How to disinfect house from Ringworm?

vegascatmommy

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Hi! Long story short:  My kitten was just diagnosed with ringworm after we have had him for two weeks. I now have him confined to one room while we give him medicine that the vet prescribed.

My question is:  How do I clean the rest of my house? He has been all over the place, and I have a two story house covered in mostly carpet. I know that bleach kills it, but I can't bleach the carpets or the sofa or pillows. 

Also, what do I add to the laundry to kill it? There are things he's been on that I can't bleach. 

Will borax work? Vinegar? Any tips will greatly help. Thanks!
 

stephanietx

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I've never had to deal with ringworm, but I hope someone will come along soon to help you.
 
 

peaches08

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Who all lives in the house and who is all affected by ringworm? If it is just a young kitten with an immature immune system then vacuuming often and steam cleaning will probably be enough. There are professionals who deal with sort of thing too. I have no idea what that might cost.

I had an older cat get ringworm as an opportunistic infection due to undiagnosed diabetes. I only treated her, never the house, and it never came back. Ringworm spores are in the environment, but a true infestation is obviously something different.
 

will

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sorry I dont know how to clean ring worm but good luck
 

6crazycats

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Apparently my last post didn't post...

I'm dealing with this too.

Ok, first: I would cage the kitten in a large dog cage, covered by a sheet, if you can't put it into a easily cleanable room.  This sounds mean, but will shorten the length of the ringworm, so it's good.

I just discovered this product, it's made in Africa, "F10 SC"  it's not expensive when diluted.  It can be purchased here: www.mysafebirdstore.com Info on it can be found here: http://www.f10products.co.uk/F10_2/FactsCompiled/files/assets/basic-html/page24.html  and http://www.f10products.co.za/handh/UserFiles/File/H-H57-Healthy hints_2_con.pdf.  I use it on everything!  I bought a steam cleaner (heats to 230 F, it states, not sure if I trust it...), after vacuuming, and steaming, I spray F10 SC at the dilution of 1:250 on everything!  Walls, ceiling, vents, carpet, litter box, sheet, cage, couches, everything.  It's non-corrosive, non-irritating, can be used in surgical wounds, won't bleach, stain, etc.  Wear gloves when touching kitty, change clothes, wear shoe covers, etc.  It is truly a war!

Just another tip, if you want to get through this as soon as possible...try to clean the area everyday.  Try to treat the kitten every-other day to two-times a week, depending on what you're using.  And I'd use an oral med, if your kitten is a bit older.  Build the kitten's immune system too.

Good luck!
 

NicoleLyon

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Hi! Long story short: My kitten was just diagnosed with ringworm after we have had him for two weeks. I now have him confined to one room while we give him medicine that the vet prescribed.

My question is: How do I clean the rest of my house? He has been all over the place, and I have a two story house covered in mostly carpet. I know that bleach kills it, but I can't bleach the carpets or the sofa or pillows.

Also, what do I add to the laundry to kill it? There are things he's been on that I can't bleach.

Will borax work? Vinegar? Any tips will greatly help. Thanks!
Hello, I just joined to help because we are going through the same thing at our house. We rescued a tiny weeny feral kitty, 3 1/2 weeks ago. We brought her in to vet & vet missed the ringworm. The best stuff so far is pet safe Chlorohexidine solution in concentrate. Valley vet sells a gallon for 12$ but it’s probably best to go to tractor supply or ranch store. Small bottle runs around 9$. All my dogs caught ringworm & so far 2 cats. We have 5 cats & 3 dogs & chickens. It’s been a costly nightmare. I spray chxdn my walls door handles windows curtains, floors & anywhere our pets lay down. I threw all my small rugs out. All my pets are on meds too. 500$ nightmare. Isolation until infection is gone is safest so far. Good luck.
 
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profcat

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Ringworm is self-limiting. Meaning, it will die off and go away on its own. I dealt with it years ago after handling a batch of feral kittens. We vacuumed and washed whatever we could, but we didn't go nuts and didn't use bleach or anything else. We spot-treated our couple of cats who got it-- just cream on the infected areas and it went away. It didn't spread to our other cats.

I got it the worst, and had it on my wrists for months. Anti-fungal body wash, anti-fungal body cream, and powder (all found on amazon) worked wonders and it just took time to go away.

I would not go crazy. It really does go away on its own in time.
 

treeclimber

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Some suggestions:
  • Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, and make sure you’re using a HEPA bag on the vacuum so it will be trapped inside the bag. Use the vacuum hose to do the furniture too, not just the carpet. If you want to be extra-careful, wipe the tip of the vacuum hose between pieces of furniture. Vacuuming multiple times will help get anything that wasn’t caught the first time.
  • Wipe down hard surfaces the kitten had access to with bleach. It doesn’t have to be concentrated bleach (dangerous to humans and animals) you can dilute it to the recommended strength for cleaning on the bottle
  • Bedding/clothing can be washed on “hot” with borax added to the wash. Both borax and temperatures above 110 F can kill ringworm, both at once is even better. But if you have things that would be damaged by washing on “hot” you can just use borax for those.
  • Ringworm survives much better in damp environments than dry ones. For soft furniture, vacuum it but do not wash it and get it damp unless you’re washing in a very effective way (eg. steam cleaning or a substance that kills ringworm).
  • Time also kills ringworm. If the kitten had a lot of contact with a particular piece of furniture (eg. a favorite place to sleep) then after cleaning you can put a thick cover on it for a while to make sure the kitten doesn’t come into contact with any remaining ringworm. You don’t have to cover all your furniture, this is just for anything heavily contaminated.
  • If you decide to steam clean, have it done by a service with a truck and a long hose - the machines that plug into the wall may not get hot enough to do any good. But you probably don’t need to steam clean.
Remember the cat carrier, and remember any places where the kitten liked to hide in/under things.

Don’t worry about cleaning everything perfectly - ringworm is not like bedbugs where you have to tear your home/life apart to get rid of it. Ringworm is a fungus - it can’t walk/crawl to someplace that wasn’t previously contaminated, it can’t hide and come out of hiding later, and if it’s somewhere you won’t touch it then it just sits there and does nothing and until it dies. Just do whatever cleaning you can realistically manage and it will probably be enough. Vacuum, wipe down hard surfaces, wash laundry on hot with borax, and wear gloves or wash your hands when handling the kitten. More extreme/expensive measures like steam cleaning are optional - many people get rid of ringworm without going to those extremes.
 
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