If it’s not glowing, it’s most likely hair loss caused by something else. Ringworm is everywhere in the environment, so I guess it’s possible to be infected by more than one strain, but as far as I know they all glow under UV light.
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6 Things I Learned from Our Ringworm Plague (book length....)
- Thread starter bunnelina
- Start Date
Hi there!
I'm gong trough the ringworm war. We cought it wile on vacation (animals and people). Now to make the story short now that we came home I'm absolutely driving my crazy with washing and cleanig and disinfecting....like everyone else here. Because like everyone else I read too much stuff on the web. The thing is the people in my household are much better after a few days of treatment and the affected pets not so much better but it takes longer for the animals. And to be noted not all my animals got it even when nobody got the treatment because the first few days we did not know what it was....and we were all togher slept and did everything together. Two of my cats dont have it despite still living normally with other infected animals.. Isolating the poor animals is just torture in my opinion...if it will spred on you and the other pet it will despite isolation... The reason why I' m writing here is because I'm so mad at my self bacause i let this infection drive me so crazy and I have become a very unplesant person. My cats and dog and husband are depressed and scared of me. I expose them everyday to chemicals that, i'm sure, are more harmful that the damn ringworm. I keep a tight regime with touching stuff petting animals, washing hands, cleanig...my animals are clearly depressed because of my crazy and nervous energy.All this despite the information that I have from first hand that there is no need to go crazy with the cleaning and obsessing. My friends cat had it and She was also crazy the first 2 weeks...then she just stopped the nonsense. Stop washing like mad disifecting vacuming...and just putting ointment on the cat. it took a wile for the cat to get better because that is the normal course of this infection eventualy she did! And nobody got it from her (including me and my dogs) and the cat never got it back. Also My brother had it when he was little and my mother told me that she kept running the household normally and treated only him. Nobody else got it and he did not get it back. I think everybody here needs to chill the f*** out including ME. Moths of chemical exposure cannot be good for humans or animals...basic clening will do With just a little bit more attention will do the trick....Once you start treatment the animals and you it's far less contagious. Ringworm is everywhere...can somebody plesae tell me how do you disinfect the soil in dog parks...and yet dogs with ringworm go there and it is not spreding like wildfire.All the people would have it all the time and enybody with animals would never get rid of it if it was so resistant and so good at playing hide and seek
But in the end averybody wins the war with the little devil spores. So there....(p.s. sorry for the splelling english is not my first language)
I'm gong trough the ringworm war. We cought it wile on vacation (animals and people). Now to make the story short now that we came home I'm absolutely driving my crazy with washing and cleanig and disinfecting....like everyone else here. Because like everyone else I read too much stuff on the web. The thing is the people in my household are much better after a few days of treatment and the affected pets not so much better but it takes longer for the animals. And to be noted not all my animals got it even when nobody got the treatment because the first few days we did not know what it was....and we were all togher slept and did everything together. Two of my cats dont have it despite still living normally with other infected animals.. Isolating the poor animals is just torture in my opinion...if it will spred on you and the other pet it will despite isolation... The reason why I' m writing here is because I'm so mad at my self bacause i let this infection drive me so crazy and I have become a very unplesant person. My cats and dog and husband are depressed and scared of me. I expose them everyday to chemicals that, i'm sure, are more harmful that the damn ringworm. I keep a tight regime with touching stuff petting animals, washing hands, cleanig...my animals are clearly depressed because of my crazy and nervous energy.All this despite the information that I have from first hand that there is no need to go crazy with the cleaning and obsessing. My friends cat had it and She was also crazy the first 2 weeks...then she just stopped the nonsense. Stop washing like mad disifecting vacuming...and just putting ointment on the cat. it took a wile for the cat to get better because that is the normal course of this infection eventualy she did! And nobody got it from her (including me and my dogs) and the cat never got it back. Also My brother had it when he was little and my mother told me that she kept running the household normally and treated only him. Nobody else got it and he did not get it back. I think everybody here needs to chill the f*** out including ME. Moths of chemical exposure cannot be good for humans or animals...basic clening will do With just a little bit more attention will do the trick....Once you start treatment the animals and you it's far less contagious. Ringworm is everywhere...can somebody plesae tell me how do you disinfect the soil in dog parks...and yet dogs with ringworm go there and it is not spreding like wildfire.All the people would have it all the time and enybody with animals would never get rid of it if it was so resistant and so good at playing hide and seek
But in the end averybody wins the war with the little devil spores. So there....(p.s. sorry for the splelling english is not my first language)I just joined the site after reading everything here and elsewhere for the past 5 weeks. We have two adult cats and had adopted a 4 month old rescue kitten, named Lexie, in mid-June. About two weeks later I noticed a weird spot on me and googled it and lead me to self-diagnosing myself as having ringworm (based on symptoms and pics) and the fact that we'd just gotten a new kitten a few weeks prior. I searched Lexie over and found one slightly suspicious spot on his chest. My kitten was due in on a Monday to my regular vet for the first time in just a couple of days so I pointed it out to him and told him I had a spot on me that seemed highly coincidental. Lexie didn't glow under a Woods lamp but the vet cultured it and it came back positive for ringworm on Friday afternoon...really fast. I set up appointments for all 3 on Monday for a look-see and treatment.
By Monday, one of my adult cats, Henry, had a classic lesion on his face (itching, red patch and hair loss). My other adult cat had no lesions. Lexie the kitten seemed to show no symptoms either.
They've all three been getting weekly lime sulfur dips at the vet and daily doses of itraconazole for the past 3 weeks. My house has been getting Swiffered, vacuumed and dusted as I've learned here in this forum. All rugs have been thoroughly vacuumed. The larger room sized have been rolled up off to the side. The smaller ones were vacuumed and taken outside to be washed and are stored in the garage.
I bought a laundry additive I learned about here and some wipes. I bought some DioxiGuard78 from J-Kat for misting of soft surfaced items like the remaining fabric items including the big rolled up rugs. I've even fogged the house twice with the DioxiGuard78 as per their instructions to get all the other hard to reach and hard to clean spaces.
Yesterday, all three cats were getting their 4th dip after completing their 3 week itraconazole round and we had a talk with the vet when we went in to pick them up. He says that Henry isn't looking any better like he expected he should. Henry has more hairless patches now but no red or scaly lesions. The vet did skin scrapes to rule out mites. We talked about other meds but he was reluctant to use another due to risks. He recommended we continue home treatment of topicals like a ringworm cream and baths/dips to see if we could find something he responds to better.
My questions to the forum folks who've already fought (and won) this war:
- Is the vet giving up too soon on oral meds?
- What OTC stuff should I use at home to treat my 3 cats (two adults and one 6 month old)? I like the idea of less harsh stuff on my cats and less smelly shampoo/dip than the lime sulfur stuff for me since I'd be doing this myself at home and stinking up the joint.
- Is there an effective alternative to the lime sulfur dip?
- Has anybody tried J-Kat's Ciderm shampoo?
I appreciate your thoughts and inputs.
By Monday, one of my adult cats, Henry, had a classic lesion on his face (itching, red patch and hair loss). My other adult cat had no lesions. Lexie the kitten seemed to show no symptoms either.
They've all three been getting weekly lime sulfur dips at the vet and daily doses of itraconazole for the past 3 weeks. My house has been getting Swiffered, vacuumed and dusted as I've learned here in this forum. All rugs have been thoroughly vacuumed. The larger room sized have been rolled up off to the side. The smaller ones were vacuumed and taken outside to be washed and are stored in the garage.
I bought a laundry additive I learned about here and some wipes. I bought some DioxiGuard78 from J-Kat for misting of soft surfaced items like the remaining fabric items including the big rolled up rugs. I've even fogged the house twice with the DioxiGuard78 as per their instructions to get all the other hard to reach and hard to clean spaces.
Yesterday, all three cats were getting their 4th dip after completing their 3 week itraconazole round and we had a talk with the vet when we went in to pick them up. He says that Henry isn't looking any better like he expected he should. Henry has more hairless patches now but no red or scaly lesions. The vet did skin scrapes to rule out mites. We talked about other meds but he was reluctant to use another due to risks. He recommended we continue home treatment of topicals like a ringworm cream and baths/dips to see if we could find something he responds to better.
My questions to the forum folks who've already fought (and won) this war:
- Is the vet giving up too soon on oral meds?
- What OTC stuff should I use at home to treat my 3 cats (two adults and one 6 month old)? I like the idea of less harsh stuff on my cats and less smelly shampoo/dip than the lime sulfur stuff for me since I'd be doing this myself at home and stinking up the joint.
- Is there an effective alternative to the lime sulfur dip?
- Has anybody tried J-Kat's Ciderm shampoo?
I appreciate your thoughts and inputs.
Hi everyone. New here. Been reading through the 35 or so pages of this topic! I have a similar issue. It started with a foster kitten, and I am now dealing with it with one of my dogs (two mysterious bumps). The situation has been so upsetting I had to see a therapist and take a lot of time off work just to wrestle the anxiety. I've barely eaten in about 12 days and I've lost 5 pounds in that time! More on that later!
My one question for now. Does anyone know why it is that with human ringworm they say that you're no longer contagious 48 hours after initial (topical) treatment, but for cats/dogs it takes at least 3 weeks of treatment for the ringworm to no longer be contagious? What accounts for this discrepancy if it's the same fungus? (Knowing this can factor into deciding on how long I need to isolate my dog while we're waiting on the culture result).
Lime sulfur dip is arriving today; which we will start. Have been giving maleseb baths for the past week. Foster kitten thankfully with another foster who has the resources to help her while I can concentrate on my own fur-family and home.
My one question for now. Does anyone know why it is that with human ringworm they say that you're no longer contagious 48 hours after initial (topical) treatment, but for cats/dogs it takes at least 3 weeks of treatment for the ringworm to no longer be contagious? What accounts for this discrepancy if it's the same fungus? (Knowing this can factor into deciding on how long I need to isolate my dog while we're waiting on the culture result).
Lime sulfur dip is arriving today; which we will start. Have been giving maleseb baths for the past week. Foster kitten thankfully with another foster who has the resources to help her while I can concentrate on my own fur-family and home.
My kitten has a spot.of ringworm. Our vet just told us to use the otc lotramin.
Update-We figured out why Henry got hit so much harder with ringworm than our other two including the kitten. He was also diagnosed with feline hyperestesia. Now that I know what hyperesthesia is, I know he’s had it for years.
Introducing a new kitten stressed him out which brought on full blown feline hyperesthesia symptoms which further stressed him out. It’s a vicious cycle. Stress in cats can lower their immune system which allowed the ringworm to get a major toehold on Henry. He lost a lot of hair due to stress shedding, too.
We got him on gabapentin for the hyperesthesia about 5 days after he completed the round of itraconazole. His hyperesthesia symptoms disappeared in about 36 hours. His ringworm started clearing with no new spots and his skin is healthy. The hairless patches are filling in. His shedding is back to his normal levels.
We saw the vet today and he’s very pleased with Henry’s progress. He did a fungal culture. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
We’re stopping the gabapentin and will see what happens over the weekend. He’s used to the new kitten now and we’re hoping he won’t get restressed. That could trigger the return of the severe hyperesthesia symptoms. A little rolling skin daily and 2-3 biting spells a month are tolerable, but not near constant rolling and rippling skin and several biting spells an hour. He was miserable and we felt so helpless thinking it was all itchy ringworm symptoms that was resistant to the recommended treatments.
Introducing a new kitten stressed him out which brought on full blown feline hyperesthesia symptoms which further stressed him out. It’s a vicious cycle. Stress in cats can lower their immune system which allowed the ringworm to get a major toehold on Henry. He lost a lot of hair due to stress shedding, too.
We got him on gabapentin for the hyperesthesia about 5 days after he completed the round of itraconazole. His hyperesthesia symptoms disappeared in about 36 hours. His ringworm started clearing with no new spots and his skin is healthy. The hairless patches are filling in. His shedding is back to his normal levels.
We saw the vet today and he’s very pleased with Henry’s progress. He did a fungal culture. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
We’re stopping the gabapentin and will see what happens over the weekend. He’s used to the new kitten now and we’re hoping he won’t get restressed. That could trigger the return of the severe hyperesthesia symptoms. A little rolling skin daily and 2-3 biting spells a month are tolerable, but not near constant rolling and rippling skin and several biting spells an hour. He was miserable and we felt so helpless thinking it was all itchy ringworm symptoms that was resistant to the recommended treatments.
After 3 rounds of lime sulfur dip Akila my belgian shepherd has lost a LOT of fur and her skin is so dry. There's yellow powder at the base of her fur which worried my husband. My boston terrier, who we had doing the 4oz/ gallon dilution (for him the dip is just a preventative), does not have the same dry-skin and hair-loss symptoms. So as today was dipping day we opted to do a maleseb bath for both of them instead. Up to this point we had been doing the 8oz/gallon dilution for Akila because we wanted to be sure we got the ringworm good, but maybe we overdid it. Is the powdery residue and hair loss normal? We're waiting to hear back from the vet but if we continue the dip I'm thinking we will go to 4oz/gallon dilution. I just ordered the j-kat ciderm shampoo today.
For our currently asympotamic cat Suarez (who is impossible to bathe) I also got the Dioxiguard spray. Now worried that my cat's relationship with a neighborhood feral may compromise our efforts (posted in another thread). I saw red patches on the feral friend kitty's face. It could be anything, but it's so hard not to worry, especially when your animals are around other animals over which you cannot have any control.
For our currently asympotamic cat Suarez (who is impossible to bathe) I also got the Dioxiguard spray. Now worried that my cat's relationship with a neighborhood feral may compromise our efforts (posted in another thread). I saw red patches on the feral friend kitty's face. It could be anything, but it's so hard not to worry, especially when your animals are around other animals over which you cannot have any control.
Curious: how many of you have used the J-Kat activated chlorine dioxide products on here (I've read one or two mentions)? Most of the reviews have been exceedingly positive, which is motivating, but I kind of want to see if there have been anyone who has tried it and then reverted to a different treatment (i.e. dips) for whatever reason. None of the vets I've spoken to have been able to comment on it, and since they haven't heard of it they probably think I'm talking about another "snake-oil" product.
Personally, I can't tell how well the Ciderm Shampoo is working because I'm spot-treating the lesion sites with lime-sulfur twice daily on non-shampoo days, and cannot rely on cultures (since we started with a false negative culture and so vet doesn't see the point in re-testing). The lesions appear to be visually improving. Obviously I'm trying to attack our outbreak from many different angles, but the reason I'm asking is because people have been saying that the Ciderm shampoo has drastically reduced the time to non-contagion, and I'm trying to figure out when is appropriate to bring my dog inside from isolation, and trying to figure out how many baths is needed for my non-symptomatic dog and outdoor cat since we're determining "cure" based on visuals alone. My dog is also on oral medication (currently low-dose ketoconazole) and has been the past two weeks, with one more week prescribed (we're not on pulse schedule). She's had a total of a month of baths (first week malaseb (prior to lesions), 2nd week lime sulfur (following first lesions), and another malaseb (lime sulfur was harsh on coat), and then Ciderm for the past 3 baths (week and a half)). Plan is to continue 2x/week Ciderm shampoo for next 1.5 weeks, and then reduce to 1x/week, but that is just an arbitrary plan; I don't know what others (including vets) would suggest, or if I should request to extend ketoconazole (she is improving; but is 21 days of oral enough? It seems like most cats and dogs I've read about have been on either a 28 day treatment or 6-week pulse itrafungol therapy). I feel totally clueless about where we are with this. All the visual evidence points to healing, but the skeptic in me feels like I need to be doing more?
Personally, I can't tell how well the Ciderm Shampoo is working because I'm spot-treating the lesion sites with lime-sulfur twice daily on non-shampoo days, and cannot rely on cultures (since we started with a false negative culture and so vet doesn't see the point in re-testing). The lesions appear to be visually improving. Obviously I'm trying to attack our outbreak from many different angles, but the reason I'm asking is because people have been saying that the Ciderm shampoo has drastically reduced the time to non-contagion, and I'm trying to figure out when is appropriate to bring my dog inside from isolation, and trying to figure out how many baths is needed for my non-symptomatic dog and outdoor cat since we're determining "cure" based on visuals alone. My dog is also on oral medication (currently low-dose ketoconazole) and has been the past two weeks, with one more week prescribed (we're not on pulse schedule). She's had a total of a month of baths (first week malaseb (prior to lesions), 2nd week lime sulfur (following first lesions), and another malaseb (lime sulfur was harsh on coat), and then Ciderm for the past 3 baths (week and a half)). Plan is to continue 2x/week Ciderm shampoo for next 1.5 weeks, and then reduce to 1x/week, but that is just an arbitrary plan; I don't know what others (including vets) would suggest, or if I should request to extend ketoconazole (she is improving; but is 21 days of oral enough? It seems like most cats and dogs I've read about have been on either a 28 day treatment or 6-week pulse itrafungol therapy). I feel totally clueless about where we are with this. All the visual evidence points to healing, but the skeptic in me feels like I need to be doing more?
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Question for all of you that have had to do multiple cultures: Did you bring your pets (affected and asymptomatic) in each time (individually) for the culture, or did the vet have you go over each pet with a toothbrush and you just submit the toothbrush in a ziplock when you brought your affected pet(s) in for a recheck? Our vet clinic isn't nearby and it's hard to schedule multiple visits around a full-time schedule. Our regular vet isn't recommending the cultures for our dog since we started with a false negative, but the new veterinary dermatologist might suggest it (and I kind of want to know if my cat Suarez is a carrier even though he's never showed any symptoms), and so I'm wondering what is normally done.
Guess I'm still talking to myself on this page. Heh!
So in the end, we never did do any more fungassay cultures for any of our feline or canine furbabies. But I did get a PCR panel done after bringing my malinois to see a veterinary dermatologist last week. The result: NEGATIVE. Vet Derm seems to think it's ok to discontinue baths/treatment for asymptomatic pets in the home, and recommends just "general" continued cleaning. He wants us to continue the course of ketoconazole (through to this coming Sunday; which would be 32 consecutive days of oral meds) before letting my dog in from isolation. And continue twice weekly baths (didn't specify for how long). He and all the other vets keep telling me to do the Malaseb shampoo but I can't find much empirical support for it on PubMed or the Shelter Medicine sites (UC Davis or Wisconsin). Plus, if her PCR is negative and she's continuing the systemics, then what's the point of shampooing? I'd do it as a precaution, but my only concern is that certain topical sprays (Dioxiguard and Miconahex-Triz) have been exacerbating and irritating her hot spot areas (possibly secondary bacterial infection). Not sure if locally applied lime-sulfur would do any good either. She seems to heal better on the systemic meds alone (the ketoconazole, and she's also on an antibiotic, Simplicef). So I'm tempted to stop with baths and topicals with this negative PCR, and let the meds do their work while I keep cleaning. Not sure what you all would do in this situation. I know she's not a cat but it's just as hard on our family, and I have not seen the extent of discussion of this topic elsewhere online. A special thank you to
TrashCat
for having been such a great support to me over these past several weeks.
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You're welcome for the help! Just paying it forward. I'm thankful for those who responded to me and told me it would be okay, eventually.
A few more weeks and you will start to feel "done" with the ringworm infection.
A few more weeks and you will start to feel "done" with the ringworm infection.
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Hello! New here. I had a foster with ringworm, who is not with me anymore, but working on cleaning, etc in hopes that my resident cat does not get it.
I saw several links to Dr. Karen Moriello's guide, but none of them word. Can anyone share the PDF?
I saw several links to Dr. Karen Moriello's guide, but none of them word. Can anyone share the PDF?
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Hello anyone venturing onto this thread in 2020 or beyond!
You guessed it, I'm the lucky winner of a nasty ringworm guerilla warfare experience. Me, my boyfriend with limited patience for most things, and my 6 cats, all rescues from Turkey, two of whom enjoy the home life but will die wriggling out of your hands sooner than letting themselves be handled (and rip you to shreds in the process). Sigh.
I think I brought this into our home by having a weak immune system (stress, new job with a crazy commute, trip to Vietnam where these things are more common due to the warmth and humidity apparently etc.), as I observed a couple of small lesions on myself before I saw any on my cats - and I spend a lot of time with the ones who first show signs as they're the super cuddly ones who want attention - so I usually notice things fairly quickly on them.
This was around October-November; I saw 2 doctors, one who misdiagnosed me thinking it was an allergy, the other who prescribed me topical Terbinafine but didn't think of warning me I was off into Mordor on a horizontal bungee rope. I therefore took the whole affair far too casually, by which I mean I didn't think of educating myself or taking drastic measures remotely quickly enough. Towards the end of December I noticed the first signs on my cats, and since then it's been a slow iterative process tackling this thing. My vet, unhelpfully, has been very laid back about the whole affair as well and only recommended topical Dactarin and hibiscrub on the affected cats (!!). Thankfully, she warned me not to resort to oral meds for the cats or for me unless all other avenues failed, and judging by the risks of some of these things, I'm pretty grateful.
Now, things I've been doing that I wish I'd known about much sooner, hoping some of these fixes can help someone:
- I bought good quality oregano oil and thyme oil, as well as real lavender oil, and diluted them VERY carefully in sweet almond oil (we're talking 2% of each essential oil and the rest being carrier oil). I sprayed that stuff anywhere the cats would not inhale it. At that level of concentration, the risk of toxicity is quite low if they touch a surface with essential oils in them, but it's quite irritant to their airways and should not ever be given a chance to end up getting ingested by them. I read a couple of studies on cats and sheep that showed very promising results with a protocol based on these oils (In vitro and in vivo antifungal activity of some essential oils against feline isolates of Microsporum canis and A herbal antifungal formulation of Thymus serpillum, Origanum vulgare and Rosmarinus officinalis for treating ovine dermatophytosis due to Trichoph... - PubMed - NCBI).
- I had a few showers and shampoos with Hibiscrub, and I am going to buy more as a temporary default handwash/shower gel. I shampooed the cats who would tolerate it with the stuff on my vet's recommendation but it didn't do much, and they did keep trying to lick it, which is not good, obviously. I also use tea tree shampoo and shower gel and apply the above-described oil mixture on my skin every other day or so. I haven't had any lesions in a couple of weeks, and before then they were very tentative anyway, so I think this has been quite effective (more than Terbinafine and Dactarin).
- I bought soft padded collars for my cats so they don't overgroom or lick off any shampoo etc. - much less traumatic for them than cones, and they can still perform basic hygiene routines and go about their lives fairly normally, but they can't reach their chest or scratch their ears. Just cheap ones of Amazon, but they're really good.
- I tried Pyo Doux Mousse foam shampoo on the cats, about 6 times at regular intervals - doesn't seem remotely strong enough to do much, though it's probably good to help rebalance skin in specific areas as it heals.
- I bought a steam mop and I'm vacuuming, steam-mopping and doing lots of laundry daily (I add essential oil of lavender to the laundry; tea tree, oregano or even borax could be good too, especially on things you can't wash on super high temperatures).
- I'm fighting the moisture of our coastal English home best I can and I'm now leaving our air purifier on all the time.
- I bought a cage from MDC, one of the ones with the stick closure mechanism, and I've - as gently as possible - cornered my 2 lovely grumpy cats and sprayed them with Imaveral (like Imaverol but also approved for use on cats, I found it on a French website called soin et nature or something like that). I have been doing this every 4 days, diluting the stuff in plenty of hot water and working it into the skin for the friendly cats, while sitting near a fan heater, then gently drying them/letting their fur dry by the heater (the product does need to stay on their fur and shouldn't be licked till it's dry). For the grumpies, as I started saying, I gently get them into the cage, place it between a radiator and the fan heater, and spray the stuff onto their fur, doing my best to avoid their eyes. They hate me for the duration of the process but it's not the most traumatic thing once the spraying is done, which is quite quick - I leave the fan heater on near them (not too close of course) till they're dry enough.
- I put lysine powder (without additives, as many are toxic to cats!) and hemp oil in their food each day (I mix their wet food myself o it's easy). This supports their immune system and helps alleviate stress a bit, plus hemp being good for their skin and coat should help them get past this dreaded thing a bit sooner.
- I've bought a couple of quite gentle lotions to massage into the hot spots that one of my cats has been getting on his chest, neck and front paws, it seems to help cool and soothe their skin a bit. One's from a brand called Dene's something and the other from Cooper and Grace or Gracie, I found them online.
I know there are plenty of great ideas on here already, I just hope one or two of these things - which may already have been mentioned, of course - can help someone
You guessed it, I'm the lucky winner of a nasty ringworm guerilla warfare experience. Me, my boyfriend with limited patience for most things, and my 6 cats, all rescues from Turkey, two of whom enjoy the home life but will die wriggling out of your hands sooner than letting themselves be handled (and rip you to shreds in the process). Sigh.
I think I brought this into our home by having a weak immune system (stress, new job with a crazy commute, trip to Vietnam where these things are more common due to the warmth and humidity apparently etc.), as I observed a couple of small lesions on myself before I saw any on my cats - and I spend a lot of time with the ones who first show signs as they're the super cuddly ones who want attention - so I usually notice things fairly quickly on them.
This was around October-November; I saw 2 doctors, one who misdiagnosed me thinking it was an allergy, the other who prescribed me topical Terbinafine but didn't think of warning me I was off into Mordor on a horizontal bungee rope. I therefore took the whole affair far too casually, by which I mean I didn't think of educating myself or taking drastic measures remotely quickly enough. Towards the end of December I noticed the first signs on my cats, and since then it's been a slow iterative process tackling this thing. My vet, unhelpfully, has been very laid back about the whole affair as well and only recommended topical Dactarin and hibiscrub on the affected cats (!!). Thankfully, she warned me not to resort to oral meds for the cats or for me unless all other avenues failed, and judging by the risks of some of these things, I'm pretty grateful.
Now, things I've been doing that I wish I'd known about much sooner, hoping some of these fixes can help someone:
- I bought good quality oregano oil and thyme oil, as well as real lavender oil, and diluted them VERY carefully in sweet almond oil (we're talking 2% of each essential oil and the rest being carrier oil). I sprayed that stuff anywhere the cats would not inhale it. At that level of concentration, the risk of toxicity is quite low if they touch a surface with essential oils in them, but it's quite irritant to their airways and should not ever be given a chance to end up getting ingested by them. I read a couple of studies on cats and sheep that showed very promising results with a protocol based on these oils (In vitro and in vivo antifungal activity of some essential oils against feline isolates of Microsporum canis and A herbal antifungal formulation of Thymus serpillum, Origanum vulgare and Rosmarinus officinalis for treating ovine dermatophytosis due to Trichoph... - PubMed - NCBI).
- I had a few showers and shampoos with Hibiscrub, and I am going to buy more as a temporary default handwash/shower gel. I shampooed the cats who would tolerate it with the stuff on my vet's recommendation but it didn't do much, and they did keep trying to lick it, which is not good, obviously. I also use tea tree shampoo and shower gel and apply the above-described oil mixture on my skin every other day or so. I haven't had any lesions in a couple of weeks, and before then they were very tentative anyway, so I think this has been quite effective (more than Terbinafine and Dactarin).
- I bought soft padded collars for my cats so they don't overgroom or lick off any shampoo etc. - much less traumatic for them than cones, and they can still perform basic hygiene routines and go about their lives fairly normally, but they can't reach their chest or scratch their ears. Just cheap ones of Amazon, but they're really good.
- I tried Pyo Doux Mousse foam shampoo on the cats, about 6 times at regular intervals - doesn't seem remotely strong enough to do much, though it's probably good to help rebalance skin in specific areas as it heals.
- I bought a steam mop and I'm vacuuming, steam-mopping and doing lots of laundry daily (I add essential oil of lavender to the laundry; tea tree, oregano or even borax could be good too, especially on things you can't wash on super high temperatures).
- I'm fighting the moisture of our coastal English home best I can and I'm now leaving our air purifier on all the time.
- I bought a cage from MDC, one of the ones with the stick closure mechanism, and I've - as gently as possible - cornered my 2 lovely grumpy cats and sprayed them with Imaveral (like Imaverol but also approved for use on cats, I found it on a French website called soin et nature or something like that). I have been doing this every 4 days, diluting the stuff in plenty of hot water and working it into the skin for the friendly cats, while sitting near a fan heater, then gently drying them/letting their fur dry by the heater (the product does need to stay on their fur and shouldn't be licked till it's dry). For the grumpies, as I started saying, I gently get them into the cage, place it between a radiator and the fan heater, and spray the stuff onto their fur, doing my best to avoid their eyes. They hate me for the duration of the process but it's not the most traumatic thing once the spraying is done, which is quite quick - I leave the fan heater on near them (not too close of course) till they're dry enough.
- I put lysine powder (without additives, as many are toxic to cats!) and hemp oil in their food each day (I mix their wet food myself o it's easy). This supports their immune system and helps alleviate stress a bit, plus hemp being good for their skin and coat should help them get past this dreaded thing a bit sooner.
- I've bought a couple of quite gentle lotions to massage into the hot spots that one of my cats has been getting on his chest, neck and front paws, it seems to help cool and soothe their skin a bit. One's from a brand called Dene's something and the other from Cooper and Grace or Gracie, I found them online.
I know there are plenty of great ideas on here already, I just hope one or two of these things - which may already have been mentioned, of course - can help someone
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Im into week 3 treating my 8 month kitten with Terbinafine daily oral (compounded) liquid meds and weekly baths with miconahex Triz shampoo, plus lime dipping the head and ears with cotton ball soaked in the stinky solution. I also sponge the lime dip on the wntire body between shampoos. I have isloated DJ kitty for 25 days (as soon as i saw bald spot on his ear). Ver confirmed with woodslamp fluorescent hairs). I have 8 other cats. They tested negative with woods lamp and have shown no lesions on their heads ir bodies. I shampooed them all once and have been giving oral meds to all. Plus deep cleaning. When can i stop isolating DJ kitty? Also would lesions appear by now on other cats? (25 days since DJkitty diagnosed and isolated?)
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Hey there! Honestly, with as many as 8 kitties, I would suggest erring on the side of caution with your isolated kitty. It is such a nightmare when several cats have it, as it multiplies the chances of constant reinfection. I've heard in a couple of places that you're best off waiting till you've had a couple of negative cultures back from your vet. That makes sense to me tbh.
I posted some time ago about the ideas I'd been using to get rid of this nasty thing and since then I've been lime-dipping my kitties every week (doing a Hibiscrub wash first), using F10 ointment on any suspected lesions (a couple of my cats still have small ones - we live in a very damp climate so it makes it that much harder to get rid of things like fungi), spraying F10 disinfectant in all the rooms (making sure the cats are out of the room) as a routine spore-killing exercise, covering all couches, kitty beds etc. in blankets or sheets we wash daily on high temperature, and airing the place as much as possible. Seems to be stabilising things, now I hope if we continue like this we'll eventually killed off a high enough proportion of the spores that it just won't gain a hold on anyone in our home anymore. Also I've recently started experimenting with playing Rife frequencies that are meant to kill fungi etc. (just off Youtube). Not sure yet if it's having an impact, too early to tell!
One thing I'm going to start doing - to help my cats be less stressed, as obviously all this is causing a bit of commotion to their habits - is playing them the famous lullabies for dogs album, it's meant to be pretty effective at calming cats.
Hope this can be useful!
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I feel like I am venturing into a hall of legends.. lol.
I recently had a foster (supposedly had been quarantined for two weeks prior) at my house, he was here for three days (nights spent in the bathroom). He played with my two resident cats and during his stay he developed 3 lesions. oof- once I realized I tranferred him to the ringworm foster and vacuumed and bleached everything I could. I sprayed upholstery down with rescue and washed all the bedding. The ringworm kittens bedding went with them to their new foster.
I sulfur "sprayed" (I only had a few ounces the first day) the day the fosters left and did a full dip the next day when I purchased more dip.
I have a few questions.
1. Is there any chance my cats wont get it? I am now officially one week post first exposure.
2. Should I start quarantining them now?
3. I've read through all of this, and I am honestly pretty broke, how can I do this on a budget?
I recently had a foster (supposedly had been quarantined for two weeks prior) at my house, he was here for three days (nights spent in the bathroom). He played with my two resident cats and during his stay he developed 3 lesions. oof- once I realized I tranferred him to the ringworm foster and vacuumed and bleached everything I could. I sprayed upholstery down with rescue and washed all the bedding. The ringworm kittens bedding went with them to their new foster.
I sulfur "sprayed" (I only had a few ounces the first day) the day the fosters left and did a full dip the next day when I purchased more dip.
I have a few questions.
1. Is there any chance my cats wont get it? I am now officially one week post first exposure.
2. Should I start quarantining them now?
3. I've read through all of this, and I am honestly pretty broke, how can I do this on a budget?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #697
Hi! Wow, this thread has gotten insanely long and I wasn't getting notifications, but I got yours. I am totally out of the loop these days, so I suggest that you Google Karen Moriello. I'm a bit surprised that your shelter isn't helping you out with vet care for your own cats since a foster caused the problem . . . our shelters in Boston are decently funded, I guess.
You still don't know if your cats have it, so get them PCR tested. At the vet, black lights can often reveal lesions, too, if used properly (they need to be warmed up). Black lights aren't totally reliable, though. If your cats are negative a couple of times, I think you can relax. I don't see the point of quarantining if they've been all over your house and you don't know if they have it.
If your cats have healthy immune systems, I think there's a very decent chance they won't get it. I had two old Dollface Persians, and one of them was quite sick with calicivirus, and even he didn't get it. I couldn't isolate any of our four in our small apartment. But he still got weekly dips, when he was well enough, and oral meds because both kittens definitely had ringworm. PCR tests didn't exist when we went through this, so our testing dragged on for months. You should know sooner if you are out of the woods.
Dr. Moriello's more recent research, the last time I looked, seemed to be refining and simplifying ringworm treatment. Cleaning, especially was simplified; the last time I looked, it seemed to be all about vacuuming. The last time I checked, years ago, oral terbinafine was much less expensive than other meds and more effective. If your cats' PCR tests are positive, see if you can get further discounts at pharmacy chains with a AAA card or whatever you have. You will unfortunately need to spend $ on PCR cultures — you need to do them a few times but they will tell you quickly whether the cats are okay, and I hope they are, and then you can put this behind you.
If your cats have it, here's another good source: Ringworm – Shelter Animal Research
I hope there is even more updated info from Dr. Moriello out there.
If there's ringworm in your area, it might be safest to have the shelter test and dip kittens preventively, before they come to you, along with quarantining. Even one good soaking dip is supposed to make them far less contagious.
Good luck! Have faith! This will eventually be a distant memory!
You still don't know if your cats have it, so get them PCR tested. At the vet, black lights can often reveal lesions, too, if used properly (they need to be warmed up). Black lights aren't totally reliable, though. If your cats are negative a couple of times, I think you can relax. I don't see the point of quarantining if they've been all over your house and you don't know if they have it.
If your cats have healthy immune systems, I think there's a very decent chance they won't get it. I had two old Dollface Persians, and one of them was quite sick with calicivirus, and even he didn't get it. I couldn't isolate any of our four in our small apartment. But he still got weekly dips, when he was well enough, and oral meds because both kittens definitely had ringworm. PCR tests didn't exist when we went through this, so our testing dragged on for months. You should know sooner if you are out of the woods.
Dr. Moriello's more recent research, the last time I looked, seemed to be refining and simplifying ringworm treatment. Cleaning, especially was simplified; the last time I looked, it seemed to be all about vacuuming. The last time I checked, years ago, oral terbinafine was much less expensive than other meds and more effective. If your cats' PCR tests are positive, see if you can get further discounts at pharmacy chains with a AAA card or whatever you have. You will unfortunately need to spend $ on PCR cultures — you need to do them a few times but they will tell you quickly whether the cats are okay, and I hope they are, and then you can put this behind you.
If your cats have it, here's another good source: Ringworm – Shelter Animal Research
I hope there is even more updated info from Dr. Moriello out there.
If there's ringworm in your area, it might be safest to have the shelter test and dip kittens preventively, before they come to you, along with quarantining. Even one good soaking dip is supposed to make them far less contagious.
Good luck! Have faith! This will eventually be a distant memory!
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I'm so excited you replied. I'm honestly terrified, do you think a PCR test would be accurate a week after exposure? I've read so many research articles (I'm a scientist) but nobody has accurate data on when they would test positive!
https://dermvetolympia.com/wp-conte...lter-dermatophyte-treatment-in-a-nutshell.pdf
What is the most effective way to resolve ringworm in my foster kittens? - University of Wisconsin Madison Shelter Medicine Program
Articles from 2015 and 2017 with Dr. Moriello's research about ringworm. This may not be her latest, though.
How to Deal with Ringworm in Cats [Inc. the Housecleaning Regime] – TheCatSite Articles
Contains webcast with Dr. Moriello
What is the most effective way to resolve ringworm in my foster kittens? - University of Wisconsin Madison Shelter Medicine Program
Articles from 2015 and 2017 with Dr. Moriello's research about ringworm. This may not be her latest, though.
How to Deal with Ringworm in Cats [Inc. the Housecleaning Regime] – TheCatSite Articles
Contains webcast with Dr. Moriello
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #700
There's no incubation period, is there? They're spores, not a virus. So I think they're either there or they're not. But I really don't know. Maybe your vet knows?
Try not to be terrified. Really! Ringworm is annoying but it isn't permanent, it isn't fatal, and it doesn't even hurt. If you and your cats are healthy and not immunocompromised, it's going to be fine. It's just a drag to get rid of. There are people here who are dealing with FIP and distemper and so on. This doesn't even register on that scale of Bad. It's just a fungus, and there's no need to get rid of your furniture or to bleach things that shouldn't be bleached. Some folks take very drastic measures but I think it's all about vacuuming and wiping stuff down. I hope your PCR tests are negative!
