Ringworm in Cats

Hello everyone!

A while back my cat had a few red spots on her lower neck/back that were irritating her a lot. She would itch them constantly and they would bleed until it like formed a sore. I have taken her to two vets with no clear answer so far. The second vet said it looks like a fungal infection and is most likely ringworm. This explanation seems plausible. Yet, she doesn't have the flaky skin associated with ringworm. He has given us a cream (i have been applying it for quite some time now) but its useless since she licks it off almost immediately. When we went a second time to the second vet, he prescribed with the cream an oral medication. I have only used it for 2 days so its too soon to tell. After researching online, I found out that apple cider vinegar is a good natural remedy. So i am trying this. Do you recommend it? Also, all 5 of us at home have not been affected by anything and my other cat shows no signs of ringworm. What do you guys think? Could be ringworm?

Thank you!

Does it look like a ring?  Have a look at the pictures here and see if there's any resemblance... it's pretty distinctive, and very, very contagious!

apf02 said:

 
Hello everyone!

A while back my cat had a few red spots on her lower neck/back that were irritating her a lot. She would itch them constantly and they would bleed until it like formed a sore. I have taken her to two vets with no clear answer so far. The second vet said it looks like a fungal infection and is most likely ringworm. This explanation seems plausible. Yet, she doesn't have the flaky skin associated with ringworm. He has given us a cream (i have been applying it for quite some time now) but its useless since she licks it off almost immediately. When we went a second time to the second vet, he prescribed with the cream an oral medication. I have only used it for 2 days so its too soon to tell. After researching online, I found out that apple cider vinegar is a good natural remedy. So i am trying this. Do you recommend it? Also, all 5 of us at home have not been affected by anything and my other cat shows no signs of ringworm. What do you guys think? Could be ringworm?

Thank you!

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Why didn't your vet culture the sores?  It's easy to do, and you will have a definitive result in 10 days and if its negative then its something else, possibly allergic in nature (which can become infected) and if its positive then there are other treatments available like an oral medicine and a type of bath done weekly.  But without a clear diagnosis you can't possibly know what to do.

The vet can also look at it under a woods lamp, but a neg result doesn't prove anything, only a positive result so unless its positive you need to follow up with a culture.

Lemmy my 12yr old boy has dry flaky skin on his back. He has very long hair and it gets matted for years.  But after his sister died a year ago he actually became happy and started being really affectionate.  OK now the guy friend that helps take care of my cat when I go to work tells me that he is sure he got ringworm from my cat..one spot on the middle of his back...which actually matches where the chair back  that Lemmy sits/plays on.And he has taken care of my cat for years.   But he travels a lot and stays at a lot of hotels world wide.  Lemmy has scratched me too many times while we play games, I have never had ringworm and I have had it many times in the past before cats in my life. OK..HERES WHAT CONCERNS ME...I have never seen Lemmy groom himself like he does now since sis passed.  As said his hair is long and as much as I groom him it still mats during the winter.  He takes small bites at himself pulling his matted hair and then licks. PLZ understand he is not matted now..I work hard to comb and cut the matts.  But does this sound like ringworm.  I can not see any spots on his body when I look though his hair.   My vet says he has shampoo, 3 times once a week leaving it on for 20 minutes...OK who can get a cat to a 20 min. shampoo???   If I had a medicine he would get it but a shampoo will be very difficult.  Any thoughts here will help, thanks 

BTW...that is the sister cat  in my picture that pretty much terrorized my boy Lemmy, but I had no idea until she died and he became my new best friend and a lovely cat.  He actually tried to be nice but she really took him down a lot for 12 years. 

Thank you all for your feedback. My vet told me that it was a bacteria infection and the medicine we had been giving her wasn't working. So, he performed surgery on her and removed the damaged skin. After the stitches healed, she became the active kitty she was before the infection!