Ringworm treatment

nycats

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Hi, I've been dealing for the first time with ringworm on my foster kittens and one of my own cat. They have been on oral and topical medication for about 2 weeks, but the area affected seems to have expanded a bit. Should I be concerned? I've also been cleaning and disinfecting the house, and I have not seen "new" separate areas.

Thanks!
 

FeebysOwner

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I have heard it can take several weeks, even months, to fully get rid of ringworm even when both oral and topical treatments are being administered and repeated disinfecting of the house is occurring. Did the vet tell you when you might expect to start to see improvement? I would call the vet and ask about the time line. It is possible the treatments being given to them might need to be changed to something else that may be more effective if the vet thinks you should be seeing more improvement than you are at this time.
 

zed xyzed

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I would use a UV light to check for it around the house and on kitty. That stuff is nasty to get rid of. The more common type will fluoresce when subjected to ultraviolet light
 
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nycats

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Thank you for your response. They actually haven't seen a vet. The rescue I work with instructed me to treat them with meds. I'm thinking to monitor for a few more weeks and bring to vet if it's still spreading.

As for the black light, this strain doesn't seem to glow. Only 50% does apparently...
 

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Good nutrition, general health condition, and staying away from stress makes a big difference in my experience. Since this is a foster cat and there is another cat in the house, maybe there is some stress about that too. Could you try something like Feliway in the house if it's safe to use around kittens? And if high premium food isn't possible, maybe add vet-approved multivitamin to their diet?
 
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nycats

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Thank you for your responses! I have made an appointment with the vet for next week. Not sure if rescue will pay me back, but I want him to get better. In the meanwhile, I am considering switching the ointment and adding back Lyme Sulfer spot treatment. I've also clipped his hair as much as possible around the area. He hates the treatment of course, so I'm sure he is stressed, but he is on a good diet and is enjoying life in my house otherwise.
 

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14 years ago when I got my cat Crystal, she had ringworm. She was about 5 months old, born feral. In addition to the oral and topical, I had to give her baths with a special shampoo, which had to remain on for 10 minutes (may have been more or less, I do not recall exactly). My elderly father was living with me at the time. I would wrap her in a big towel, and he would carry her around the house singing to her. Crystal became "Dad's Cat" due to all that bonding. She would sleep with him, sit in his lap in the recliner, and pat him to sing to her regularly. Dad passed 3.5 years ago and she sulked for over a year before she started sleeping with me.

Anyway, if you saw a vet at this point, having tried the 2 things with no success, I suspect the shampoo would also be added. Vets are usually pretty aggressive in treating ringworm because it is one of those diseases which can also infect humans.
 
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nycats

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14 years ago when I got my cat Crystal, she had ringworm. She was about 5 months old, born feral. In addition to the oral and topical, I had to give her baths with a special shampoo, which had to remain on for 10 minutes (may have been more or less, I do not recall exactly). My elderly father was living with me at the time. I would wrap her in a big towel, and he would carry her around the house singing to her. Crystal became "Dad's Cat" due to all that bonding. She would sleep with him, sit in his lap in the recliner, and pat him to sing to her regularly. Dad passed 3.5 years ago and she sulked for over a year before she started sleeping with me.

Anyway, if you saw a vet at this point, having tried the 2 things with no success, I suspect the shampoo would also be added. Vets are usually pretty aggressive in treating ringworm because it is one of those diseases which can also infect humans.
Awww that is so sweet! She really bonded with your dad. I tried shampooing the kitten, but he just isn't having it. And it seems to be staying on his head and has not spread to his body. I am hoping spot treatment and frequent cleaning will do the trick. I will also ask about the meds. He is on Fluconazole, but perhaps Itraconazole may work better. Different sites have different recommendation, so we will see what the vet recommends. Neither me or my BF got the ringworm (thank goodness!) and adult cats seem to be less susceptible to it. My adult boy had it for a second, but two weeks of treatment got rid of it quickly. Kitten on the other is having a harder time. I will keep trying!
 
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nycats

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UPDATE: Went to the vet after 4 weeks of no improvement with treatment. Vet doesn't think it's ringworm at this point. We are treating for mites and bacterial infection in hopes of treatment working for whatever is causing this. Poor guy's head is scaly and bald. He got bravecto and clavamox. Crossing fingers!
20191026_152811_HDR.jpg
 

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UPDATE: Went to the vet after 4 weeks of no improvement with treatment. Vet doesn't think it's ringworm at this point. We are treating for mites and bacterial infection in hopes of treatment working for whatever is causing this. Poor guy's head is scaly and bald. He got bravecto and clavamox. Crossing fingers!View attachment 305234
Malaseb shampoo can help different skin conditions including RW and other dermatological issues. Also you might want to consider culturing if need be. I know with our cats they did not start improving despite aggressive treatment until 6-8 weeks in...

Good luck. Hope your kitty finds relief soon.
 
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nycats

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Malaseb shampoo can help different skin conditions including RW and other dermatological issues. Also you might want to consider culturing if need be. I know with our cats they did not start improving despite aggressive treatment until 6-8 weeks in...

Good luck. Hope your kitty finds relief soon.
Wow 6-8 weeks! Yeah I asked about shampoo, but vet said to leave it alone to avoid irritation. It seems to be improving with the antibiotics and mites treatment. I'm hopeful this will work!
 

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Wow 6-8 weeks! Yeah I asked about shampoo, but vet said to leave it alone to avoid irritation. It seems to be improving with the antibiotics and mites treatment. I'm hopeful this will work!
Fingers crossed for you and your sweet kitty! We are actually still dealing with RW here and our 4 cats. We are waiting on the re-culture results. Fred (the elder cat at 17) was unable to tolerate the Itrafungol so he is slowest to clear and I am concerned he won't be negative for RW yet. This is week 14 for us and daily cleaning and disinfecting. Just wanted to chime in and let you know that if it was RW it could take a long time to clear. Hopefully your kitty does not have RW and something else that will clear quickly now.
 
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nycats

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Fingers crossed for you and your sweet kitty! We are actually still dealing with RW here and our 4 cats. We are waiting on the re-culture results. Fred (the elder cat at 17) was unable to tolerate the Itrafungol so he is slowest to clear and I am concerned he won't be negative for RW yet. This is week 14 for us and daily cleaning and disinfecting. Just wanted to chime in and let you know that if it was RW it could take a long time to clear. Hopefully your kitty does not have RW and something else that will clear quickly now.
Oh man 14 weeks! That's a long time. But I've read somewhere it can definitely take 3-4 months, sometimes even 6 months. My vet didn't think it was ringworm because it never spread, and even though he was mixed with 4 other cats, no one else got it. I mean, I already threw out so many things and washed everything like crazy. At least my house is nice and clean, but boy, it was a lot of work. So I feel your pain! I really hope the vet is right, and it's not ringworm. The scaly dry skin has mostly come off, and it's looking a lot better. Time will tell! Fingers super crossed...
 

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I’m dealing with ringworm right now (or so the vet thinks it’s ringworm) but it’s never spread to myself or my fiancé, or my 6 other cats. So I’m not even sure if it is ringworm. And we’ve had the infected one since 10/22. He’s been on an aggressive treatment plan since 10/31. Only had two supposed spots. And he’s all cleared up now. We’re still continuing oral medication though and antifungal shampoos three times a week. But the fact that everyone acts like ringworm is a highly contagious plague, no one else seems to have it and we never isolated the 6 other cats from him.
So thankfully you took your kitty to the vet! And hopefully he’s all healed up by now !
 

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I’m having ringworm issues on my cat too too. The first vet I visited said it was a skin infection, “maybe ringworm” and sent her home with a cortisone cream. That was when I posted here and read he related threads. I’ve been vacuuming and cleaning her favorite sitting spots daily and mopping with bleach solution every other day. I didn’t quarantine my cat either although I have another cat at home.
The vet didn’t tell me to do so.

It didn’t improve after a week then I went to their regular vet who checked with a UV light. The spot was glowing. This vet gave me a topical antifungal cream, told me to just wash my hands after handling her and generally just keep the house clean. He also checked my other cat who he said wasn’t affected. But he didn’t mention anything about quarantine either.

So I have started with the antifungal cream yesterday and will continue with the daily cleaning until she improves.

I’m not sure if I want to quarantine her since by the time I discovered the lesion a week ago we were already exposed for longer than that.
 

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I’m having ringworm issues on my cat too too. The first vet I visited said it was a skin infection, “maybe ringworm” and sent her home with a cortisone cream. That was when I posted here and read he related threads. I’ve been vacuuming and cleaning her favorite sitting spots daily and mopping with bleach solution every other day. I didn’t quarantine my cat either although I have another cat at home.
The vet didn’t tell me to do so.

It didn’t improve after a week then I went to their regular vet who checked with a UV light. The spot was glowing. This vet gave me a topical antifungal cream, told me to just wash my hands after handling her and generally just keep the house clean. He also checked my other cat who he said wasn’t affected. But he didn’t mention anything about quarantine either.

So I have started with the antifungal cream yesterday and will continue with the daily cleaning until she improves.

I’m not sure if I want to quarantine her since by the time I discovered the lesion a week ago we were already exposed for longer than that.
my vet didn’t tell me to quarantine either. I had to google everything on how to handle this. I was a wreck for about 2 weeks. It takes 4-20 days for ringworm to incubate, so it’s just a waiting game to see if you’ve been exposed. We’ve had our kitten since 10/22 and no one else has ringworm. We kept all the cats together and I have 7 total. I closed all of our bedroom/bathroom doors and moved all furniture that I could to the garage ( less things you have to disinfect every day is the idea)
I’ve washed all of their bedding every day, changed their food bowls every day, wipes down my counters and leather couches every day with Clorox + bleach every day. And vacuumed as well every day. I bleached the floors and changed/bleached their litter boxes once a week.

you’ll need more than antifungal cream. You’ll want to treat it really aggressively with antifungal shampoos 3 times a week and get an oral medication as well. My dr has recommended stopping the topical because my kitten was having a bad reaction to it. So I just do the baths and the oral. It’s been 5 weeks of treatment and he’s all cleared up now, but I’m going to keep going for another month. They say it can come back. Good luck to you! Its stressful, but it’s not life threatening. We get it, and it’s easy to get rid of. Just complicated when cats get it. Because of their damn hair. Just remember, we’re regularly breathing in ringworm spores 24/7. If you’re healthy and don’t have any scratches on your body or irritate your skin after you come into contact with it. You should be good.
 

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I’m having ringworm issues on my cat too too. The first vet I visited said it was a skin infection, “maybe ringworm” and sent her home with a cortisone cream. That was when I posted here and read he related threads. I’ve been vacuuming and cleaning her favorite sitting spots daily and mopping with bleach solution every other day. I didn’t quarantine my cat either although I have another cat at home.
The vet didn’t tell me to do so.

It didn’t improve after a week then I went to their regular vet who checked with a UV light. The spot was glowing. This vet gave me a topical antifungal cream, told me to just wash my hands after handling her and generally just keep the house clean. He also checked my other cat who he said wasn’t affected. But he didn’t mention anything about quarantine either.

So I have started with the antifungal cream yesterday and will continue with the daily cleaning until she improves.

I’m not sure if I want to quarantine her since by the time I discovered the lesion a week ago we were already exposed for longer than that.
Hi! I’m just curious how everything went for you? Did you ever quarantine your kitty? Did anyone ever get ringworm from her? I hope it all went well. 😊
 

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I’m having ringworm issues on my cat too too. The first vet I visited said it was a skin infection, “maybe ringworm” and sent her home with a cortisone cream. That was when I posted here and read he related threads. I’ve been vacuuming and cleaning her favorite sitting spots daily and mopping with bleach solution every other day. I didn’t quarantine my cat either although I have another cat at home.
The vet didn’t tell me to do so.

It didn’t improve after a week then I went to their regular vet who checked with a UV light. The spot was glowing. This vet gave me a topical antifungal cream, told me to just wash my hands after handling her and generally just keep the house clean. He also checked my other cat who he said wasn’t affected. But he didn’t mention anything about quarantine either.

So I have started with the antifungal cream yesterday and will continue with the daily cleaning until she improves.

I’m not sure if I want to quarantine her since by the time I discovered the lesion a week ago we were already exposed for longer than that.
So funny, I just realized you replied to my post...I‘ve been reading everyone’s stories and came across this post and after I responded it dawned on me. 😂 I know how your story ended🙂
 

blumarine916

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So funny, I just realized you replied to my post...I‘ve been reading everyone’s stories and came across this post and after I responded it dawned on me. 😂 I know how your story ended🙂
Lool it was an unexpected ending. The anxiety I had to endure during that 2 months was horrible. And no I didn’t really quarantine the infected kitty entirely. I just kept her in her room during the day but I let her out once I’m back from work. I figured they were already exposed to each other all that time there was no point anyway.
 
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