RINGWORM at the Sirrah house...argh updated 4/11/07

[sirrahbed]

I am sooo appreciative of these ideas! Good to know about the onions that may be in the babyfood, Bunny. I did not even think to check that. I am off to the store in a few minutes and now have added bleach to my list. I found some fungus cream under my counter but will pick up something generic, too.

Oh my I can't imagine how to shampoo and treat near the eyes!! ..especially on a baby like Crystal....I have read your threads Reachoutrescue I did not even put any shampoo on Emily's face - was afraid to. The patches are on her belly which is supposed to be an unusual site for ringworm on the kitties.

I did more internet reading and found that the ringworm spores thrive in the dirt outside so I can only guess that we brought it in on our shoes. The cats spend lots of time in the covered patio room and that is also the room we use when we come in from gardening. Who knows?

Oh yes and the expense with the medication...I read that the Griseofulvin isn't liscensed any more to use on cats so we have to get the human grade stuff and it is brandname and not generic so I am pretty sure that explains the high price. It is just a shame that some of the "routine" treatments are so costly. I don't know how rescues and shelters can cope with this - or just folks that have multiple cats.

Keep those ideas coming! Thanks!!

[Catlady711]

Sorry to hear about the ringworm problem.

A few thoughts here:

*Use the liquid and the baths like the label says for the full amount of time, no shortcutting it. It takes quite a while for ringworm to completely heal up. It may look better in a week or so but may still be lurking there ready to come back as soon as you stop treatment early.

*Yes Griseofulvin is expensive. There used to be a wonderful and CHEAP product available for pets. However like way too many things, they quit making it, forcing vets to have to prescribe a human alternative, which totally makes me MAD at drug companies!

*Griseofulvin works by healing from the inside out in the new skin that forms. The bathing helps the outside skin.

*Ringworm is a fungus (not a worm) that is present just about everywhere and thrives in moist, humid areas, and particularly likes humid weather. It's a cousin to athletes foot fungus. People CAN get it from animals, but mostly it depends on the person. Kinda like some people get athletes foot all the time, and other people can walk barefoot around a pool area all summer and never get it. Just to be safe, always wash your hands good after handling Emily. Just for the record my boss has been a vet for over 30 years and has only got ringworm from an animal once, I've been there for 6 years and have never got it.


*This one is a question. Did your vet use a Wood's light (blacklight) when Emily first came in? Or did he just use the culture? Many times a Wood's light can show ringworm as a florescence and can be diagnosed faster than waiting several days for a culture report. However the Wood's light isn't always 100% at finding it, but can greatly help. I was just curious since you didn't mention it.

Good luck with Emily's baths, hopefully she'll realize in the end you are trying to help her.

[sirrahbed]

No, the vet did not use the light on Emily. He did not think it was ringworm at the time but took a slide of skin cells and plucked hairs to culture. That was 2-3 weeks ago. The skin looks normal and healthy - no redness, sores or scabs. There are the two places on each side of her belly and on the backside of her rear foot.

I agree with you on the drug company problem - so frustrating that folks have to pay what is charged. She has not had any medicine yet because she won't eat! We got her an assortment of things to tempt her - oily tuna, baby food, toddler meat sticks, wet catfood. But, at least she has come out of exile and snuggled onto my lap.

I marked the calendar for baths every four days. Thanks Catlady711

[Catlady711]

I agree with you on the drug company problem - so frustrating that folks have to pay what is charged.
I marked the calendar for baths every four days. Thanks Catlady711

You're welcome.

It's also a frustrating problem for the vets too. They try so hard to help animals and minimize the costs to owners (at least where I work anyways) and some drug company just up and decides to stop making wonderful but inexpensive products that worked with little or no side effects! So that kinda puts the vet in a bad place having to prescribe out or carry more expensive drugs, as well as the fact many times the human version, or more expensive versions don't always work as well as the old ones did. It frustrates the owners who may have a tight budget and don't see results as fast as they used to or requiring longer treatment which means spending more $$$.

We used to have a wonderful cheap little pill for siezures that worked great! But a few years ago they stopped making it, so we had to switch to a slightly more expensive one that has more side effects, is a regulated drug so it requires a TON of paperwork every time we dispense it, and is so touchy on the dosage that it doesn't always control siezures as well as the old pills did.

We used to have a wonderful product for mange dips, but a few years ago, again some company up and decided to stop making it. That one really put us in a bind as there isn't really any alternative product that works nearly as well or fast as the old one did.

We used to have a wonderful insulin for our diabetic animals and yup, they up and stopped making that also. The new one requires almost starting over to get the glucose levels just right and of course costs almost double. *sigh*

It's like I've said for years about any product: Why do we need new and improved? What happened to old and reliable?

[krazyaboutkatz]

Debbie, I'm sorry to hear that Emily has ringworm. Starr had it when he was a kitten and I returned him to his foster mom so she could treat him because she also had several others fosters that had it. He had dry flaky white patches. It took several months and then he had another small a outbreak on his ears when I had him.

I bathed all of my cats just in case and I just used some medicine on Starr's ears but it irritated them a lot. I later used animax cream and he later had the same ringworm culture test that Emily had to make sure that he didn't have it any more. I also gave all of my cats the dog program pills just to be on the safe side and no one caught it. I forgot what the doseage was though. Good luck.

[Catsnclay]

Well Deb - how's it going??????

[Lizzie]

I'm sorry you are going through this and hope that Emily's ringworm clears up quickly and it doesn't spread. Adult cats are more resistant to the fungus than kittens, so that will help. And, as others have said, some people are prone to get it and others are not. If you haven't experienced any itchy patches on your skin by now, you will probably be okay since I am sure you are now being careful not to allow Emily's fur to touch your bare skin.

I had three kittens with it at about the same time as Tracy. (Imagine keeping kittens still for ten minutes while the shampoo "works"!) Even though only one kitten showed signs of ringworm, I isolated them all in a large bedroom. That was in early August, when the weather was glorious and they really should have been out on the deck in the sunshine. By the time I was able to release two of them, it was December. The third kitten didn't show any signs until her brothers were almost clear so had to be isolated alone for another three months. Only now is her fur starting to grow back across her nose and around her eyes - the most horrible place for her to get it because extremely difficult to treat.

I feel sure that the fact you are treating Emily with oral as well as topical medicine, that she is an adult cat and you don't have any FIV+ cats will help you get through this in a few months. You will have to be insanely clean, laundering in warm water everything that Emily lies on every single day. Clorox, most unfortunately because I loathe the smell, is the only thing that kills the spores as you probably know from some web research. I threw out a sofa, climber, computer chair and rugs in order to ensure that I got rid of the spores because I couldn't Clorox them. Everything that I took into the isolation room was cleaned with Clorox when it left. Their dishes were washed on the sterilisation cycle. I wore a robe, overshoes and gloves that stayed in the room.

Good luck! It takes time and work, but it does go away.

[catnapper]

Oh dear - I have no advice but I wish you best of luck with everything. It sounds like a nightmare. (((hugs))))

[moosmom]

Ringworm is HIGHLY contagious to both pets AND humans. Make sure when you handle a cat with ringworm to wear rubber or latex gloves and always wash your hands everytime you handle them.

Miconizole cream for athletes foot is a great topical cream. I had a case of ringworm years ago. Fortunately, only one of my cats had it. She was isolated for 3 months till it completely disappeared. Her ears were totally bald. My daughter and I took turns sleeping in the bedroom so Marina Mar wouldn't get lonely.

Good luck and please, be careful.

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Awwwwww, I just found this thread. I am not often on PT anymore...

My cats got ringworm (Maya & Inka) after we got Zazou. Zazou came from a shelter, and was a carrier for this disease. She didn't get ringworm, but I treated her as well!
I had to wash all 3 cats (Snoopy wasn't here yet) every 4 days, and give them medication. It was a VERY HARD time! I was as wet as my cats, and my kitchen was a wet mess . But..... it helped!!
After a while, when the bads weren't needed any longer, my scratches got time to heal properly . Be careful though when you have touched her: wash your hands with a special disinfectant !

Good luck, Debbie!!

Pics from my girls. Don't they all look so happy???
lovely Inka


gracious Maya


and the one who caused all this mess: lovely Zazou

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Poor pusscats....hard to explain to them that its for their benefit isn't it?