sleepless with kitten ringworms

hello there,

i looked up this site out of my desperation of my kitten with ringworm. Anyone had been there, i am wondering if you can answer some of my questions.

I took Milo from a park when he was about 2 or 3 weeks old. He was looking poor cos he was abondoned by his mother, that time his eyes were not even completely opened. He was not in a good condition either, lots of fleas, very skinny, eyes infection, undernutriented.

Anyway, after 2 weeks i had him, cleaning up the fleas and at the time he seemed back to himself, i found him having these round patches all around  and he's diagnosed with ringworms.

i did what the vet said, bath soak (with potassium permaganate), cream...

may i ask: 1. if it is a good idea to have his fur all shaved so that the cream can be more easily applied so as to speed up the healing process?

2. Milo started to shed dried crust-skin-hair all around the room (that i isolated for him), is it part of the healing stages or getting worse?

3. How long does it take to completely heal so that i can let him out? and

4. if it is likely or unlikely he will have ringworms again?

i am living in İstanbul and the vets here seems to have regime and treatments varies so much. i don't really know who to listen to.

many thx

karen

Hello and welcome to TCS. So sorry your having this problem on top of all his other issues. Are there other animals in the house?

Ringworm when healing usually looks worse before it gets better. I'm sure it's in the process of clearing up. Most important thing is to vacuum ...vacuum...vacuum. Wash all linens he sleeps on frequently. This so the spores are gotten rid of. Wiping surfaces with a dilute bleach solution will kill spores on any hard surfaces. Use a VERY dilute solution. 1 part bleach/10 part water.

Most healthy cats can fight off this fungus and never get infected even if exposed. Since the kitten was/is in so poor health, he was susceptible to it.  The important thing to remember is that it IS a fungus and not a disease, and though contagious, is easily treatable and if you yourself get it, you can use a simple fungal cream like for athletes foot. If there are no other animals in the house, I would not be overly stressed about this.

I would not worry about shaving his fur. He will not heal faster then he already is if you did. Hope this helps. And thank you for rescuing the little guy!

Thanks sooo much for advicing.

There isn't any other animal in my flat. We saved Milo on my daughter's birthday, that all she wanted was a kitten. While we celebrated in the park, we found Milo.

Indeed, it is the very first time in my life to have a cat. It's really a kind of shock what we are encountering now. After reading and reading after ringworm infection, which minimum last 4 months as they said

How long should i isolated Milo then? it's depressing both for us and Milo.

thank again, feel like fighting alone in İstanbul. People are saying just put the cat back on Street. How could I !!!

karen

It's important to keep him confined at this age anyway, as he is still a bit young to have full run of the house, plus you don't want your daughter handling him until he has gotten the all clear from the vet. I don't think you have to confine him for 4 months though. It's the spores in the environment that can last that long, and that is also the amount of time it takes a healthy cat to fight it off on it's on, without treatment. From all I have learned about it, ringworm takes about a month to clear up once treatment has started.  He should also be recultured at that time to be sure it's gone.

The more important thing is making sure he doesn't get reinfected due to the spores still being in the environment. So if you keep his environment small, the less of an area you need to keep cleaned. Good hand washing and washing your clothes after having contact with him will keep the spores from spreading also, along with the other things I already mentioned.

I know this may sound overwhelming to you, but it is manageable. There is no reason you both can't spend time with him in his room by taking precautions. How old is your daughter? Is she old enough to understand he's being kept in the room so it's like his "hospital" room?

Here is another post you may find helpful http://www.thecatsite.com/t/253453/ringworm-wars

It's so wonderful you took this little guy in and are doing all this for him. Years from now you'll both look back on this as quite an experience. Your going to learn a lot more about cats as time goes on! This is just 1 little hiccup hopefully.

Thank you so much for taking your time to reply me. I have read ringworm wars threads and other related posts and this site has been helpful to me about what ı have to do. It's also a great psy support to me for your kind words.

I have taken all the precautions I should take and my daughter is old enough to understand and help (12 years old). Now there is one thing that i don't know what to do to help.

Whenever i entered Milo's isolation room, i put on different clothings, gloves, wiperble plastic cushion for him to sit on while i can spray the med and clean his fungal leisons.... whenever i do that, he is SCREAMING as if i am going to kill him...it must be painful i know, for the bare wounds. It really breaks my heart to hear and see him crying like this and struggling to get out from my hands. He is just a 4 weeks old kitten.

He is now trying to escape whenever i enter the room. I felt so bad. Every time i try to console him by stroking him, giving treats to him after the hard times... do you think kittens can understand this? How can i prevent psy trauma to Milo? Or limit? I cannot really afford to bring him to the vet every day for the application of the spray and med.

right here we don't have sulphur dip. I wash Milo with an antifungal shampoo, clean wounds with betadine and antifungal spray for athletic foot. I also put a neck piece for him right after to prevent him from licking (iodine toxification)

i had a nursing background too i understand healing process does take time to take its course. But when things happen like this, i would be just like anyone going impatient if not irrational.

thx again for your support!

karen

Poor poor thing. I can understand how heart breaking this can be. How much time after his treatment are you spending with him? I would wrap him in a towel, like you swaddle a baby, after his treatment. Rock him, speak soothingly, and keep him warm. If he is wrapped like this, you can walk around with him and even take him out of the room. The spores will not spread if he is wrapped. It is so important to keep him warm.  His being held next to your chest, hearing your heartbeat, and the warmth will ease his stress so much and also help in bonding.

When I adopted my Sophie she had ringworm (microsporum canis) and trichophyton, another fungus. It seems so long ago that most of the time I forget we had this problem.

It is advisable to take all precautions necessary - clean with bleach the floors and the surfaces that Milo likes to sit on, vacuum and keep treating the poor guy.

We never bathed Sophie - we bought an antifungal shampoo but we decided to use a liquid ointment with crotamitol 100mg, acid p-hydroxybenzometylester 0,65mg, acid p-hydroxybenzoproylester 0,35mg. The vet also prescribed antifungal creams from the human pharmacy but they were too greasy so we only used the liquid ointment. No betadine either. We played with Sophie for 15 minutes so she would not lick herself, but we never used a neck cone, not even after spaying. Too much stress for them.

I do not know why he is screaming, does he look like he is in pain? Sophie ran away from me when she saw me with the ointment, but she never appeared to be in pain.

Another thing we did is give her immunostimulants. It has been about 13 months since I have Sophie, and the ringworm was gone within a month. We did not have a flare up since.

Good luck in healing Milo and be patient - if he has quality food, fresh water and some playtime, along with the treatment and with the immunostimulants (if the vet recommends) he should be fine.

Overall you have gotten some great advice and I second all of it. Be diligent in your cleaning and medicating. Yes, it does take time but you WILL survive it! 

As for his crying: be sure you are going in the room and spending time with him outside of needing to medicate him so he doesn't start to associate you as the bringer of bad things. If you equally spend your time between medicating and loving on him/playing I have no doubt your bond will be a strong one. I went through this with my girl when I first brought her home and I was terrified that she was going to hate me for all I had to do to her. But, after it was all said and done, I think it actually strengthened our bond. She became extremely comfortable with my handling her and it built a trust between us unlike any other. So, as much as ringworm sucks that can be a pretty major silver lining!

As far as the crying, it certianly could be because the medication hurts him (I know it burned my girl when I applied it) but it could also just be the fear of knowing what is to come. I think that's why if you mix up your visits it will keep him on his toes and lessen some of the anticipatory anxiety. If it's actually causing him pain there isn't much you can do other than try to be quick and distract him afterwards with treats, a play session, and lots of love to try and take his mind off of it. 

I know how frustrating and difficult this can be and overall I think you are doing an amazing job and have a great attitude. Thank you for saving this little guy and nursing him back to health and for not giving up on him! I promise in the long run this will just be a blip that you went through, and will be well worth all the wonderful years that you will all share together! Unless he goes outside and comes into contact with the fungus again once you eradicate it it will be gone forever. So, no need to worry about it coming back again unless he is once again exposed. 

We are here for any other questions that you may have as well as for your emotional well being. Feel free to bring your frustrations here- I promise there are many sympathetic ears who have been there before! 

Keep up the good work! 

Hello there,

thank you for all the kind hearted people in this site.

As long as i keep the cleaning part as a routine, it did not take me long to get used to it and not annoyed by it. I only want Milo to get well soon.

It seems to me the spray contains alcohol and also Milo does not like spray. When i take out the liquid and apply on, seems better.

Now his wounds appears bald and shinning, the crusted hair is losing. Does it seems to you he is in the healing progress already?

Since his ringworm condition is really advanced, our vet also put him on oral medication.

It is just the isolation part frustrating. Every now and then whenever there is sun, we let Milo to play a bit outside our apartment under supervision. His appetite is good, responsive to play and games. I also abondon the dried kitten food until he gets well, i think. I cook salmon and chicken liver for him. Do you think that's good?

thinking about how to boost immune, can i add some ginger juice? Do cats eat ginger taste?

many thanks again....

Karen

Does sound as though his sores are healing.

A good balanced wet/canned food would be better then dry food for him, even for after this has passed. It is VERY important that he get a balanced food. He is a growing boy and needs calcium. Liver is good, but too much may give him runny stools. Too much fish is also not good for cats, due to their livers not being able to filter out the toxins very quickly that can be in the larger fish species. A good site on cat nutrition is http://www.catinfo.org/

Ginger root is ok for cats, but the amount is usually based on a cats weight. It is used more to help settle upset tummies and so I'm not sure it would boost his immune system. Maybe someone else knows more about that then I, or knows of something else you can give. Or you can post in our nutrition forum to ask for more help in that area.

Agreed that RW scars often look worse before they start looking better, but the fact that it's scabbing over and the hair is falling out are usually signs that it's on the mend. Yay! 

I also agree that you need to be sure you are feeding him a well balanced diet that will cover his high nutritional needs as he is a rapidly growing boy. A raw diet is an amazing one for cats but you have to make sure you are doing it properly so that he's getting everything he needs. If you are wanting something more immediate, I would highly recommend a grain free wet food given to him at least 4 times a day (as much as he wants to eat given his age). You can also do a combo of wet and dry if you want, or, feed him a little salmon and chicken liver as treats in addition to his wet food. Katluver is right though- watch the amount of liver because it can quickly lead to a vitamin A toxicity. 

There is a wonderful subsection over in nutrition on raw feeding that may be of huge benefit to you. The regular posters over there are absolutely amazing so feel free to start a new thread to get all your questions answered! 

Before we took Milo in, we got everything ready at home like the basic toilet, carrier for bringing cat to vet, litter, scoop and a huge bag of dried kitten food which was advised by the pet shop. I had no idea what cat should  eat, honestly, fish was what commonly in the mind. Well, carrot for rabbit, fish for cat that kind of thought. After some days of observations, it was actually not something wrong happened other than the ringworms, I just felt sooo bad whenever I heard the grinding sound when Milo was chewing that pebble like food. How could cats love that?? I was wondering, then my instinct told me that can food must be nicer, but how am I going to afford it? They are selling like 3US dollar per can here and Milo would finish 3 cans in a day, remember he's just kitten at the moment. So I need to find a way to sustain and keep all of us healthy.

In Turkey, people generally don't have much mentality for animals, what was sold as pet food must be well balanced, of course I was tricked as well. Dare not to make my own because afraid of something is missing. Now, I will do my homework on this aspect, thanks katluver4life the link that you send.

karen

It's all very understandable and I was the same way when I first adopted several years ago. I figured throw down some dry food and they are good, right? It took awhile for me to learn there are other options and better choices out there. But that's what it is: learning. And, it doesn't happen in one day and you have more than your fair share of things going on! 

Know that you can give dry food, just look for the best quality one you can find. And, that would be a brand that doesn't have any grains in it and lists a whole animal in the first three ingredients. You can also give dry as well as wet food. The dry fills the belly that extra amount while the wet covers the nutritional need. It can help cut down your costs while he is a kitten and hopefully when he's grown and eats less you can just use wet food only. 

It's all a balancing act. Just do the best you can with what you have! 

Hi there and hugs to you! It's a huge nuisance that take time to clear up, I know because I am in my own cats isolation room as I type this, but it won't be forever! Clean, clean, clean with 1:10 bleach/water solution. Micro fiber cloths help reduce the dust and therefore I feel traps the spores. I'm not a scientist, but that make me feel better! This unfortunately is very contagious - I got it, my son and my husband. We had adopted kittens from a shelter I live in apartment and my cats never go outside unless its in a carrier to the car and then to the vet. These kittens that I brought back to the shelter for treatment infected all of us! I personally would not bring the cat out of the room that she is in unless you are holding her and she doesn't have free roam of your home. As for the food, I prefer a grain free wet food. If you can search the Internet for a cleaning solution that can be diluted to even put in your own laundry, that would be good too. I'm using "shock wave" which is also a hospital grade antifungal/antibacterial. Health guard makes a laundry additive as well. I wish you luck and prayers! Wash your hands be conscious of wearing clothing that has been in contact with the kitten! Wear something like scrubs or a long robe and wear when you are with her. I wouldn't play with her and then sit on your bed with the same clothing - thoughts are with you!

Just want to thank every heartful cat lover here. My Milo has got well and out of the isolation room already. He is always coming to me for a hug!

Hurray!  That is great to hear.  Milo is adorable.  I am so glad he found a good home with you.

Great news - he's really cute!

hello catmom 110,

May i ask you how would i know if i got ringworms infection? What are the signs and symptoms or how does it appear on the skin? Because although Milo got well and i let him out, sometimes i could not help but suspect some spores still remain and sometimes i feel itchy. Don't know it is psychological or real. If you can tell me how exactly it's like?

How does shock wave work?

I hope your family and cats get well soon.

thx a lot!

karen

Hey - if you got ringworm believe me - you would know it. It starts off as a raised lump like a mosquito bite and then has a wavy ring around it. And it itches! And it spreads easily. Google ringworm and click on images. Don't look at the worst ones because it not the norm unless someone has been rolling around in it. It looks something like a cigarette burn. I got about 12 or 15 spots on various parts of my body. I was sleeping with my kittens and kissing them all over and they'd be under the covers at night and I was picking them up and snuggling with them all the time. Shockwave is a liquid much like windex, which you'd wipe down hard surfaces with and smells nice. Not good for mirrors because it streaks them and not so good for wood. Can be used in laundry! I sprayed all my upholstered furniture with it from a distance and it was fine. If you have been treating milo for a while now, and you only have him - I can't imagine that he'd be spewing spores all over the place. Remember that there is all sorts of bacteria and fungi everywhere including our homes. It's only when it get to high concentrated levels it's a problem. So if you're cleaning and milo is being treated and you see fur growing back he should be much much less contagious! The reason they need oral meds for such a long time is so it doesn't come back and it gets cured completely. Just like when we take antibiotics and the directions are to take for 10 days even if you are feeling better before then. If you haven't gotten any lesions on yourself, you probably won't get any! Good luck

hello catmom110,

Thank you for your detailed infomation. I and my daughter do have dots and raised little bumps like mosquito bites, not to the stage of wavy rings but small little ones. I am just suspecting if those are from ringworms or else. Should i apply fungal cream just in case or if you have other suggestions of what you do?

Milo is also just like your cats, loves to go under sheets, lying on upholsed sofa, jumping over laundry rank with clothes hanging... and as much  he loves to be hugged as i love to cuddle him, so there isn't so much barrier for this annoying spores not to pass somewhere.

karen