New kitty, with ringworm and alot of other health problems please help!

wanja

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Good day
Thank you so much for all the great info in this site, I was not able to go through all the posts and I really hope you can help me.

So my story began about a month ago when I bought a Maine Coon kitty.
We also have a rescue kitten in the house of about 6 months old and a Great Dane of 8 months.

Since the MC got into the house it was a night mare, she is the prettiest and lovable kitty ever but she had ringworm (I did not even now about ringworm until we got her).

I immediately took her to the vet for her vaccination and to get a look at the spots she had and the vet told me no it is nothing, probably only bruises.
So 2 weeks later me, my husband, our dog and the other kitten also have these spots, so then the vet said it is ringworm.
But since then both the kittens had a flu, diarrhea, coughed and sneezed a lot, and R8000(I live in South Africa)later I can’t afford anymore vets bills and there is still no end to all of this, just as soon as the one is healthy the other one gets sick.

Can the ringworm go into their nose and throats, because Midnight (my rescue cat) makes this horrible coughing sounds. And he was on antibiotics for almost 2 weeks and I have him on vitamin pastes and we are treating them with a ringworm topical ointment because the vet said that the pills are not safe for kittens and the list goes on.

What can I do we really need help and we can’t get lime sulphur dip in SA, nobody knows when I ask for it. Is there anything else I can use or advice you have?
 

red top rescue

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Can you order lime sulfur dip from Amazon?  I think they are international.  It is not expensive, $11.99 US Dollars, and it's the most important thing you can use, smells terrible, like a volcano, but works well with no harm to animals.  also you will need to vaccuum thoroughly to get spores out of your house.  As for the other diseases, I cannot be much help, but I would also suggest you might try ordering Bovine Lactoferrin from Amazon because it stimulates the immune system, good for animals and people too.  About $18 for a bottle of 100 I think.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=lymdyp&tag=&tag=thecatsite

You can search lactoferrin in our search bar above (right under the brown bar) and find many threads where it is discussed, not necessarily for ringworm but for a lot of other things.

As for handling the ringworm, which is not life threatening but certainly annoying and hard to get rid of if you don't attack it from all sides, the BEST thread I think we have on here concerning it is this one:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/210789/6-things-i-learned-from-our-ringworm-plague-book-length
 

catwoman707

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I LOVE that you have a great dane! My faves! I have also owned danes in the past.

As far as the ringworm getting in their throats, no. It is a topical fungus. 

The coughing/awful sound from your cat is just that, a cough from the virus brought in my the mc. It can be calicivirus, rhinotracheitis (herpevirus but NOT like human version!) or other, but those 2 are the main/most commonly seen in cats.

The cough is because cats don't cough, so it sounds like something is in the throat.

I hope you don't hold it against her, I don't mean that you will ignore or treat her badly, just sometimes when this happens and it causes so much trouble for you and your resident cats, it's hard to not feel a bit resentful just a bit.

It's not her fault, it just happens sometimes, she is also a victim in this, but with time and treatments, everyone will recuperate fine.

The entire cat family needs to be put on a good, potent antibiotic, such as clavamox or doxycycline for a period, despite that the one was already on one for 2 weeks. If he has not been able to get through the virus with the one he was on, then it either needs repeating or a stronger version.

URI's (upper respiratory infections) can sometimes be tougher to get rid of but they will go soon enough with a good antibiotic.

The ringworm is a huge pain, but harmless really.

You will want to vacuum daily, because the fungus ringworm leaves spores on the fur, they become brittle and fall off easily, planting the spores around your home and are hearty, can live for a year in the environment.

You must bleach (use a bleach solution of 1 part bleach to about 15 parts water) everything that is bleachable, and launder in the hottest water possible, and drying at high temp setting, over-drying them to cook the spores away.

Or best yet, bag items in trash bags and store for a year or more, I know this sounds crazy but some things like a nice bedspread, etc you just don't want to launder with bleach! 

Personally, I tend to mix the solution with an even higher bleach content, but be careful as you don't want to expose the cats to too much smell of it.

Topical antifungals work well, athletes foot creams like tinactin work well, but you must do your best to keep the ointment on any ringworm spots, also daily searching for signs of new ones, to get a good handle on it.

Lime/sulpher dips are great too, and the combo will wipe it out well.
 
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wanja

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Thank you so much for the advice

I am definitely going to check on amazon, did not think about that.

We already started with the cleaning it is a lot but would be the best.

My MC’s name is Pepper and she is the most adorable little kitty, and no don’t worry I don’t hold it against her at all. She sleeps between me and my husband and can’t stop purring, so cute. I do hold it against the breeder though, it would have been nice if she just told me that she was sick, I would still have taken her because from the first time I picked her up she would not let go of me, but then I would have at least know what road lies ahead and would have separated her from the rest of the household, but anyway past that now.

So this morning Pepper started vomiting and meow as if she is in pain, I gave her pain med and inflammatory medication. I have a whole animal dispensary at home after all that is happening.

I started with antibiotics again last night for Midnight will let you know if it gets better. Otherwise I will look for another vet.

Thanks again for all your advice.
 

red top rescue

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I'm glad your vet had the wisdom not to add an antifungal to her meds since she is having all these other problems.  Once those are cleared up, you might be able to do that, but I've cleared up all but a diabetic cat with just the lime sulfur dip and topical ointments for obvious sores.  Not recently, but some things don't change much.  They used to use griseofulvin or fulvicin, something like that, but it can be very harmful, so my feeling was always why give them a medication that could eventually kill them to get rid of a fungus that is annoying but will not kill them.  Keeping everything calm helps them fight off ringworm, as does stimulating their immune system with something like lactoferrin and also perhaps probiotics.

I'm not sure if the breeder of your cat knew she was sick or had ringworm.  Often the stuff is there but not active until the stress of moving to a new home knocks down the cat's immunity and then they come down with it.  It's unfortunate but it happens frequently, and some of the things they come down with are a lot wore than what you are dealing with. 
 
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wanja

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Hi

Thank you for your advice and help.
we went to another vet yesterday and gave me other medication and shampoo, and I must say I think there is already an improvement, not sure if I am only imagining it to feel better, but both of them are playing endlessly this morning and are very happy kitties! So yay!!!

I am trying to upload a pick but do not want to, will try to post one somewhere.
 
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