Ringworm

Hi Everyone. I'm new to the forum and I have some questions.

We brought home a kitten, which we named Cocoa, that was abandonded about 5 weeks ago. We also have a cat that is 1 yr old. Unknowing to us the kiteen had what we think and the vet thinks is ringworm (We did not notice it till about 2 weeks after bringing her home as she had no noticable spots when we got her). I immediately separated the 2 cats, putting the kitten in one bedroom as our other cat had no signs of it. They played underneath the door and must have shared it! Well about a week ago we noticed Abby our older cat has now a small spot behind her ear but that's it so we are treating her now. Luckily Abby's hasn't spread and it contained to that one small spot above her ear. Cocoa on the other hand now has gone from 1 large spot on her face to now spots on each of her feet and 2 more spots on her head. We have agressively given her topical meds from the vet, antifungal baths, and vacuumed (threw out bags afterwards) and scrubbed the entire room she is in right now.

I'm seriously thinking of buying a dog kennel to contain her in until we clear it up? Is that another option?

I take her back to the vet next week for shots but I'm getting frustrated with all this as I'm doing everything the vet tells me and everything I'm reading online to rid the cats of this and it is getting worse.

Hubby is using the woods lamp now to find the spores but he'll clean them up with the shampoo and apply the medication and the next morning they are back glowing again.

Oh and when I took them both back to the vet last Monday they said the culture had not yet grown but that it was only 1 week so we had to wait.

I know we can catch it and I don't want it! We have been taking precautions like using gloves and washing our hands alot lately. Luckily we haven't caught it yet. I've had numerous cats before and have never had this problem.

Any suggestions on what we can do now? And after 2 weeks of treatment shouldn't we see her better and not getting worse?

Any advice or help is appreciated! Thanks!

Helen

Ringworm in cats is so darn hard to get rid of..... I am sorry I have no advice for you..... Knock on wood am lucky at the moment.... I wish you luck and hope you dont get it and hope the 2 get better...

You sound like you're doing everything right, but perhaps you need to do another decontamination. I found the best defence against ringworm is to be diligent in your cleaning (you may not like having ringworm, but I bet you'll have one heck of a clean place).

Here's what worked for me:

Daily:
Dust every surface in your home (even if the cat hasn't come into contact with it as the spores are in your cat's fur and, thus, airborne);

Wash any bedding you've used in hot water and bleach (more to protect yourself from ringworm; but, if cat doesn't go in your bedroom then do this weekly). Also wash your cat's bedding this way.

Vacuum everything (and throw away the bag after each use). I've even gone so far as to wash down my vacuum cleaner with a hot water/bleach solution. OR, Clean all floors with a Swiffer - this picks up any hairs/particles without spreading them around (but I'd vacuum every week if you go this route) like a broom will do if you simply sweep.

Weekly:
Wash all surfaces (including walls, floors and countertops) with a 1:10 bleach mixture (wear rubber gloves). Make sure the surfaces are cleaned before using the bleach mixture or it won't work properly.

Note - always use the hottest setting available on your clothes dryer as the heat has been known to kill the fungus.

To protect yourself, always wear an apron when handling the cats (wash this every day in bleach and hot water) and if you do get it, use OTC cream containing 1% clotrimazole (apply at least twice daily and always keep it covered with a band-aid. Also, you should wash your hands everytime you come into contact with the cats.

Remember, while ringworm is not fun, it is treatable. However, length of treatment is an individual thing (I know someone who took 1 month to get over it while her cat took 2 months). And, yes, ringworm does tend to look worse before it gets better.

Thank you so much for the advice. We have been vacuuming every day and cleaning everything with bleach water. I even got some virkon to spray around with. The bad thing is our kitten likes to climb inside the recliner and hide so we had to buy a cage to put her in so she is in one area without carpetting and no place to hide. I'm hoping doing that will help but when I put her in there I felt so sad She is so loveable and I hate to contain her like that so I'm hoping she gets better quickly.

Has anyone used the oral medication on their cats? My vet seems to not want to give it to me and gave me some lotion instead.

Thanks again!

well then! tee hee

I just posted about this yesterday. We just recently got rid of an infestation that lasted 6 MONTHS! arrrrg! First it was chiclet, then we treated him and ashes (just in case) and the cheeto came to our home INFESTED.........Now Im not much of a cleaner so I didnt work that hard but I did vacuum every day, I washed all my sheets EVERY DAY (it was SO UNCOOL) and I dusted. As for the cats, they all got shaven, that way we could keep an eye on the ringworms all the time. Just when we thought it was coming to and end, WE got infested, and passed it to the cats all over again. It was one heck of a struggle lemme tell ya but just have patience. Air out ur house as much as possible every single day. Point fans OUT from ur window to get as much as you can out. Get a good vacuume and one of those disposable dusters like swiffer and make sure you dispose of ANY kitty stuff outside. Oh and when the ringworm disappears throuw out ur blankets ( if you can)

Has anyone used the oral medication on their cats? My vet seems to not want to give it to me and gave me some lotion instead.

Click to expand...

The oral meds were a last resort for my cats that we never used. Different vets give different treatments, but my cats treatments were VERY successful, the only reason it took us 6 months was cuz of cheeto, he had it all over his body and thats when it got ugly. ANYWAY, The vet gave us a Lyme bath and Antifungal shampoo. No lotions, no creams. The lyme dries up the ringworms and the antifungal helps prevent an outbreak. you will be bathing ur kitty once or twice a week tho, but its very worth it.
I suggest you ask ur vet for that option. Thenif he agrees, shave ur kitty, do the lyme and the antifungal and when it goes away shave her once more so she will get a clean coat and vioala! ur done. I know its easier said than done, but its do-able.

Im sorry ur having to go through all of this, but ur kitty is more than worth it! Besides, with any type of pet you have, you gotta take precautions for this, that or the other. Also make sure you have antifungal cream, preferably the strongest one used for athlet's foot. If you get but a small pimple, dab it on, cuz it might be a ringworm.Always cover it with a bandaid. Ours always started out like little pimples and 2-3 days lates they grew, so just have that in hand and also get any antifungal shampoo for urself. Look in the back and as long as any ingredient says "zole" ur good. I went to the doctor so he could prescribe a stronger one just in case, and I washed my hair twice a week with that.

I didnt do the gloves or the confining or the bleach (Im alergic to bleach) We couldnt keep our hands off the kitties, perhaps thats why we g ot them, But it wasnt that bad at all. It only took us a month to get rid of chiclets outbreak, just cheeto had a different more sticky kind of ringworm. Anywho, I'll stop yapping now.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!! Good Luck!

I have never dealt with ring worm with a cat. Before our cat we had a dog. She had ring worm and gave it to us. We used this stuff after many vet trips I found this online:
http://www.fungrx-ringworm-treatment...der-fungrx.htm
It worked quickly on the dog. We actually did parasite treatments on ourselves because we read that might help too.
Hope you get it all fixed.
Here is another site that tells about ringworm , with vet meds.
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ringworm.html

Lamisil. For you and the cats. We use Lamisil AT spray on us and drops on the kits. It works wonders. I keep an eye on them until it dries so they don't lick it wet. We had a batch of kittens born that were infested. The smallest and weakest had it worse. We've been treating every other day for 2 weeks (since they are so small) and she's almost cleaned up. Her sibilings are completely healed of it. So, there's something else for you to try. Good luck.