Practical advice about ringworm.

I have 1 foster cat with ringworm. he entered my home on a monday and I spotted it within 27 hours. I separated him in his own room, alone.

I read a lot of info and got a lot of advice, but what I would really like is some words from people who have actually had ringworm in their home. Since he is in a separate room and contagious to me and the other cats he has not been getting a whole lot of attention, and I feel very guilty.

He has been on a topical ointment for 11 days and an oral medicine for 5 days. (itraconazole, or something like that) The oral medicine is suppose to be given for 1 month. But when can I feel comfortable petting and playing with him? by the way, I have only seen 2 small spots.

Thanks to anyone with any words of advice or encouragement.

Best bet is to ask a vet when its typically safe to play with the kittie, it might be given for a month just as a precaution that it makes sure to kill it and not come back, but it might be safe say after 2 weeks.

I also know how it feels to not give any attention to a cat. Since my new kitten has a minor URI, ive basically kept myself in my room taking care of him and havent been able to give my other cats much attention, i dont wanna carry it on to them. Its very sad when one will sit outside my door and cry to be let in. But luckily I still live with my parents and they get plenty of attention from them.

Interactive toys such as the Cat Dancer or feathers on a stick would allow you to play with the kitty without direct contact.

I fostered 2 feral kittens this summer who had ringworm on their ears and paws. They lost hair/skin in littel clumps for about 2 weeks, then started to recover as the bare spots got scaly, then grew hair again. I used antifungal cream on the kittens twice a day and I always washed my hands after I handled them. I also bathed them in antifungal shampoo once a week for 3-4 weeks. The cream and the shampoo are supposed to control ringworm spores so I felt a little safer about being exposed to the kittens. Shampooing is good for getting rid of spores in areas that haven't started to lose fur yet. I also kept them in a confined area and cleaned it regularly.

my cat had ringworms before too.. however, i still continue to shower attention to her just like normal.. i know that ringworm is contagious to humans, but was told by my vet that children and the elderly are more sceptical... so in the end, my whole family was not affected at all... i applied topical spray on her that time, for about a month plus... not oral medication was given to her cos the vet advises that she was too young then.. ringworm is a pain the the butt i would say... hang in there.,,

Thanks.
I forgot about the weekly shampoo for him. (DUH! How could I forget...the vet asked me to bathe ALL the cats in the house to make certain to contain the spores)

Any way, the good news is that 1 of the 2 spots is starting to look better.

Time heals all ills, correct?

Originally Posted by JenLuckenbach

Time heals all ills, correct?

Click to expand...

Yes

Hi,

We got 3 kittens last September. The Ring worm started about 1 month later. I did seperate the cats for about a week. Then another kitten got it any way. So then I decided to just to let them play together. Fortunately none of our cats(we have 5) got it really bad. Our vet gave us a topical medication and as soon as I saw any type of spot on any of the kittens. ( I checked them every day) I would put medication on the spot and continue this until spot was gone. I took about 6 weeks before we had no ringworm.

It is best to try and keep them in one room if you can because it helps to clean every surface with bleach to kill the spores. I would vacuum soft surfaces with a bagless vacuum with a filter each day and then clean the canister and filter with more bleach. To this day I can't use bleach without thinking of ringworms. I have 3 cages that I would put them in each night. Deviding according to had a spot and who didn't. I would wash thier bedding with hot hot water and bleach of course. I would also clean the cages with bleach and water each day. This may have been more work than I needed to do. But I had to feel like I was doing something kill the spores.

This may not be for everyone but it seemed to work for us. As you can see I spent a good part of my day trying to fight the spores. I will say it was not fun but it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be and it did go away more quickly than I anticipated. Our Vet was amazed at how well our cats did. None of the humans in our household had any problems with the ringworm. I hope there is something in here that might help you with your problem. Take care! Bonnie