Urgent Help Needed-ringworm Cat

One of our long time resident cats at my shelter came up positive for ringworm. We just had an ringworm "epidemic" where a ton of stray cats came in ringworm positive so she had to have caught it from one of them. Anyways, the shelter, unfortunately, euthanizes all cats who have ringworm due to the risk for infecting the other cats and no really great way of completely isolating them from the others. I know that is not a very good reason, as I have learned from the poor Persian they got me to agree to euthanize thinking there was no hope for him. I knew nothing about ringworm at the time except that it is not a worm at all.

They gave us 2 days (until Wednesday) to find someone that would be willing to foster her until her ringworm is gone. One of the employees would even be willing to come to your house and bath the cat once a week herself, we just need a place to keep her. We all have apartments and a bunch of cats and not a really good way of seperating them to avoid spreading the ringworm. We also aren't home a lot with work and school. So, if anyone out there lives near Kent, OH and is willing to help out a really sweet cat named Nicole, please email me at [email protected] or message me here. Oh and the shelter will provide food. Thanks.

Here is a picture of her. She is only about 3 or 4 years old and a sweetheart.

Good lord, they kill them if they have ringworm? How sad is that!

I agree with MA. Bakker tested positive for ringworm when I got him from a rescue in November. My vet got me the fungicide (grisfulvien???) and I had to give this to all 4 of my cats for a period 4weeks??? Plus a cleaned the house real well. This was in December and I have not had a re-occurence. This cat should be kept separate if she will be treated. I'm too far away unfortunately.

Is the treatment in the form of a type of shampoo and you had to bathe the cat every so often? Is it weekly or daily or what? How long will it take for the ringworm to clear up. It seems to be that only a couple of us at the shelter care at all the save her. Everyone else goes by policy. I mean I can see if a feral came in positive and it would be hard to successfully treat it and it may pose some dangers. But to just put down any cat for having rignworm is a bit much. It is funny too because we are normal so strict on only euthanizing a cat if absolutely necessary and even some ferals, we find barns for them to live in, but they are just so weird about ringworm cats.

I'd take her if I lived closer. We had an outbreak of ringworm a few months ago but only two of my seven cats got it and neither my boyfriend, daughter, or I caught it and we handled the cats. The youngest kitten we bathed in the lime sulfur dip and had a liquid we applied to the spot, can't remember what it was called, and Starla was given Grifulvin orally. I freaked out after reading the horror stories on here but it really wasn't that bad, other than about $200 in vet bills.

To euthanize a cat or kitten for having ringworm....well let me just say that it is a terrible shame. It is also very unnecessary.
My daughter adopted a cat years and years ago. His name is Dylan. He had ringworm and brought it into our home. He was cat #4. He ended up giving it to one of the other cats and to me. The vet gave the 2 cats Pills to take and it cleared up rather fast. My other 2 cats did not get it and I did not separate them. My doc gave me medication and mine was gone rather quickly too. Dylan is now 14 years old and he has never again had ringworm. Neither have any of my other cats.
I think if you put her in her own cage and get her on some medication or bathing schedule she will do just fine.
To me euthanazia is just too harsh a punishment for something that is so easily treated. Maybe you can suggest that the shelter rethink their position regarding this matter.
My thoughts and prayers are with your sweet kitty and with you. God bless you for trying to help her. She is beautiful.

I can't understand euthanizing for ringworm either. It is not at all life-threatening -- it's more on the order of other fungal diseases like athlete's foot.

In fact, it will clear up by itself without any treatment at all in a few months.

It's true that it is contagious, but since it is more on the order of a nuisance than a serious disease I can't understand this attitude.

I hope Nicole has found someone to take care of her until her ringworm clears up. Thank you for caring about her and for her.

Try a treatment using Program. It's easier than bathing them and trying to give them medicine daily. Please see the article at:
http://www.isrvma.org/article/57_3_99.htm
There are many more articles on this. I tried the Program with 5 of my kittens that had ringworm and it didn't spread to the other cats I have and it was gone within 2 weeks.

Good luck!

Hey thanks guys. We all hate the policy, 3 more cats were just euthanized for it. But the woman who was supposed to be an "exert" at cat health turned out to be a phony and we have some very sick kitties on our hands. She has been fired and we are working hard to get everyone healthy again. I wish we could personally take home all the cats that are sick and treat them until they are better.

So anyways, Nicole was taken to be fostered by a family near me and they are actually going to adopt her. So that went very well. Now that I am almost out of school for the summer, I will be there a lot more often so I might be able to help some of the cats with ringworm, at least I hope I can.

Ironically we have both Program and shampoos for ringworm at the shelter. But they usually euthanize them so quickley. Since we are on the topic, is using a black lite to detect ringworm a definate way to check for it? Because I believe that is all this horrible "expert" woman was doing to determine if they had it or not. I don't think they even went to the vet. She basically fooled the board members and managers into thinking she really knew what she was doing because she has been a kitten foster volunteer for 13 years!
Oh man I could go on and on about this woman but I won't. She is gone and that is all that matters.

This is how you check for ring worm. The lesion will glow bright green if it is ringworm. My vet uses this all the time, you can also pull a few hairs from the effected area and culture it to see if the fungus will grow and the medium it is grown on will change color

Just the legion glows? Will there be flaking too that will glow?

I am so glad for Nichole that you found a family, her face is endearing, and of course, the ringworm is not her fault. thanks for helping her! i can sleep a little better tonight!