

The shelter told me to use the 409 on surfaces that cannot be bleached so I am hoping they know something about using that against the RW battle.  But I have used bleach in the bathroom that the foster mom was staying in.  The spare room is off limits and only I enter it to vacuum daily.  And I plan to clean that room bottom to top this weekend once I have the dip in hand.  

I know I have read somewhere in this long feed about which brand is best.  The shelter said they would supply me with some but I would like to purchase a bottle myself in case it does continue to be an ordeal in my house.  I checked Amazon and I see Vet Basics, Vet Solutions and LimePlus.  What do you think is the best brand to have on hand?  And is this something that is safe to order on Amazon?

I am just gearing up for a full Sunday of dipping and then cleaning the house top to bottom.  

Frantic is a normal reaction. Most of us do go into total panic mode for quite a while — and that is a normal response, if you ask me. 

The anxiety gives you energy to clean... but eventually you wear yourself out on both fronts, cleaning and freaking out. At which point, you might go to the movies, or nap, or both, since it's time for a break.
 

I'm glad to hear you have a good vac, I should have known. Fosterers are so capable.... I think vaccuming is key since we can't kill spores easily. Think of them as dust mites, or in your case, microscopic fleas. Vacuum every surface you possibly can and you should make good progress in reducing the load of spores that aren't on your animals. And dipping thoroughly (don't rinse) will help a lot with them. 

I got our dip at Amazon; don't worry about that. I preferred Vet Solutions to the other brand they stocked at the time, Derma Pet. I have asthma and allergies and reacted strongly to the Derma Pet. The Vet Solutions is smelly but didn't make me short of breath. 

When you clean, microfiber cloths are good for wiping. Just keep rinsing and ringing them out. I used HealthGuard Laundry Additive as a very diluted cleaning solution for mine. That stuff is toxic but I didn't care. I used a very small amount of my bottle (both for laundry and misted that weak solution one time on stuff I could only vacuum, like upholstery and furniture) and I happily tossed the bottle out when my plague finally ended.

Oral meds are the third aspect of treatment, and I bet you've got that under control. Just avoid griseofulvin, and make sure your vet double-checks dosages for every animal based on weight because some of these drugs are very powerful and any vet can make a math mistake (as mine did). 

If the shelter for whom you foster is coping with ringworm, too, it might make sense to pre-emptively screen (a Woods' Lamp in experienced hands can detect some but not all ringworm) and even dip the animals they take in just in case. Shelters often have a terrible time with ringworm and, here in Massachusetts, I know of shelters that euthanized every animal and closed down for months, costing additional lives that could have been saved via adoptions. It's a harsh reaction but ringworm is traumatic in shelters since volunteers can't provide companionship or contact without risking their own households, and the animals themselves can be difficult and expensive to treat. If your shelter doesn't know about PCR testing, telling them about it could make a huge difference. I wish them and you well! 

Hang in there!  

Seeing as I'm asthmatic also, I will start with the vet solutions dip for the next 2 weeks and pull out all those microfiber cloths that don't get enough use. I'll hold off on the healthguard for now since I have excema and an very sensitive to chemicals.

I didn't mention earlier but the Fosters went back to the shelter to get dipped and treated there once they realize they had RW. They were willing to give me a weeks worth of the dip solution (2 dips each) as a precaution for my resident animals but so far they have not gotten a shipment in. So time is awasting. I haven't contacted our vet yet since so far no resident animals have lesions so trying to nip it in the bud before it gets to that point. Especially since I have read that adult animals in good health have a good chance of not getting infected, but mine are long haired felines that have a better chance of carrying around the spores to reinfect us humans. [emoji]128530[/emoji]

We had two elderly Dollface Persians when our ringworm kitten arrived, and our pre-emptive measures kept their cultures negative. We did weekly dips and gave them a couple of rounds of terbinafine. They were a pair of furry dustmops for sure, and were both sick with other illnesses, so we fully expected them to get ringworm due their poor immune systems, ages, and heavy coats — and they didn't. Fingers crossed that yours don't, either. I never considered clipping anyone, by the way. That seemed like asking for micro-tears in their skin to host more ringworm.

upon further inspection of my pooch I found a lesion on him and so I just called the foster coordinator and they are going to give me something to put on all four animals. but for the last couple hours I have been doing a very quick but as thorough as possible cleaning of my house and all toys bedding rugs blankets are now in my garage for later sorting disposal bleaching or something.ugh!!!

Bringing a bit of humor to the group, I also had to bathe my dog and my 3 cats last night. The shelter said to bathe them to wash as much of the spores off of them and they are going to give me a pink solution to put on them...just one time? I guess I will learn more tonight when I go to pick the solution up.

Bathing the cats was quite the experience. I was pleasantly surprised that the oldest crankiest kitty was the one who gave me the least grief. After a few minutes of trying to get out of the laundry sink, she finally gave up and laid down and let me do my thing. It could have been that she sat behind me while I bathed the other two and she knew that she was not getting out of this. So why not just lie down and let me get it over as quick as possible.

Hoping it goes as well if not better tonight when I apply the "pink solution". And I finally gave in and ordered the Health Guard Laundry Additive. What is $30 and toxicity when it could take weeks of suffering out of our household.

And all pet beds, blankets, toys, cat tress and removable rugs are in the garage to be disposed of. I figure this will be the year of replacing what they really need.

One question for you all, if I soak their 2 scratch posts in a tub with bleach/water mixture (for an hour or so), then rinse with water and let dry.....do you think that will be enough to allow them to have those 2 items back? I plan to hold off doing that for a week or so to let the "pink solution" do it's magic on the animals before letting them have them back. But with 3 clawed animals, they needs something to let our all their frustrations on....especially with having to lose all their toys and fluffy bedding while this is all going on. My leather couches really need them to have scratching posts. And I also disposed of their cat tree that I cannot soak so they need a scratching post of some kind. And I should have that Health Guard next week so I can use that as a weekly disinfectant after the 1st bleach soak. Thoughts?

Also have any of you used that Health Guard Laundry Additive on hardwood floors? I have woodfloors all upstairs, Pergo or ceramic downstairs and carpet in the bedrooms and I plan to use it on weekly to kill what I can.

I was a firm believer in vacuuming the heck out of everything I couldn't wash or wipe down. I vacuumed walls, ceilings, upholstery, and bookshelves. I have several attachments for the hose, which made this easier. I think that intense vacuuming and/or bleaching the posts should be enough. You could try vacuuming the cat tree. I'm not sure where you live, but ringworm spores like humid, warm conditions, so maybe airing items in freezing cold, dry air would help. Baking in dry sunlight might also be good. There might be more info about this via Dr. Moriello; I am sorry to be so hazy. I have no outdoor space so could only fry things in my dryer. I washed cat toys in the washer, including mylar balls and sparkle balls. Not catnip toys, of course.  

Claws are a common place for cats to get ringworm, so if yours have ringworm on their claws, I'd definitely use bleach on scratching posts. Unfortunately, the solution that works is very strong — 10%, I've read — so the residual smell might make the posts much less appealing. Be sure to rinse like crazy, as bleach fumes are toxic.

You would be using a tiny amount of Health Guard as a solution for cleaning so if you can use water on your floors, you can use a Health Guard solution. BTW, the carcinogen in it is also found in toothpaste, mouthwash, and deodorant soap! Not sure if that makes you feel better... 

The solution they have me was "foot rot and ringworm spray" I'm supposed to apply right to lesions 3 times daily and biweekly towel baths. My dog just licks it off so I'll have to give it a few days and if no change then I'm starting something else...especially since I planned to dip cats this weekend. My friend also offered me a bottle of Malaseb shampoo and I read that does well for cats as a precaution.

I Live in Chicago suburbs so I can definitely do a few freezing days for the cat tree. I already have a few things out there in the cold awaiting sterilizing. And no ringworm on the cats claws or body as of yet...but the foster kitten probably did have it in his claws since all our human lesions were in spots he scratched us. So that scratch post definitely has to be bleached. Feeling good about my cleaning so far. Took your advice in something I read about cleaning knicknacks and putting away. House looks empty but will be much easier to wipe down. And everyone has towels to lie on so maybe it will be less laundry. Since the cats have no sores, I plan to give them new towels weekly versus the dogs daily towel change. Tonight is lights out at 9pm. Have to get sleep after my crazy cleaning last night.

Just have to tackle the foster kittens bedroom but that will wait until Sunday. And then it should be the daily vacuuming and weekly whole house cleaning. Hope that is truly a light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks for being my sounding board!

Such a productive weekend and glad to be back at work.  

My daughter (such a trooper) helped me as we sterilized 3 bedrooms.  We washed all bedding, wiped all walls, furniture and knicknacks with the bleach water, cleaned the carpet with the Healthguard solution, vacuumed ceilings under beds and the bottoms of the boxsprings, put all knicknacks out of sight (into drawers or closets or into bags) and then closed the doors to keep it sterile.  The bedding from the spare room (Foster kittens room) has been bagged and stored.  So now we are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms down and clean.   The remaining space is all open and that will be our constant battle until everyone is healed.  I have considered buying a HEPA air filter to stick in the middle of the living room where we all spend the majority of our time.  But I would also need one for downstairs where the cats like to hang out.  My thought is I have a 5 inch air filter on my furnace, shouldn't that filter out the majority of the spores?  I am hoping so from the below.....

• Traps 95% of Particles from 0.3 up to 10.0 Microns
• Materials Filtered:  Dust; Lint; Dust mite debris; mold spores; pollen; pet dander; bacteria; most smoke; virus carriers

The dog's spot was not getting better since he would just lick off the pink ringworm solution so I found him one of my white socks and had him wearing it all day yesterday.  He is such a sport.  He isn't trying to take it off.  Hopefully he continues and I don't find it somewhere in my house since I am not there to scold him for bothering with it.  But within 1 day it looked less irritated and hoping it will start to really heal now that it is covered and he cannot lick at it all day.  And I can change that sock daily and wash that much easier then 7 towels.  I did also find a few scabs on his nose and so I am putting Miconazole cream on his nose around that area just in case it is ringworm.  There seems to be hair growing back so maybe it is not but I figure it is not going to hurt him.  

And the cats all got their first baths with the Malaseb shampoo.  They were not too happy about it but they were much better then their bath last Wednesday.  My male Mainecoon, Mittens, had a scratch on his ear and so he is getting a cotton swab of Miconazole twice daily in that area just in case.   My oldest cat, Mystique, seemed to have a spot on her back but with her long hair, I can never find it so I figure she will just be getting bathed twice a week with the Malaseb shampoo.  The only other cat, Angelica, doesn't seem to have any signs of it so she is going to be a weekly bath.    

And now we are down to just towels needing to be changed.   I can wipe all my furniture since I have leather or wood and almost all surfaces are cleared from knicknacks so it will be easier to do a weekly wipe down.    

I am feeling so much better about this war on ringworm.  Crossing my fingers that everyone continues to heal and maybe a month from now, I can look back and appreciate the normal weekly cleaning instead of this daily nonsense.....since I need 

HI; i am not sure if it is ringworm that mookie has. he is a cat that was left in my care and abandoned. there was another cat left with him who she did take back but she had a strange skin disorder where she lost her hair and would get open sores in the middle from licking and scratching. now mookie seems to be getting the same thing. it started as a small scab-like bump on the back of his neck that was very itchy. i would scratch it for him because he could not reach (very fat) hope that wasn't what made it worse. it has now grown bigger into a circular open patch of skin which is red and itchy and sometimes open in the middle. i have been putting peroxide followed by cortisone cream but i have no idea what i am dealing with and i can't afford a vet. i am very worried because i already have three other cats and whatever this is it is obviously contagious because mookie didn't have it at first but the other cat that she took back did and now after about a month it is showing up on mookie. please, can anybody send a picture so i can compare and have a better idea if it looks the same as ring worm. i can't find my camera but as soon as i do i will post a picture. thank-you so much any info would be so very, very much appreciated. i love my animals and this is torturing me as well as them if they are itchy or hurting. they can't tell what they feel which makes it so hard.

Hi Jules, I'm sorry to hear what you are going through. Ringworm manifests itself in dramatically different ways, and it is easily mistaken for other skin ailments that it sometimes resembles. So, unfortunately, none of us here can tell you what Mookie has, whether you post a photo or not. Only a vet can diagnose it, by using a Wood's lamp or taking a culture. Only vets can prescribe oral medication, an important part of the treatment.

If you read the general articles that have links in one of the posts above, you will get a general overview of ringworm, but I wouldn't assume that's what your cats have until a vet says so. 

It must be terribly hard to be worried about a cat and unable to provide medical care for him. I hope you will look around on this site to see if there are resources to help you pay for vet visits; I know they exist but I haven't had to use them myself so I can't tell you about them. You might also contact your local shelters and rescues, and even vet offices to see if there is a way your sick animals can somehow see a vet. If they are hurting, they need expert care. Best of luck to you.

So when you Google "I am panicking because my cat has ringworm" this is what comes up

We adopted a rescue from a "cat cafe" two weeks ago. Took him to the vet last week to get him checked out, he had a little upper respiratory infection, was scratching on his ears, got some antibiotics, no big deal. All was great - or so we thought.

Then I started having itchy places on my neck. Since I have contact hives OFTEN, I didn't think much of it, but thought it was weird that I scratched so hard to leave marks. Then two nights later my husband showed the same marks on my daughter's neck.  I immediately googled and suspected the cat might have given us ringworm. (Though I haven't noticed any lesions on him, but can feel some rough spots on his skin.) So I went to see a doc the next day who said I was probably right, prescribed a cream and sent me on my way, no worries. (Though I am thinking he must not know a lot about ringworm because he made a comment about how it might have to do with the litter box?).  The vet unfortunately couldn't see us for two days (our appt is this afternoon). 

I figured that with my skin issues and my daughter's eczema, we were susceptilble and it wouldn't spread far, but boy was I wrong.

Last night, my son got a spot, as did his best friend who has spent the night here and cuddled with the kitten since we got him. (We are ground zero apparently and I am mortified). I immediately started pulling linens and wiping things down with bleach. But honestly, I am overwhelmed and am looking for someone to tell me that it will be ok! I woke up this morning with new spots on my leg, arm and chest!

I haven't quarantined the kitten (except for keeping him from our bedrooms) as the only place I could do it is a small powder bath and I feel awful. He's a very playful, full of energy and attention seeking kitten and I feel like even after one day of us not really touching him and locking him out of our bedrooms that he's already getting confused and angry (I tried to play with him last night and he was so overenergized that all he wanted to do was bite and attack me instead of playing with a toy or letting me pet him. However my level of anxiety is so high right now - especially with the spread of the ringworm outside my house - that I am wondering if quarantining him would be the right thing to do?

Hopefully the vet will alleviate some anxiety, but I guess I just wanted to chime and make sure that everyone survived.  I feel like I can't and shouldn't go anywhere since I have the most lesions (though my daughter has new ones popping up today too) but is it really feasible to stop our lives? My kids are both in school and sports and can't just stay inside for weeks until this is gone.  Did anyone have younger children and have to deal with this? (Mine are 8 and 10). Also, did the quarantine affect your pet's personality?

Thanks for any answers, advice or commiseration.

There are 2 links on this page for cleaning and then fro treating the cat that are FANTASTIC reads.  You should find those  links and review then.

I am in the middle of this right now myself.   This is what I have done so far.  Go to the doctor and get yourself a prescription for a topical cream.  I have one and my daughter has the other since her cream was causing me an allergic reaction.  

Put your kitten in the bathroom and leave it there while you get this out of yours house.  Work one room at a time.  Start with your sons and remove all bedding, wipe down EVERYTHING with a bleach solution 1:10, walls, furniture, toys, etc... and if you have carpeting, then steamclean that also.  Wash all bedding in HOT water and HIGH heat in the dryer.   Focus on one room at a time or you will get overwhelmed....Believe me since I am in week 2 of this war.   The move onto the next room and do the same thing.  Once each room is sterilized, close the door and do not let your kitten back in there.   It will be a full weekend of cleaning but it is so worth it.  Keep the kitten contained in the bathroom until you have treated him also for a few weeks so that you have a smaller space to keep cleaning throughly.  

For the kids, keep the sores loosely covered with cotton shirts and have them shower daily and change PJs and clothing daily and then wash all laundry with  HOT water (bleach if possible) and then HIGH heat again.  I put towels over her pillow since she had them on her neck and wanted to be able to change the towel daily.  You may need to change linens often since you have them on your necks.  You will have to apply the cream twice daily to each sore and the do NOT cover them with bandages.  Just loose clothing.  Your sores will start to fade within a week or two and then by 4 weeks should be gone. 

The vet will most likely give you shampoo for kitty and possibly an oral med or a topical.  Keep up on the baths and you should notice healing within weeks for the kitten too.  I am 2 weeks down and all I am doing now is daily vacuuming and wiping down all furniture.  The on the weekends, I pull back out the bleach and do a once through the entire house.    Key thing everyone told me is to vacuum, vacuum, vacuum!!!

Another fantastic idea was to store all knicknacks so it is easier to clean.  And I did that and it is much quicker and easier.   

So as for staying home, you can go out but you need to keep your sores covered, no hugging and if the kids play contact sports, they should stay home for 2 weeks.  At least that is what our doctor told us.  They told us that once our sores were no longer visible, then my daughter could go back to Gymnastics.  

Hope this helps!