I just received a call from the vet's office and the vet said that because it has been six days and NO change in the culture, that it is most likely NOT going to change, but we need to wait the full 10 days to make it official. He also said that because we can pretty much conclude that it is negative and we got the negative PCR, that I can reduce the dips to once a week or discontinue completely (at my own risk). I am going to drop to once a week, as it is so very difficult to do the mid-week dip. I have been off of work the past two weeks because I'm a teacher, but we go back to work on Monday. It was so hard to get home late on Wednesday and squeeze in that dip before dinner for my kids, etc. I feel so relieved!! I am still counting on another negative PCR next Saturday and two weeks after that before I discontinue the dips completely. I feel like we are on the home stretch, though!!
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6 Things I Learned from Our Ringworm Plague (book length....)
- Thread starter bunnelina
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That is great news! I agree, the dips are very hard to work into a busy schedule during work days. I'm very happy for you and your kitty that you have some good news! I'm sure you both really needed it! I'm crossing all fingers that you get a neg PCR next Saturday!
Thank you! I am hoping that the other skin condition that they developed along with the ringworm goes away now, too. The boy's skin feels better, but the girl's skin is so dry and flaky. I feel bad for her.
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Oh, I'm sorry! Our ringworm struggles are a pain, but nothing like your experience.
I was actually hoping for our first negative, since we'd had 4 dips and two weeks of terbinafine and twice daily applications of miconosol by that point, and the fur was growing back in. And the first standard culture had not come back positive in 2 weeks (and still hasn't). So I was disappointed that we were basically back to square one...we still need two negatives, which means four more weeks of isolation.
But it's comforting to know that paying $144 (yes, really!) for the PCR wasn't a total waste because it gave me a definitive result when the standard culture never gave us a clear answer at all.
I still think she's close to kicking the ringworm -- her lesions are pink and regrowing hair, and there's no further hair loss. I've started giving her more cuddles and lap time, plus more access to the kids (who still shower and change clothes after spending time with her in her bathroom). I'll also put her in her carrier and put her in rooms with us just for a change of scenery (I know, airborne spores), which she seems to find both enjoyable and tortuous, especially when someone is eating meat that she can smell. Zuzu is just dying to leave isolation, so I've been trying to make it more tolerable. Friday I gave her her 6th dip(!) and we spent a long time cuddling after that. And this morning, I took the paper in to her bathroom and read it there, while she snoozed in my lap. Maybe I'm making her isolation worse in a way because when we're not in there with her, it's even more lonely because she now knows what she's missing...when we open the door, she has taken to bolting from the bathroom to freedom when before she would patiently wait for us to enter.
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And here he is today:
I just wanted to let you know that we got our negative PCR after three weeks on terbinafine and seven dips. You have to be close!! After I got the negative PCR, I let them out of isolation in the bathroom and into the adjoining bedroom (my bedroom). We also had a culture done just a few days after the PCR test. As of Friday, there was still no growth or color change on the culture, so the vet said they most likely were no longer contagious and I could reduce the dips to once a week (or discontinue at my own risk - but, I'm going to keep doing once a week). Both the PCR and culture were done BEFORE I let them back into the bedroom. The next PCR will be a test to see if they picked up any spores from the bedroom area. I think I cleaned it well enough, but with bamboo floors, I couldn't saturate the flooring with accelerated hydrogen peroxide like I did in the bathroom. We get the next PCR this upcoming Saturday. When that results comes back, then I'm going to re-introduce the cat tree. This, again, will be a test to see if they remain negative. I have cleaned that cat tree with Lysol, carpet shampoo, and twice with accelerated hydrogen peroxide. I have vacuumed it at least five times. I'm not sure what else I could/should do to make sure the carpeting is clean. I don't want to throw it away, but I'm afraid to give it back to them!!!
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Well, all I know is this: using miconazole shampoo as well as oral meds and lime sulfur dip helped Sonny get over his ringworm.
IT WORKED FOR US.
I followed the doctor's instructions, as well as the instructions on the LimePlus bottle, and methinks the PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING - my kitten is free of ringworm.
Now we need to treat Gus. His ringworm isn't getting as severe as Sonny's did, and I'm using miconazole lotion, miconazole shampoo and lime sulfur on him. No oral meds yet. So far, it seems to be containing the ringworm to a small part of his body.
MAKE OF THAT WHATEVER YOU WILL.
IT WORKED FOR US.
I followed the doctor's instructions, as well as the instructions on the LimePlus bottle, and methinks the PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING - my kitten is free of ringworm.
Now we need to treat Gus. His ringworm isn't getting as severe as Sonny's did, and I'm using miconazole lotion, miconazole shampoo and lime sulfur on him. No oral meds yet. So far, it seems to be containing the ringworm to a small part of his body.
MAKE OF THAT WHATEVER YOU WILL.
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Are you on her payroll?
I don't think that is it at all. I think Dr. Moriello is one of the FEW veterinarians who have done extensive research on the subject. Many vets don't seem to have a clue how to treat it. Ours wanted to just do topical until I pushed for systemic and an all-over treatment (dip). We would still be battling this if I would have gone with the original vet's recommendation. Once I found research online that repeatedly said systemic and topical treatment, I called the vet and insisted that more be done. By then, both my daughter and I had two spots each on us. So frustrating!! If I would have had the information from day one from Dr. Moriello and began the dips immediately, we may have been able to stop treatment earlier.
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No, Tracy. I doubt that anyone is on Dr. Moriello's payroll. Doing ringworm research to save lives in shelters (and prevent mass euthanasia) is probably not a good path to riches.Originally Posted by Tracie Holladay
Are you on her payroll?
I just decided to try to help others through their ringworm ordeal, because some kind people gave me help and support when my cats had it.
In the past seven years, I've been privileged to help a lot of lovely people here, who adopted cats from rescues, took in fosters, or bought purebreds and suddenly had to learn about to ringworm when it showed up.
In all that time, you are the first one who argued and challenged everything I said, when I was quoting the sources that the people who run The Cat Site agree I should use.
You are also the only person I can recall who never once said so much as "thanks" to me or anyone else in return for answering questions as soon as we could, at any hour.
And that's okay!
When I started this thread, it surprised and delighted me that so many people were still able to muster the energy to be thoughtful, and to encourage and help others here, while they were dealing with so much trouble, worry, and hassle in their own lives. It's amazing when people can look beyond their own problems and realize that everybody else has challenges, too, often bad ones that none of us can see. It's amazing how having a stupid, awful problem like ringworm can help us better understand the even-worse things others might be going through.
It sounds crazy to say it, but my months of the ringworm plague helped me grow as a person and I'm grateful for it now. I came here seven years ago in a terrified panic and found the help I needed from strangers who share my love for cats. Over the years, so many people here have gone through their own ordeal while trying to help and encourage others that it's been wonderful to see.
That's why I will help anyone who asks for it. I'm thrilled to do it, and I've done it all hours, whether I'm on vacation or sitting in a hospital. It's my choice; it helps me, too.
Thank you for asking me if I'm on someone's payroll and for helping me clarify my thoughts as to what I'm doing here.
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Grace has been at the vet's since I dropped her off on Saturday. I cleaned for 8 hours Saturday and 12 hours yesterday. My boyfriend got pretty angry because I used a gallon of Opti-Cide cleaning the house and it got really hard to breath in the house. BUT I feel very confident I have contained the spores as much as humanly possible. There is not a surface of that house that was not scrubbed with Opti-Cide.
I then took her Mal-A-Ket shampoo and washed my hair with it and washed my body with it and let it sit for 20 mins. I had it on my scalp and all over my body. If it was safe for Grace, it's safe for me. I am happy to report the misery of those damn bumps and rings is finally fading. The rings are healing and the dots are not turning into rings. The ones on my face are healed and did not scar.
The bad news... When I dropped her off at the vet, the woman came over and handled her without gloves and confirmed she had a really bad case of ringworm. She then touched the counter where customers sign in, the paperwork I filled out, she shook hands with people who walked in the door and even pet their puppy with the hands she touched Grace with. I now have ZERO confidence in their ability to contain this. Am I wrong about that?
Thank you again for all the information you provided here. I would have had no idea how to properly handle this and it could have been so much worse! I'm still watching my adult pets very closely, checking them both for any unusual itching, rubbing under their fur as much as possible feeling for any nodules or scales. I will make an appointment to have a PCR done on my adult cat so I can rest or get busy, depending on the test results.
I then took her Mal-A-Ket shampoo and washed my hair with it and washed my body with it and let it sit for 20 mins. I had it on my scalp and all over my body. If it was safe for Grace, it's safe for me. I am happy to report the misery of those damn bumps and rings is finally fading. The rings are healing and the dots are not turning into rings. The ones on my face are healed and did not scar.
The bad news... When I dropped her off at the vet, the woman came over and handled her without gloves and confirmed she had a really bad case of ringworm. She then touched the counter where customers sign in, the paperwork I filled out, she shook hands with people who walked in the door and even pet their puppy with the hands she touched Grace with. I now have ZERO confidence in their ability to contain this. Am I wrong about that?
Thank you again for all the information you provided here. I would have had no idea how to properly handle this and it could have been so much worse! I'm still watching my adult pets very closely, checking them both for any unusual itching, rubbing under their fur as much as possible feeling for any nodules or scales. I will make an appointment to have a PCR done on my adult cat so I can rest or get busy, depending on the test results.
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Thanks, Bunnelina and AmyL! We're at three weeks of treatment today, and tonight I'll give Zuzu her 7th dip. I think there's a chance herbpositive result was due to her being a dust mop. We have cleaned her room as best we can with Lysol and diluted bleach (and vacuuming with a Miele and dusting with a swiffer), plus washing her bedding and towels on the sanitize cycle... but I'm never going to clean every spore away. And I do think that the spot on the top of her head is the worst off and the one that has been slowest to heal...and that is one of the ones that the vet took fur from. The fur is regrowing, but the skin is still healing. So it might have been too optimistic to expect an all clear at two weeks. I'll plan to give her a dip the day before her next appointment in a week and see if that helps clear the spores off her fur. In the meantime, she seems happier with more contact with us...and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have house guests in a week and a half anyway, so it's probably easier to keep her confined until after they leave. Good to know that a negative PCR at three weeks is totally possible...but I'll wait the extra week because those tests are so expensive I don't want to waste it. I also want to see the spot on her head heal more completely.
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I soaked our small cat tree and the scratching post with Lysol and diluted bleach, vacuumed them, and they've also been outside in the sub-freezing covered porch in the sun and cold for a couple of weeks. Hoping that will be enough to let her have them back when she's done. May need to buy some accelerated hydrogen peroxide too!
Ok - I'm kind of freaking out. I was combing through our girl's fur tonight and noticed a new (I think) balding spot on the top of her head. It was right near the area where the vet pulled hairs from the balding/flaking area on her ear for the culture (which is still negative). What should I do??? It seems like it is a new spot! I sprayed it with Miconahex + Triz spray, as that is what I have at home that the vet approved to use. She just had a dip on Saturday. She is due to go in this Saturday for another PCR test. I just stopped the 30 days of terbinafine last Thursday. Should they go back on the oral medication??? With a negative PCR and a negative culture, can they still be negative and still be losing hair?? Help!
After looking at a ton of things online, I'm trying to calm down about this. Both of the kittens (Leo and Katia) ended up with an all over body flakiness during this whole ringworm thing. I first noticed it back on December 15, which was one week after they had been on the oral terbinafine and after 4 dips (the only reason I know is because I'm keeping a ringworm diary through all of this!) The vet said it was miliary dermatitis. Leo's skin has almost completely cleared up from this flakiness, but Katia's began to get better, and then began getting worse again last Tuesday. From the pictures I have looked at online, it looks more like seborrhea sicca or possibly psoriasis. It is mostly flaky, but she does have some redness on her chest area. Her feet are a mess. There is dead dry skin peeling off, and she won't let me touch them to comb it out. She's not doing a spectacular job grooming herself, either! So...after looking online tonight, it looks like there is hair loss with miliary dermatitis, seborrhea, and psoriasis. So, perhaps the hair loss goes along with what is happening with that?
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Zuzu also had a lot of peeling skin about a week ago (at two weeks of treatment) that has taken awhile to resolve. Now the dead skin is mostly gone, but a few patches are dry and a little flaky and dark (this can be a reaction to the miconosol maybe?). Maybe some flakiness is a normal part of the healing process. But more hair loss sounds worrisome. Is the new spot getting bigger? What does the skin look like?
For Zuzu, the hair has grown in really well in some places and really slowly in others. One spot is pink with downy fur growing in but bumpy in the middle. I don't know what to think of it but my SIL says it still looks diseased. Sigh. Big picture, we're only at 3.5 weeks of treatment, and this is a 4-6 week treatment infection, especially with multiple lesions. But I just gave Zuzu her 8th dip! That's 9 for her total.
I also noticed a lot of hair coming off her, but I'm wondering if this is regular shedding. Where she grooms herself, there are always little discs of hair -- not tufts like they're falling out, but little blobs like she's licking fur off. I shampooed her before dipping today to wash away dry skin flakes, and I also got blobs of fur off her. At first I was alarmed, but since I'm not brushing her fur while she's being treated, maybe this is just normal hair loss (the same way I tend to get piles of my own hair in the shower). The lesions aren't getting bigger and I don't see new spots.
I'm not going to stop treatment any time soon -- I plan to keep doin meds and dips until all the fur is back in and the skin is totally clear, even with the negative PCRs, but I'm wondering whether I can consider her not contagious and give her more freedom after the first negative? That said, I'm thinking I should postpone the next PCR for another week until this one spot looks less bumpy just because I don't want to waste $144.
I really need to be less impatient...
Yes, we did 30 days of the terbinafine and I think we are over six weeks now on dips. I have it written down at home. We go in tomorrow for another PCR panel.
I looked up a ton of skin conditions while trying to figure out what this flaking and peeling was. The vet had said miliary dermatitis, but it didn't look like that to me. It looked like seborrhea sicca. I purchased and anti-seborreic shampoo and gave Katia a bath with it on Wednesday. She is so much better!! She immediately started acting more normal after she dried and is playing like she used to. The spot on her head isn't as noticeable now either. I'm going to have the vet look at it tomorrow and make sure her head and feet are brushed well with the toothbrush for the PCR panel.
Update on my babies: Took them to the vet today and had them receive their final booster and got the PCR panel done. I also had him do a fecal exam, only because the only one that was done was by the person who I got them from. I just wanted an added precaution. Fecal was negative. The PCR panel results will be back in 1-3 days. The vet said that he felt that with a negative PCR and a negative culture that I should be in the clear. BUT...to not consider them "cured" until we get this last results back. He wants me to dip Leo today but to only give Katia a bath in the KetoHex shampoo, because of her severe skin reaction to the dipping. He said the all over flakiness is most likely from the topical treatment of the dip rather than the oral medication. So, I'm getting ready to do one more dip on Leo and give Katia a bath. He looked at the spot on her head and said it just looks dry and flaky like some of the other areas all over her. The fur actually doesn't look any thinner by the one ear than the other now.
He wants me to come back in two more weeks. That will put us over 3 weeks past stopping the oral medication, and two weeks after stopping the dips. Then, we will do one more PCR panel and see what those results show. Of course, if this PCR panel from today comes back positive, then it will be a different story - back to oral meds and bi-weekly dips. I don't want to think about that.
Wish us luck!
He wants me to come back in two more weeks. That will put us over 3 weeks past stopping the oral medication, and two weeks after stopping the dips. Then, we will do one more PCR panel and see what those results show. Of course, if this PCR panel from today comes back positive, then it will be a different story - back to oral meds and bi-weekly dips. I don't want to think about that.
Wish us luck!
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Good luck! I hope you're all in the clear soon! I am seeing a lot of flakiness and dryness on Zuzu's skin where she had lesions. I'm hoping it's just a reaction to all the topical sand not a resurgence in the ringworm. She not losing any more hair and the hair is growing back in everywhere. But the flakiness is worrisome. I'm kind of afraid to do another PCR.
