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Ringworm in new shelter kitty
- Thread starter thekitty
- Start Date
I would call your vet and ask what to use. That is a shampoo for humans so I am not sure if it is even safe for cats. It also may not have the proper ingredients in it to treat ringworm. I do not have any experience with this issue myself so hopefully someone who has experience can give you advice.
I had a similar experience, adopting a shelter cat with no visible ringworm, only to have my original cat break out the week after the adoption. Shortly after that, the new shelter kitty had visible ringworm as well. Both of mine were on oral medication for quite a few weeks, and I also shampooed them with Malaseb Shampoo, which was recommended by my vet. I put a collar on them, attached a leash to the collar and tied it to the soap dish. I poured water onto them and lathered them up rather than putting them in a tub of water or under running water. When using Malaseb, you lather and then let it sit for ten minutes. I wrapped them in a towel and held each in my lap and calmed them for the ten minute waiting period. I thought it would be much worse than it actually was. They both cleared up beautifully and we've never had a recurrence. I hope you're all ringworm free. It can be such a PITA to deal with.
Thanks for the information. I did not know there was a cat shampoo. There is also a human shampoo with the same name,
A friend used pure oxygen shampoo and said it worked well, the shelter sent some home with her. It is so expensive I haven't tried it yet as I'm pretty well tapped out money wise. I stopped using topical other than the sulfur dips and my cats face is looking better but we're not out of the woods yet and he's about out of oral terbinafine. Maggie May that is encouraging, I sure hope we get thru this and it never comes back. I have OCD and even when they're all clear I am not sure how long it will take me to feel comfortable snuggling them again. Even with my dog that never had lesions (still treated her and dip her) I am afraid to touch her without washing my hands afterwards. I really hate this, they are family and I'm afraid to touch them. I'm not comfortable in my own home, our whole lives have been turned upside down by this. I may sound dramatic but it's true.
No, you don't sound dramatic, I know the feeling. It's horrible to have to be afraid to cuddle them. Once they're on medication, they don't stay contagious for long. If it's any consolation, once we went through that initial bout of ringworm, we were never faced with it again. It's been four years now.
Did you do fungal cultures on them to make sure they were clear or just consider them clear when the lesions were gone? I'm torn on spending the money and waiting those extra weeks or just letting back in when they appear clear.
I had never had an animal with ringworm, so I was fairly freaked out. I took my cats back to their vet every 3 weeks, I believe. This is to the best of my recollection; this was five years ago. My vet would do a culture and check them with the black light. After the first time or two, they never glowed again, but they had to have their meds refilled another time after the last time they glowed, I'm sure because the culture was still positive. I bathed them religiously, as often as he said to do it, and let the shampoo sit on their little bodies the full ten minutes. If you don't get it taken care of it can go on and on. I could just see my two continuing to reinfect one another, because by that time, they were giving each other face baths several times a day. That's how Mia gave it to Fritz to begin with, she's big on face baths. They steadily looked better, with the lesions going away and new hair growing back in. I was determined to get rid of the ringworm the first time and it never came back. I know it can be tempting to try to save money but it's something I had no intention of going through again. It is SO contagious.
Before we found out the foster cat had it half my household had been infected, yes definitely VERY contagious. They've been on oral meds first itraconazole and then we switched to terbinafine for one cat, they are getting dipped in lime sulfur once or twice a week which is a fungicide. I can't tell you how many bottles I've went thru... I have cut no corners so far, had to get on oral meds myself. My hands were a bloody mess from washing them so much. I just wasn't sure if I should go for another culture before letting them out of quarantine. Right now I still have the cats in the sunroom, they are depressed and I'm depressed over it. The dogs got brought back in because they're old and don't get all over the furniture like the cats do. This has been going on since the beginning of Feb and I'm SO over it! Vacuuming daily, washing bedding daily, the laundry omg. I'd rather have headlice.
I spent nowhere even close to that!
I washed their cloth toys, bedding, blankets, towels, window seat covers using detergent and bleach and ran the rinse cycle twice. I used the PureGreen24 to clean all hard surfaces and I lightly sprayed it on upholstered furniture they like to curl up on. I didn't use my steam cleaner or go crazy with the cleaning. And the PureGreen24, which is anti-fungal, did an amazing job of killing spores on pretty much everything. I believe that product is what made my cleanup painless compared to some. No, you don't have to do years of deep cleaning. As the fungus is eliminated from the cats' systems, just continue to wash their bedding a couple of times a week. Maybe a quick wipedown of hard surfaces once a week until they're clear, using PureGreen24. If there are areas the cats don't frequent, as there were in my house, I didn't bother with those. Only places where I know they play, hang out and sleep.
I actually laughed a little because I have total ocd too. My house was crazy clean before the ringworm and now it's like hospital clean. My dogs all got a spot on them even though I've been giving them pure oxygen baths. I finally just lime dipped them too. 3 dogs 75 pounds each. Cats are all looking good after another dip and 4 weeks of fluconazole again. Hopefully just one more line dip for everyone. This has been going on since January.
I have wondered about that Pure Oxygen shampoo. I used Malaseb shampoo on mine and I used it religiously, and it worked. It is one of the best anti-fungal shampoos made for pets and it is highly effective. Once I read what your cats were given orally, @kellimaui I realized it's what mine were given as well (Fluconazole). And it took a couple of months, perhaps more, for them to be free of the ringworm. I think we all go into a cleaning frenzy when we hear that diagnosis, and I know the PureGreen24 cleaning product seemed to help a great deal. It will not hurt the animals or furniture or toys, and so can be sprayed on most surfaces. This stuff kills MRSA and VRE (both antibiotic resistant pathogens); it is a fungicide and a viricide. It disinfects as well as, if not better than, bleach. I did use bleach on bedding, etc. in the laundry, but the PureGreen24 is what I had switched to in order to have a very strong yet pet-safe cleaning product, and it worked well everywhere else. For those who have only applied a topical ointment, I wish you luck, but I don't believe that is ever enough. My own experience was that ringworm is tough, you need an oral antifungal medication and an antifungal shampoo, bleach in the laundry and its equivalent on furniture and hard surfaces, and the treatment takes a few months. I have never been faced with the problem again, thank goodness.
Yes they are still on fluconazole and I am doing a weekly sulfur dip (only twice) just to make sure. I am using Accel to disenfected as it has a 5 minute contact time. My foster kittens have relapsed at their new homes so I am sulfur dipping them once a week too. I'm going old school now because it works.
