Ringworm

vivibebean

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I’m hoping cleaning the cage won’t be too hard for me. Picking the hair off the sides sounds difficult :( my cats go crazy if one is not next to the other, so having them all together will help them cope :) thank you for the input on the cage. Wasn’t sure if it was too small.... but then again didn’t want a very big one because plucking fur off the top of the cage would’ve been very hard.

Only a few more weeks left for the dogs then! Congrats! At least the cats finished with their treatments! My cats just got started :’( it’s always the first two weeks of the ringworm infection that is very hard because I need to cope that the nightmare is starting again and need to develop a plan, But hopefully me moving to a new apartment helps. My cats are currently not in my new apartment yet. I’m hoping to shave them this weekend before bringing them over.

Are the dogs crates in a separate room from the cats?
You’ve been doing so well keeping up with the two jobs and cleaning :) I’m only working one job but already so tired. Don’t know how you keep up with it.
 
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Sandy7272

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The cats are in large dog crates in a room with nothing else. Nice and sunny though. My poor kitties have to wait! I created a pen in anoth area of my house for the dogs. Larger area for three to together. Clean and disinfect the same as the cat area. The good thing yorkies don’t really shed because they have hair. I gave them a slight haircut in order to shampoo the skin better.Honestly if I could have I would of run away! LOL I am very determined to keep going in the right direction for this. I felt sick for the first few weeks because of the stress. I love my pets💕 You have been determined also otherwise you would not be going through again. Take what you have learned this far and add to your weak areas and I believe you will be successful in treating kitties.
 

vivibebean

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Yes, yorkies are one of the easier dogs to deal with ringworm. Imagine having a husky? The fur will be everywhere! Don’t think I can expose my cats to the sun much because unfortunately, they won’t be having much fur to protect them.

because of how hard ringworm has been and especially since this is the third time, I do think about running away and giving my cats away, but it is always a thought during my meltdowns, but never an action I would consider. I love my cats too much they probably aren’t the biggest fan of me now for quarantining them so long but it is for the best so that they can be free forever ☺

im anxiously waiting for the day where my cats Can be freed of quarantine.
Unfortunately, my cats at most has only been free to roam the apartment only for 1-2 months. They spent their entire first year in quarantine pretty much.
Thank you! I definitely learned so much since this all started. I cannot stress the important of environmental cleaning. Extremely important and no procrastination.

how have the studying for the fungassy test been doing? Do you plan on doing the tests soon?
 

vivibebean

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Also, how often do you disinfect the cats water/food bowl and their litter box?
I would rinse their water and food bowl daily just to get rid of the hair inside, but only disinfect twice weekly.

for the litter box, I’ve been changing my cats litter daily, but disinfect twice weekly.
 
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Sandy7272

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I am changing litter daily. Water and food bowls as needed daily. Disinfecting everything twice weekly. I plan on washing the three cats who had hair loss, bald spots around ears and the first one had the larger scaly lesion on her head a regular bath on Saturday when I antifungal bathe all others. I will test once they are dry and relaxed again. Two of my longer haired cats have mats. I think I will try and shave them where the mats are. I have been so worried about spreading the fungus through my clippers. I have purchased clipper sprays and cleaners but I think the last one is the correct spray. It is a spray cleaner that has fungicidal listed. Purchased on Amazon. I have watched a couple videos and read the fungassy directions. The directions say to take without any antifungal treatment present. Im looking forward to taking this next step but a little anxious to see the results. I am so hoping there is no more fungus. I hope I do the specimen accurately! My cats have been quarantined since March 19.🙁
 

vivibebean

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Since the cats have been in the cage In the room since March 19, how often have you’ve been disinfecting all the other rooms in the house?
For my cats I bought each their individual shaver. I saw a few cheap ones for 20-30 ish. I plan on discarding the shaver afterwards. Has your cats lesions been getting better since the treatment started?

My cats have yet to touch my entire apartment yet. When they are coming in a few days, they will be put immediately into the large crate in a room by themselves. I’m not to sure how often I should disinfect the rest of the apartment then... since they will be stuck in the room from day
 
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Sandy7272

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I cleaned everything I could clean! Threw out what I couldn’t clean including living room furniture, cat trees and my beautiful area rugs. Wiped smaller items down and put into Rubbermaid containers. Curtains down. Shades thrown away. Scrubbed everything I could and then hired a professional to do electrostatic spraying top to bottom. It was thsupposed to kill spores. Now I’m sure there are more due to dogs! I’m going to fog my house again myself when treatment is completed. Researching what product is best. My cats were everywhere including the basement for litter boxes and wood stove during the winter
 

vivibebean

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So since the electrostatic spraying, you haven’t been disinfecting the entire house weekly then?
how long ago was the electrostatic spraying last done?

fogging the house again sounds like a great idea :)
I’ve started putting Unnecessary things into boxes inside the closet before the cats come.

I’m afraid that the spores will somehow escape their isolation room and then spread into my new apartment :(
 
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Sandy7272

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I think in my situation the spores are floating around seeing the dogs are penned in living room.
Spraying was done towards the end of cats treatment. I did not expect the yorkie would have lesions. I’m doing my best but not a perfect situation. Trying to find the right chemical to kill the lingering spores. I vacuum and so much laundry switching out blankets. I also spray my dogs with antifungal on days there not bathed. My porous cement basement was professionaly cleaned. The floor anyway. I scrubbed and sprayed what I could. Threw out and donated so much. Cats are tired of being quarantined 🙁
 
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Sandy7272

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I have very expensive clippers I used before I knew about the ringworm. I cleaned and disinfected with fungicidal spray for clippers😬 That is one item I don’t want to toss. Watched you tube videos from barbers on how they disinfect! Still Leary. I read you can use a blow torch to rid hair off of cages. LOL I think I’m going to try a barbecue lighter! Much smaller and when everything is out of the room except the cages. ??? No rugs or curtains in there. I’ll try Saturday!
 

vivibebean

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You’re definitely doing your best!
Meanwhile I’m still unsure how often I should disinfect the rest of my apartment, if my cats hasn’t touched anything in it yet. Hmmmm

Good news so far is that the yorkies arent shedding much :)
dont think your living room is super bad. Also pretty glad that ringworm is just a skin infection and is not a death sentence. It is definitely a Nuisance, but could’ve been worse.

I could some how imagine the blow torch idea working LOL. Do let me know how that all turns out. I’ll be grooming my cats on Saturday. Hoping that it doesn’t get too messy. I agree, anything that was porous, gave me anxiety no matter how many times I cleaned it, so I threw it away.

I wonder how shelters would deal with ringworm 😮
 
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Sandy7272

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So sad🙁 My male Maine coon kitten 9 months old died suddenly yesterday. I tried my best to revive him and not able. I thought he was choking on his soft food at first. The vet suspects it was his heart. Maine coons are known to have a heart condition at times. I’m am devastated and still numb.
I would have to have a diagnostic done at a different facility. I am having him cremated and bringing his ashes home. I’ll be in touch again.
 

vivibebean

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Oh no :( I am so sorry for your loss. Especially since this is a hard time for you right now… he just finished his treatment a few weeks ago too :(
It’s very hard to say goodbye to our companions…
I hope you feel better and that you’re able to cope and find comfort. Your other pets still love you very much and appreciate everything that you’ve been doing for them!
 
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Sandy7272

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Thank you for the kind caring words! It was so unexpected I will need time to process. Ringworm treatment completed and looking forward to having quarantine over. So sad he is not here to enjoy the freedom! So much care and attached so quickly.
 

vivibebean

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Hope that you are feeling better and it’s great to hear back from you :) you have lots of support here! Especially from me :) the pets are too easily loved :’)

I was successfully able to groom my cats yesterday and shockingly, I did not see any lesions yet on my two long fur cats :O
perhaps their immune system finally kicked in and is fighting the ringworm…

I will try harder to find some lesions if there are any.
To my surprise, I thought I would find at least one visible one… not sure if they have ringworm actually, but since they were already exposed to my Russian blue with confirmed ringworm and since they do have apple green on their fur with the blue light, I will still be isolating them all together and continuing their treatment. Will be able to start lime sulfur dipping soon :)
 
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Sandy7272

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Hi
I am glad you were able to get the grooming done. Happy to hear no new lesions on two of them. Hopefully you won’t find any when checking them again. I’m haven’t looked at any of mine with the woods lamp in awhile. I have not used the lime sulphur dip just the antifungal shampoo. I’m not sure where I’m at in treatment if there are no lesions but I still see a few spores on the tip of the hairs. What then? I did my best to take hair samples from the two that had lesions. Bathed with regular pet shampoo and then used alcohol wipe to clean again and used alcohol to clean the hemostats before taking hair samples from the lesion area that appears to now be growing new hair. How many times did your vet take a fungal culture to determine no more ringworm. Also, I used the long handled lighter for barbecue grills on my metal cages and it was time consuming but it did remove the hair. Just cannot be in a hurry to get it done. Not perfect but it seems to be the most effective way to clean the hairs that stay stuck. I think it’s because the rescue leaves a residue when it’s sprayed on the cages.
What do you do if treatment is complete and cats still have tiny amount of spores? Does that mean ringworm is still eating away at the fur and will eventually multiply and make its way back down the hair shaft and to the skin? Do I at that point start putting lime sulphur dip on my cats with a sponge because I really don’t want to put them through dipping after all they have been through. I had three with lesions that I could see.
Im trying to stay focused and continue the care with diligence because I cannot quit now. I feel like the wind was knocked out of me when my little guy died. I am still so sad but I know every little furry critter I have is looking at me and wondering when is this going to be over? Keep up the good work your doing and talk soon!
 

vivibebean

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What do you do if treatment is complete and cats still have tiny amount of spores?:
  • That depends, do you see less green compared to BEFORE treatment?
  • when my ragdoll had an open lesion I would monitor it with the blue light and it still lit up green even after she finished her treatment. Her body lit up green still as well, but LESS green compared to before starting treatment. when I brought her to the vet to get that lesion and her BODYYYY (I asked them if they could pull random fur throughout her body) tested, she was negative! Some green is okay because her body is still fighting it but the spore’s level isn’t high enough to cause infection.
  • According to my cats lab report, a negative PCR result may be caused by
    • the numbers of organisms being below the limit of detection
      • Aka spore level isn’t high enough of a concern to cause an infection.
    • decreased of organisms following treatment or chronic carrier state
      • Pretty much false negative from topical medications being used before culture was done
    • or the occurrence of a new strain variation
  • could still like sulfur dip them afterwards, but I would say the main intervention would be environmental cleaning at this point.
How many times did your vet take a fungal culture to determine no more ringworm?

  • Honestly, my vet only encouraged on doing one culture to determine whether the ring worm is eradicated. Which is enough, but the problem is reinfection. So I brought my cats to the vet to get tested for ringworm 1-2 months after they tested negative. Just to make sure they didn’t get reinfected, but they did -.-
  • This time I probably plan on getting three straight negative fungal culture on my cats before I let them be free. I’ve only passed one negative fungal culture so far, but can’t pass two negative fungal culture… three will definitely, confirm whether the ringworm is eradicated or not for me.
    monitoring the cats for 1-2 months after their first negative fungal culture is enough to determine whether they got reinfected or
My cage have yet to come yet so my cats are currently in one of those plastic tent looking playpen for cats :) I haven’t tried using the blue light on their very groomed fur yet but hoping for the best!
Your cats just have to be patient for a bit more and then they will be free :)
 
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Sandy7272

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Thank you for sharing the information about testing results. My vet does not do testing. That is why I purchased the fungassy test. I read to cleanse the cat of any topicals or antifungal shampoos or dips. I bathed the two cats being tested with regular pet shampoo first. I then later cleaned the previous lesion area with alcohol wipes and also wiped down hemostats with alcohol before taking hair samples. I used a sterile toothbrush and brushed another area for sample. The last time I used the blue light to check for spores it was very minimal. I will look again tonight when it’s dark. I have the samples at room temperature in a cabinet. Not sure about purchasing an incubator. I don’t know if that would make a difference?How did they obtain the sample from your cats?
 

vivibebean

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Have not heard of a incubator being used before :O
The fungal culture at my vet was much more simple.
well from what I saw, they came in with sterile tube and plucked some hair off the cats. Also they had one of those small collecting brushes and they were “scraping” the lesions or various part of their body.
one of the test that they did was the PCR test and the other was the culture :)

even though I just groomed my cats fur on Saturday, my ragdoll’s fur is growing back a bit already 😭
I sitll have not used the blue lights on my cats in a while as well. Afraid to touch them for prolong time…
My cats started their itrafungol on April 24th!
They are currently on their third day of their third week of treatment aka,
Their third day of their second dose of itrafungol (because of the on and off week of dosage).

so excited that they are halfway done! I’ve been busy with disinfecting and cleaning I still haven’t like sulfur dipped them yet :(
But I plan on doing so tomorrow/Wednesday!!

hope your cats been doing well and that you’ve been feeling better :) it’s a hard time for you but you’re very strong!
 
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