Ringworm Disinfection Question

[Billy the Kitt]

I've been a longtime lurker of this forum and finally decided to dip a toe in with a question...

Little history: I'm pretty well-versed in managing the plague that is ringworm. I adopted a cat in 2015 who had it. It was really stubborn to clear, but I learned a lot along the way. He caught it again 3 yrs later when we moved (we suspect he had contact with contaminated items we must've unearthed during the move).

2015 - quarantine for months, coat clipped, oral itraconazole, topical miconazole 1%, lime sulfur twice (had a really bad reaction to it), weekly Malaseb baths. Home disinfection with HEPA filter vacuum, and tons of Virox Rescue (formerly Accel) disinfectant.

2018 - quarantine for 2 weeks, coat clipped, 21 day course oral terbinafine, weekly baths w/MiconaHex + Triz shampoo, topical clotrimazole 1%. Same home disinfection protocols.

He just presented w/ringworm symptoms a week ago and just got back on terbinafine. We suspect he caught it at his last wellness exam at the vet, as the timeline works out in terms of infection incubation/exposure. He's been prescribed the same treatments as 2018, but I've increased the baths to 3x a week.


Anyway - my main question... I know practically all the documentation on environmental decontamination says to throw away hard to clean items like cat trees. Which, I always have tossed his scratchy posts immediately. This time, however, I am a bit reluctant. It's this floor-to-ceiling tree that's almost $50. I don't have much in the way of income. It does get replaced every few yrs as it is, because it simply gets shredded over time. It's the only tree that fits in my small space. I just got it a few months ago. He loves it so much. He's not quarantined with it, to clarify.

I vacuuum it every day while debating what the heck to do with it.

Has anyone ever kept a cat tree after ringworm and not had any future outbreaks?
How did you disinfect this particular item?

Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I think you could thoroughly saturate it with the disinfectant and then let it dry completely (and do whatever the disinfectant instructions say to do after use (either rinse, or vacuum, etc) ) If possible, leave it out in the sun until he's ready to use again. That may not be possible depending on your circumstances.

Note: I have never done this, but don't know why it wouldn't be ok. The disinfectant may discolor the cat tree, but that shouldn't prevent it from being used again.

 

[fionasmom]

I have never had to do this either, so am just passing on what I have heard. Steam cleaning is supposedly helpful, or putting the carpeted item in the sun if you can do that. Heat supposedly can kill the fungus. I have even heard of using a hair dryer to kill it....and don't know if this is an old wives' tale or not.

I am sure that you are an expert in ringworm.....like you ever wanted to be that in the first place. Your boy is lucky you have worked so hard to keep this at bay.