Ringworm

I'd call the vet and ask. Several years ago we had that and he had me buy an over-the-counter anti-fungal cream to apply to Gray's ears. It worked, and the other two cats managed to escape the dreaded fungus.

I would definitely talk to your vet. IMO, only an oral medication (like Fluconazole) will get rid of it. I know some people have had success with topical ointments, but I never did & ended up paying more to treat them in the long run.

Have you diagnosed the ringworm yourself? There are many other skin conditions that can be confused with ringworm. Even a good vet will not diagnose it on the basis of visual appearance only. The only way to know for sure is to have your vet do a culture on the cat, or cats. It could be some other parasite or issue, which would need a different kind of treatment.

If you DO get a positive diagnosis, and have more than one cat with the skin issue, I'm afraid you've got kind of a big problem. Keep in mind that that ringworm is caused by a fungus, so you will need to decontaminate all the rooms where your cats have been, so it doesn't continue to spread — not just to the cats, but to humans as well. Ringworm responds best to a combination of oral drugs and dips. Putting cream on just the affected spots does not work — those ringworm patches release millions of tiny microscopic spores that spread all through the cat's fur and also blow around everywhere else in their environment.

Treatment, including daily housecleaning if you let your cats roam free in your house, usually takes about 2 or 3 months. The only way you can know that your cats are cured is to do more cultures. Every culture takes three weeks to develop.

I think your first step should be to take the cat (or cats) to your vet and make sure it's the "dreaded fungus." There is no cheap home remedy that works. DO NOT use any kind of bleach on your cat, PLEASE! All the things you'll find on the Internet that claim to be miracle cures are trash.

I've written a long post here about my experience with successfully treating ringworm in a 4-cat apartment. Good luck!

Yes, I got it from the pharmacy, it was an anti-fungal that people also use, but the vet told me what to get. It did work for us, but it was early in the game, and only on his ears...

The product I've had best results with and it fairly easy to use is Lyme Sulfur Dip. It's a liquid you mix with water and dip your cat in a couple of times a week. It's one of the most common treatments for ringworm and most vets will prescribe it. It's an OTC product though so you can buy it on the internet. Just Google Lyme Sulfur Dip.
I prefer the dip to shampoos and creams as it's easier to use for both me and the cat and less time consuming. It's also inexpensive. Unless the ringworm is severe the dip should be enough to treat your cat with and you won't need to add oral meds to the treatment.
Before you start treatment though you should get a definite diagnosis from your vet to make sure that it really is ringworm and not some other condition. There are other things that can cause rashes and bald spots.

I would strongly suggest that you make the time to take her to a vet before diagnosing and treating her yourself, unless of course you are a vet. There could be several things that would cause the symptoms you are describing and to treat her with OTC remedies for something that may not be the problem is dangerous. You could be poisoning your cat and not realize it.

Please make the time to have her diagnosed by a vet.

Lime sulfur dips won't harm a cat (if you keep it out of their eyes/ears/nose), and are the best topical treatment for ringworm and other skin diseases.

BUT it's also horribly smelly, vile stuff — and you have to totally soak the cat's fur, and then let it dry without rinsing, so the cat is smelly and yellowish afterward (and sometimes you are, too). AND you need to do it regularly for weeks.

You'd be better off consulting a vet before starting with that, because it may not be ringworm and you may not have to do it. Also, there are prescription medications that increase your chances of success.

I had this when I ran my cattery...it was a nightmare. But I found what worked. Lyme/sulphur dip every few days till a few weeks after it cleared up. Very unpleasant and the cats WILL fight you but it's the only thing that worked for me.

Also - you have to completely disinfect your home, everywhere the cats have been. The fungal spores would be everywhere they have gone by now and you need wash ALL bedding, cloth etc. and wash down all hard surfaces with a bleach/water solution. that'd be the only thing kills the spores.

Beware--the environment can continue to harbour live spores for up to 2 years after you think it's gone.

I remember that the vet prescribed an oral medication and a topical medication when my kitten had ringworm, and turned me onto bathing my kitten monthly while using Chlorohexiderm (an antiseptic animal shampoo), but Merrytreecats is spot on for the last two points:

1. IF it is ringworm (after a vet's diagnosed it), wash and disinfect all of your linens using hot water and bleach,
2. Disinfect all surfaces using Clorox spray,
3. Get yourself at least a vacuum cleaner with HEPA filtration for the rugs and the carpets - this'll hopefully trap the fungal spores.

And you'll want to continue this cleaning regimen for a while even after the ringworm has cleared from your cat, so as to prevent any potential reoccurances.

Ringworm isn't fun - especially if it transmits to you (which it did to me).

Best of luck.

PLEASE do not use Chlorox spray- it is extremely toxic to cats and kittens and they are highly attracted to it due to a nasty chemical in the spray. Use bleach and water and be sure that you rinse completely. The fungus goes airborne- the spores do and you may fight this fight for a long time. I fought it for months here. I used the sulphur/lyme dip that I got from my vet and it smells like rotten eggs but it works.

I also wrote an article about my experience with Ringworm as the battle was long and exhausting when a litter of motherless kittens brought it into the house. If you PM me, I will be happy to share it with you.

Clorox spray probably doesn't work on ringworm fungus anyway. The only bleach solution proven to work on microsporum canis is a VERY strong 10% solution. This is strong enough to cause breathing problems in people and it will certainly wreck most household surfaces.

There's really no point to using bleach, since you'd need to cover EVERY surface with it and it's impossible to do that if you don't live in a kennel.

We used Health Guard from Revival Animal (diluted as a spray), which contains a powetful fungicide called Vibax (possibly a carcinogen but at that point I didn't care). And since bleach was out of the question, I just vacuumed the heck out of the whole house, including walls and undersides of furniture, every day for a few months, using a vac with a sealed dustbag and a HEPA filter.

My DH and I got ringworm from our Lilac Point when I was pregnant with my son. (He's now 33) My family doctor gave us antifungal cream to get rid of it and the vet gave us something to put on Mr. Sim. It worked wonders. It just heard on the radio that a SPCA in Toronto is ethanizing over 300 animals today because of an outbreak of ringworm and are closed for the rest of the week to clean and sterilize. I was shocked to say the least. It must be really bad to go to such lengths.

Shelters do that all the time around here. It's too expensive and time-consuming to treat ringworm. And because all the cats have to be isolated, it is very stressful for them, to the point where they get sick and sometimes die of other illnesses. It's very sad.

While ringworm isn't fatal, it's an awful scourge in catteries.

I'm new to the forum and I would be very interested in reading your article. I'm fighting ringworm brought in by some foster kittens. Unfortunately, bleaching is not really an option since I don't have bleachable floors and furniture and at least three of my cats (who aren't symptomatic) cannot really be handled without serious bodily injury to them and myself so dipping and medication would be next to impossible.

Since I'm new, I'm not sure how to send a PM

Yeah, I forgot to say that after you wash down the surfaces with the bleach you rinse off the bleach.

I hate to bear more bad news, but your cats even after being cured need to be watched for fresh outbreaks for the rest of their lives. Any cat who has had ringworm in the past is highly likely to carry the fungus at very low levels for life. A future outbreak can also be indicative of a compromised immune system too, since once it is under control the cat's immune system will suppress further outbreaks as long as your kitty stays in good health.

Hi, I'm sorry you're dealing with ringworm. I know exactly what you're going through. You might want to read this post, which I wrote to describe what I learned from my ringworm experience. Forget bleach! And if you can't kill the spores, the next best thing is to suck 'em up from the environment and contain them. The solution is a swiffer for walls, ceilings, and floors, microfiber cloths rinsed in antifungal solution, and most important, a high-quality, self-sealing vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter for floors and upholstery, every single day. I used a Miele.

Most of the instructions you find online were written for kennels and not homes. You can go crazy trying to follow them. But you probably will need to figure out how to give meds and get the cats dipped at least once or twice. I was lucky to find a groomer who dipped all four of mine for many weeks (at considerable expense).

I'm surprised to hear that ringworm lurks on the cat forever. In my research I read that it actually tends to resolve itself on its own in a matter of months, although cats will keep reinfecting each other in the meantime. So you've got to treat it. Ringworm spores are everywhere, all the time; it takes a high concentration to cause an outbreak. So once you're over it, I really don't think you need to worry.

And in the meantime, let me know if you need more help. You can also count on the folks here for plenty of advice and encouragement! They were a great help to me when I dealt with it last fall.

I have already read your post, thank you so much. I'm doing the best I can to keep the environment clean and I have the two symptomatic fosters isolated and being treated. Unfortunately, paying to have five cats dipped even once a week is beyond my budget. I can do the two fosters and two of my own cats myself, but three of my cats are not very social and handling two of them is almost impossible. One of those would go into a complete panic and would probably never allow herself to be caught after the first time. The other one can't be handled at all. A third one can be handled but he's very, very skittish and untrusting. I'm in the process of building a relationship with him and I fear that if I dip him that relationship will be permanently damaged.

To be honest, I'm not overly concerned about my cats or even myself. My cats have suffered only minor lesions and are currently not showing any symptoms (although I realize that doesnt' mean they're clear). I've also had the occasional lesion but it doesn't really bother me.

My main concern is curing my foster cats since they can't go up for adoption until they are clear.

What anti-fungal solution did you use?

Ringworm is just plain nasty! Sadie had a bad bout of it as a kitten and it took some time to rid the house of it (I will never bring another pet to a pet store ever again). Sadie's vet put her on oral medication (2 months of fluconazole (so Sadie didn't become a carrier). Vet would not give Program for ringworm as she said it is hit or miss as to whether it really works - some studies claim it works, other claim it doesn't work). In an effort to speed up the healing, I also purchased this product (http://www.petsbestrx.com/PetRingworm). I am not an agent of this company nor am I saying it is a miracle product. But, I can tell you that it worked so well for Sadie that her vet (who also worked at shelters) began using it as a precautionary measure in the shelter. My vet was shocked at just how quickly and effectively it worked for Sadie. Sadie had good results within 3 days and hair regrowth within 1 week.

Remember, ringworm looks worse before it gets better and it can take months to run its course. Also remember that the spores can live in your environment for up to 2 years, so it's imperative that you practice good housekeeping (vacuuming everyday, throwing away the bag after every use) as a good defence.

I used HealthGuard Laundry Additive, diluted acc, to directions. It has triclosan, aka Vibax, which is a very iffy chemical, but it is supposed to kill fungus spores (and possibly all other life forms, like humans).

Unlike you, I was paranoid about ringworm. If you get it on your face, it's truly disgusting. On your scalp, you get long-term bald spots. And if there's enough of it in the house, you can spread it to other people as well as animals even if you don't have lesions. That's why I worked like a demon to get rid of it. My sister was so paranoid about us bringing it to her house, out of state (and we didn't HAVE it, only two kittens did, in tiny spots) that we were banned from celebrating T'giving and Christmas with my family. We survived.

I understand your issue with dipping the cats. Even nice cats loathe it, and I have no idea how people manage to do it in their homes. It stank up the whole vet hospital when the groomer did it.

As you probably know, they only way to be sure your cats are clear of ringworm is to do a series of weekly cultures. If you can do a couple of the asymptomatic cats — the vet just brushes them all over with a new toothbrush and puts the combings into a culture — that might put your mind to rest, at least about the ones that don't have lesions.

How soon did you start doing cultures after the fluconazole and PetsBest? Two months of the meds is a long time! And how often did you culture Sadie to be sure she was clear? I was curious about that Petsbest, but I didn't see a single piece of clinical research on it anywhere, and only first-name endorsements on the website so I worried that it was bogus. But my Possum had an ugly black spot on his nose for WEEKS. I would have loved to get rid of it sooner.

Spores can live in your environment FOREVER! Yes, there's a two-year lifetime, but I suspect they are reproducing in the meantime.

I have my doubts about most vacuum cleaners. If your vacuum doesn't have a HEPA filtration system and a self-sealing, multilayer bag, chances are you are blowing spores back into the environment as you vacuum. If you have a self-sealing bag, you don't need to throw it out until it's full. If your vac is so leaky that you have to toss the bag, I think it won't do you any good when you're using it, either. I used a Miele and changed the HEPA filter after we were through the worst of it.

Within one week of starting the fluconazole, cultures were done. But, still not clear. After 2 weeks, still not clear. That's when I started to get frustrated so I decided to try the healing spray on Sadie's coat. My vet wanted to see if it worked so she did a culture after 3 days of using the spray. That's when we got a clear culture. However, doctor was still not convinced it was the Petsbest products that were working so we did weekly cultures. All were clear (vet left her on the meds just to be certain).

Must admit, I used the spray on myself too. I ended up with a large spot in the middle of my back and couldn't reach it to put on cream. So, I tried the product and it worked on me within 2 days. I ended up buying the jug size and sprayed the entire house with it. For me, it was money well spent.

The only product I wasn't keen about was the Sulphur cream -- I didn't have good results. But, I swear by the healing spray. In fact, I'm bringing home a new adoptee tonight and I plan on giving him a spray before taking him in the house.

Regarding vacuum cleaners and ringworm, I unfortunately had an old one so I tossed the bag every night and literally hosed the vacuum down with bleach.

Didn't ringworm leave us with some wonderful memories? At least we have terrific stories to silence our fellow cat owners when they are freaking out over something easy!

I'll have to look at that healing spray and see what's in it. I thought their white sulfur could be a great alternative to the stinky yellow stuff we had to use on the cats, but I couldn't find a single medical authority who had anything to say about it, positive or negative. And I wasn't in the mood to experiment, if you know what I mean....

Bleaching the vacuum cleaner would certainly do the trick, but what a nightmare! I'm afraid my experience has scared me off from ever becoming a foster mom! I think you're REALLY brave!

6 weeks is how long the shelter here puts cats on Fluconazole. Technically 4 weeks is long enough, but we would sometimes see re-occurances of ringworm when only treating for 4 weeks. So we go for the full 6 weeks. In the shelter situation, Fluconazole has worked well for us in combination with Conofite cream. Obviously it would be even better if we never had any cats come in with ringworm or develop it.

We used terbinafine (or is it terfinabine, can never remember), a fairly new generic version of oral Lamisil on the older cats. The pills were too tricky to cut down into kitten doses, but the big cats only needed to take it for two weeks. The kittens were stuck with four weeks of liquid Sporanox. It was cherry-flavored and they hated it. It was a very long month. The terbinafine is supposed to be very effective even in that short time period. Depending on the situation, you can do pulse therapy, two weeks on and two weeks off, until the cultures are clear. It wasn't outrageously expensive for a two-week dose. And my elderly Persians never developed ringworm, and the breed is supposed to be highly susceptible.

I was just doing some reading on the Terbinafine - interesting reading! If 2 weeks is all it takes to treat, that would be wonderful. But everything I read said further studies need to be done....they don't know for sure the side effects because not enough studies have taken place, etc.

I'd say ask your vet to investigate. They have access to more online research than we do. My vet knew all about it and told me this was the newest recommended drug for ringworm. She won't use anything else now on adult cats because of the side-effect issues with the other drugs. So she must have found enough research to convince her that it was a safer drug than Sporanox. And anything is safer than griseofulvin, although some Boston vets still use it. While you give it for two weeks, you may need to do it again, after a two-week break. By then you should be getting culture results, negative ones!