Need Help!

Would love some opinions/help for the poor sweet kitty I adopted from the shelter 1 1/2 weeks ago. She seemed like a perfectly healthy kitty when we picked her out. They required she be spayed before we took her home (what a shame, I would have liked her to be a bit older, she's was only 10 weeks)...anyways, it's been one thing or another since we brought her home, her health has gone down hill. The spay incision became infected and we saw the vet (who spayed her per the shelter) a few times and finally he had to put her under again, clean it out and re-stitch. While all of this is going on, her skin has started developing a whole other issue. They said ringworm, but didnt culture. I'm not sure, it's spread to her ears, and I'm worried today it's around her mouth too? What do you think this is? Her nose looks painful and she keeps trying to scratch her ears. thoughts?

It does look like ringworm. Did the vet start her on any treatment? I believe the incubation period is about four weeks, so it's not surprising that she looked fine when you got her. Please inform the shelter so they can isolate her littermates, etc., if the vet hasn't done so.

Any big change, even a positive one like moving into a new home, means stress and susceptibility to illness, which is why newly adopted cats that seemed perfectly healthy often end up at the vet's office.

thank you so much for your response. Any advice on caring for ringworm? The animal shelter advised using Lotrim or an athletes cream, however when I was at the Vet (for the spay incision infection) they gave me Antifungal- conzol 1%.

I've been putting all over her since Saturday but it doesn't seem to be doing much, her ears may be a tiny bit crusty but tonight as I was petting/rubbing her I noticed a couple other spots. 

I have 3 small children, a 13 yr old cat and 2 yr old dog, I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty terrified about them catching it? She's been isolated for the most part since it's developed but I'm worried about her running around the house before it took over her skin and we knew about it.

Heather

We're dealing with it in five shelter cats right now, but the meds are different in Europe, so I'm not much help there. All five are getting oral medication (Itrafungol), ointment, and weekly baths (Imaverol).

There are a couple of articles on ringworm here, plus any number of threads. Perhaps you'd like to check them out:

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[article="32417"][/article]

[thread="210789"][/thread]

[thread="253453"][/thread]

Ringworm is contagious, but it's supposedly pretty easy to treat in humans. A number of shelter workers were cuddling the 2 kittens and picking up the 3 adults that arrived from a rescue organization before we were aware that they all had it, and so far nobody has gotten it. :cross:

Poor baby! I hope she feels better soon with the treatments. My Penelopy, who I adopted two weeks ago today, had a small spot of it on her, which we started treating a week ago. Your baby has it pretty bad though! Poor thing.

I had a friend who got it from her kitten, it was easily treated so don't worry too much. Just make sure that everyone washes their hands frequently. I hope kitty gets better soon, she is very cute.