Hi everyone,
I am new to these forums so I hope its ok if I just jump in as I really really need support and advice for me and my beloved cats, am so upset right now.
About 3 weeks ago I noticed one of my furbabies Lila had a scab under her chin and was scratching above her eyes causing some hairloss. I took her to the vet and made them check for ringworm with the woods lamp and even though the vet said it did not "glow" and the skin scrape was all clear I insisted on a fungal culture as I am paranoid about it! At the time the vet said it looked more like allergic dermatitis especially since a lot of scratching was involved. After a week her culture was negative but by this stage one of my other cats had developed a spot on his front shoulder. So I took both of them in to a different vet and my first girl, still did not glow but my second cat did! OMG, I wanted to cry. We did another fungal culture for both of them and Lila my first cat tested negative again but my second boy tested positive, I have heard horror stories from friends in rescue about ringworm and have been reading way to much on it which has led to what I feel like is a nightmare I will never wake up from.
The past 10 days has been literally 24/7 of bathing my 8 poor cats in Malaseb which is so so distressing for them, medicating, washing and bleaching everything in the house daily, vacuuming, throwing out what we can etc etc which has led to extremely horribly stressed kitties and now all but one of them have some form of hairloss. I am just devastated, I just cannot believe I have ringworm, words cannot describe how distressed we all are. In all my 12 years doing rescue I have never had ringworm but this year due to my own health issues I haven't been able to foster any cats and I get ringworm! My babies are all indoor / enclosed backyard but the vet says the spores live in the soil and the strong winds and humidity that we have been having means the spores get blown around and the rain moves the soil and the ringworm breeds like mad so its most likely from the soil in the backyard. I have no idea how I can eliminate it from my entire backyard! I am doing my best but it just doesn't seem realistic to eliminate from the soil though I am tossing buckets of F10 (the only disinfectant that kills fungal spores aside from bleach that I know of) on the parts they hang out in the most but I don't know how much that will help and as our yard is very big I feel like if I miss just ONE spot that the whole thing is totally futile.
All I do is clean, I've had to take time off work and so far this has cost us thousands already but the absolute worst part is how distrustful and sad my cats are, they hate me and that just breaks my heart. The bathing is just stressing them out sooooo much. All but one have been rescues who are either ex ferals, had traumatic experiences or have special needs both behaviourally and health wise and they are all reverting back to being distrustful of me again, after years and years of building trust with them and then just 10 days of ringworm and its all gone
( They look at me like I am the Devil and run and hide
I've been in tears daily and just don't know how they are going to come out of this unscathed mentally even if they are fixed physically.
They are all on Griseofulvin, lesions or not but most of my babies are now seniors and I know this medication can have serious risks but I have no choice so will just have to deal with what happens. Being older cats, the risk is higher of complications from the meds and my oldest cats are already not well from it but I don't want to stop the meds as they have to be treated too. I have halved the dose for those cats though. As it is they are all eating a lot less than usual and they are much more lethargic and not as smoochy or playful. I have read that Sporanox has a lot few side effects but I have tried 4 vets now who all say that they are unable to get it as the pills are huge and it is not possible to get the dosage right. I am prepared to pay for compounding but they seem to think Griseofulvin is best to stick to.
So sorry for the ramble, there is just much going on and that I need to do with all of them and its affecting me, my cats and my relationship. I haven't seen anyone or been out since this happened and I am scared that I will never get rid of it. I cannot bear to lock them away in one room, their world has been turned upside down as it is, confining them would just lead to more stress and more ringworm
Why now after 10 years is this happening, my cats have always been so healthy before! It breaks my heart to see them looking like this, I just want them to be free of this and healthy and happy.
So now I have some questions, I really would appreciate ANY advice that anyone has soooooo much.
1. Some of my cats are scratching a lot. I have read that ringworm is not that itchy. And since Lila tested negative twice I still think that there is more going on. The cats all are scratching around there head and eyes and sometimes lick themselves frantically. I had a vet out to do a housecall today to look at them all to rule out anything else, he wasn't all that helpful to be honest but gave me Prednisolone to use only if required and advised I use Revolution every 2 weeks X 3 times in case of mites as well. Only my boy whose Fungassy was positive has a "typical" round ringworm lesion, the others look more like their hair is thinning above their eyes and around their ears. I should add that I flea treat them regularly and check them out with a flea comb often so its not fleas. Could mites do this? Vet said I would have to be very unlucky to have both after never even seeing a flea let alone something like this but with the crazy weather we have been having the amount of moisture in the air has brought out all sorts of yukky insects so I suppose its possible
2. I had my longest haired cat shaved and clipped all over for bathing. I have 2 other long hair cats but not as thick and long as his is. I am seriously considering having them ALL clipped to prevent fur being shed and stop spores spreading. Do you think this is a good idea? Another vet visit for them all will add to more stress but it would probably make a reoccurrence less likely.
3. The bathing is stressing them (and me!) out beyond belief, do I have to keep doing it? The vet I saw today said no since they are on Griseofulvin now but I read otherwise on the internet. I have Antifungal creams which I am putting on the lesions daily but the vet I saw today said I didn't even have to do that. But then I rang my other vet and she said I should still bathe them! I am so confused, everyone says something different. The vet I saw today was so relaxed about it all, he didn't think they were that bad at all, he said its very minor and that when I called him he expected they would be much much worse, but to me they are bad. Last night I just bathed the areas that were affected rather than dunking the whole cat, that wasn't as stressful - do you think that is enough?
4. They have now been on Griseofulvin for a week, but yesterday I found more hairloss on cats - when will it stop!! A friend said the 2 week mark, I hope so, everytime I see a new spot my heart just sinks and I feel like everything I am doing trying to eliminate it is not working. Also wondering if anyone else found that the Griseofulvin made their cats unwell?
Ok that's it for now, to anyone who read this whole thing, thank you so much, I really do appreciate it
I am new to these forums so I hope its ok if I just jump in as I really really need support and advice for me and my beloved cats, am so upset right now.
About 3 weeks ago I noticed one of my furbabies Lila had a scab under her chin and was scratching above her eyes causing some hairloss. I took her to the vet and made them check for ringworm with the woods lamp and even though the vet said it did not "glow" and the skin scrape was all clear I insisted on a fungal culture as I am paranoid about it! At the time the vet said it looked more like allergic dermatitis especially since a lot of scratching was involved. After a week her culture was negative but by this stage one of my other cats had developed a spot on his front shoulder. So I took both of them in to a different vet and my first girl, still did not glow but my second cat did! OMG, I wanted to cry. We did another fungal culture for both of them and Lila my first cat tested negative again but my second boy tested positive, I have heard horror stories from friends in rescue about ringworm and have been reading way to much on it which has led to what I feel like is a nightmare I will never wake up from.
The past 10 days has been literally 24/7 of bathing my 8 poor cats in Malaseb which is so so distressing for them, medicating, washing and bleaching everything in the house daily, vacuuming, throwing out what we can etc etc which has led to extremely horribly stressed kitties and now all but one of them have some form of hairloss. I am just devastated, I just cannot believe I have ringworm, words cannot describe how distressed we all are. In all my 12 years doing rescue I have never had ringworm but this year due to my own health issues I haven't been able to foster any cats and I get ringworm! My babies are all indoor / enclosed backyard but the vet says the spores live in the soil and the strong winds and humidity that we have been having means the spores get blown around and the rain moves the soil and the ringworm breeds like mad so its most likely from the soil in the backyard. I have no idea how I can eliminate it from my entire backyard! I am doing my best but it just doesn't seem realistic to eliminate from the soil though I am tossing buckets of F10 (the only disinfectant that kills fungal spores aside from bleach that I know of) on the parts they hang out in the most but I don't know how much that will help and as our yard is very big I feel like if I miss just ONE spot that the whole thing is totally futile.
All I do is clean, I've had to take time off work and so far this has cost us thousands already but the absolute worst part is how distrustful and sad my cats are, they hate me and that just breaks my heart. The bathing is just stressing them out sooooo much. All but one have been rescues who are either ex ferals, had traumatic experiences or have special needs both behaviourally and health wise and they are all reverting back to being distrustful of me again, after years and years of building trust with them and then just 10 days of ringworm and its all gone
They are all on Griseofulvin, lesions or not but most of my babies are now seniors and I know this medication can have serious risks but I have no choice so will just have to deal with what happens. Being older cats, the risk is higher of complications from the meds and my oldest cats are already not well from it but I don't want to stop the meds as they have to be treated too. I have halved the dose for those cats though. As it is they are all eating a lot less than usual and they are much more lethargic and not as smoochy or playful. I have read that Sporanox has a lot few side effects but I have tried 4 vets now who all say that they are unable to get it as the pills are huge and it is not possible to get the dosage right. I am prepared to pay for compounding but they seem to think Griseofulvin is best to stick to.
So sorry for the ramble, there is just much going on and that I need to do with all of them and its affecting me, my cats and my relationship. I haven't seen anyone or been out since this happened and I am scared that I will never get rid of it. I cannot bear to lock them away in one room, their world has been turned upside down as it is, confining them would just lead to more stress and more ringworm
So now I have some questions, I really would appreciate ANY advice that anyone has soooooo much.
1. Some of my cats are scratching a lot. I have read that ringworm is not that itchy. And since Lila tested negative twice I still think that there is more going on. The cats all are scratching around there head and eyes and sometimes lick themselves frantically. I had a vet out to do a housecall today to look at them all to rule out anything else, he wasn't all that helpful to be honest but gave me Prednisolone to use only if required and advised I use Revolution every 2 weeks X 3 times in case of mites as well. Only my boy whose Fungassy was positive has a "typical" round ringworm lesion, the others look more like their hair is thinning above their eyes and around their ears. I should add that I flea treat them regularly and check them out with a flea comb often so its not fleas. Could mites do this? Vet said I would have to be very unlucky to have both after never even seeing a flea let alone something like this but with the crazy weather we have been having the amount of moisture in the air has brought out all sorts of yukky insects so I suppose its possible
2. I had my longest haired cat shaved and clipped all over for bathing. I have 2 other long hair cats but not as thick and long as his is. I am seriously considering having them ALL clipped to prevent fur being shed and stop spores spreading. Do you think this is a good idea? Another vet visit for them all will add to more stress but it would probably make a reoccurrence less likely.
3. The bathing is stressing them (and me!) out beyond belief, do I have to keep doing it? The vet I saw today said no since they are on Griseofulvin now but I read otherwise on the internet. I have Antifungal creams which I am putting on the lesions daily but the vet I saw today said I didn't even have to do that. But then I rang my other vet and she said I should still bathe them! I am so confused, everyone says something different. The vet I saw today was so relaxed about it all, he didn't think they were that bad at all, he said its very minor and that when I called him he expected they would be much much worse, but to me they are bad. Last night I just bathed the areas that were affected rather than dunking the whole cat, that wasn't as stressful - do you think that is enough?
4. They have now been on Griseofulvin for a week, but yesterday I found more hairloss on cats - when will it stop!! A friend said the 2 week mark, I hope so, everytime I see a new spot my heart just sinks and I feel like everything I am doing trying to eliminate it is not working. Also wondering if anyone else found that the Griseofulvin made their cats unwell?
Ok that's it for now, to anyone who read this whole thing, thank you so much, I really do appreciate it
